Princess Victoria Wins GP feature

Princess Victoria took the lead coming out of the turn and pulled away to beat Cajun Queen by 5 3/4 lengths in Gulfstream Park's ninth  and feature race on Thursday.

Fashionably Wild finished third, 7  1/4 lengths behind Cajun Queen in the nine-horse field of fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.

The $25,000 optional claiming race had a $43,000 purse and was seven furlongs on a Sloppy and sealed dirt track.  It was originally scheduled for 7 1/2 furlongs on turf. It was one of three races that Gulfstream moved off the turf following mid-day rain.

 Emisael  Jaramillo rode Princess Victoria, who at 9-2 was the third betting choice. Cajun Queen was the 4-5 favorite and Fashionably Wild was 4-1. None of those three horses were in for a  tag. 

Several  of the entrants had only limited dirt track  experience, but none were scratched due to the surface switch.

All of Cajun Queen's  seven previous 2017 starts were on turf. She  won four of those races,  including her last three,  Regular jockey Tyler  Gaffalione  rode Cajun Queen for trainer Herman Wilensky.

Thursday's  race was just the third on dirt and the second win on that surface for Princess Victoria  Om April 6 this year, she won at six furlongs on a fast dirt track at Gulfstream.

John Assimakopoulos  trains her for owner Lioni Racing Stable.

The win was the third in eleven career starts for Princess Victoria, a 3-year-old Florida-bred daughter of First Dude.
/

8	Princess Victoria   $11.40	$4.00	$2.60
7	Cajun Queen	$2.40	$2.20
1	Fashionably Wild		$3.00

 $2 exacta -- $32.80; $2 trifecta--$97.60
--Jim Freer