Ontario-bred filly Witch Dali continues to impress south of the border, winning a first leg division of the Petticoat Series, the first stakes event of the young season at Yonkers Raceway, this past Monday (March 9).
The four-year-old daughter of Dali gave Tim Tetrick a 1:54.1 ride and he said she paced over the half-mile track with ease despite the fact that it was just her third start ever over that sized track in a race. “She was perfectly-gaited and handled the track very well,” he noted.
Trainer Tony Alagna co-owns the mare with Brad Grant of Milton, Ontario. Witch Dali made 10 starts as a two-year-old, including four in the Ontario Sires Stakes. However, she didn’t start as a three-year-old until very late in the year.
Worldly Beauty Final
That wasn’t due to injury, Alagna reports, but simply that she wasn’t ready to race until late November of 2014. “She spent a lot of time practicing,” he quipped.
She certainly made up for lost time once she returned to the races as she never lost a race in four starts from the end of November through December. She swept the Niagara Series at Woodbine in three straight starts and then shipped south to the Meadowlands for two stakes series there, the Worldly Beauty and the Burning Point.
She won a leg and the final of the first series and collected a cheque in both legs and the final of the Burning Point including an impressive come from behind finish in the final to finish second.
Tetrick used front end tactics with her on Monday for the Petticoat victory from post seven. This coming Monday she has drawn post four with Tetrick once again at the lines. There is one additional leg, on March 23, before the final on March 30.
Witch Dali was bred by Aaron Waxman of Burlington (who also owned her sire Dali) along with Gaetan Hebert of Waterdown, Ontario. Her dam, Whitesand Gem, earned a quarter of a million dollars in her racing career for Gaeten before being retired to the broodmare ranks. Witch Dali is the second foal from Whitesand Gem whose second dam is the great race mare Bruces Lady ($779,000).
Witch Dali’s sire, Dali, who was trained by Alagna towards the end of his career, won over $1.4 million and now stands at Kendal Hills Stud Farm in Campbellcroft, Ontario.