Dubawi hits the Heights in Wilshire

Dubawi Heights has won three in a row (Benoit Photos) The Simon Callaghan-trained DUBAWI HEIGHTS (GB) (Dubawi) parlayed a perfect stalking trip into her first stakes victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Wilshire H. (G3) at Hollywood Park. Group 2-placed as a juvenile in her homeland, the four-year-old filly has since overcome a spate of problems to take a step forward after each of her American starts. Her persistence has been rewarded with a three-race winning streak. “It’s been quite a long road with this filly,” said Callaghan, who trains Dubawi Heights for his father Neville Callaghan and partners McStay, Magnier and Wyatt. “Since she came here, she got colic off the plane, she had a tibia injury and she had knee surgery. This filly is unbelievably tough.” Dubawi Heights was well placed by regular rider Joel Rosario, just off the slow pace set by Burg Berg (Johannesburg) through splits of :24 3/5, :49 and 1:12 4/5 on the firm turf. Miss Pleasant (Pleasantly Perfect), who prompted the front runner, was the first to issue a challenge turning for home. As Miss Pleasant and Burg Berg fought it out at the top of the stretch, Dubawi Heights swept past both of them to score handily by 1 1/2 lengths. The 7-2 second choice stopped the teletimer in 1:35 1/5 for the grassy mile and returned $9, $5.20 and $3.80.

“I was just following the horse in front of me,” Rosario said. “She took me
to the right place and was doing it comfortably. They weren’t going that quickly
up front. She’s getting better every race. Actually, I was surprised because she
can finish better now. She made a little move at the quarter-pole and really
found her stride in the stretch.”

Lilly Fa Pootz (Gilded Time), despite being steadied in traffic along the
rail on the far turn, swung out and got up in a blanket finish for second. Noses
apart were the respective third Miss Pleasant and fourth Well Monied (Maria’s
Mon), the 5-2 favorite.

Grade 2 veteran Well Monied, unraced since her fourth in the Gamely S. (G1)
11 months ago, closed with interest from farther back in a useful return. Burg
Berg was another head back in fifth, followed by Talktoomuch (Royal Academy),
Vamo a Galupiar (Chi) (Proud Citizen), Blue Maiden (GB) (Medicean) and Smart
Striking (Smart Strike). Givine (Fr) (Blackdoun [Fr]) and Saanneen (Cee’s Tizzy)
were scratched, with the latter opting for Sunday’s 7TH race.

Dubawi Heights now sports a mark of 11-3-3-1, $505,196. She never got around
to breaking her maiden in England, but her failure was primarily a result of her
being highly tried at two in 2009. After two unplaced efforts in maiden company,
Simon Callaghan pitched her into the Lowther S. (Eng-G2), where she finished
third to the high-class Lady of the Desert. Dubawi Heights was then just worn
down by the smart Shamandar in the lucrative Watership Down Stud Sales race for
fillies, and one week later, she again played second fiddle in the valuable
Tattersalls Timeform Fillies’ 800, this time to subsequent multiple Group 1 star
Lillie Langtry (Ire).

Wheeling back on two weeks’ rest in the Rockfel S. (Eng-G2), Dubawi Heights
didn’t do herself justice and folded to sixth in her British finale. The bay was
sold for $131,173 at Tattersalls that December, but Neville Callaghan remained a
partner, and she stayed with Simon. She resurfaced with her expatriate trainer
in Southern California in the latter part of 2010, and scored her overdue maiden
win in her third U.S. start on November 28 at Hollywood. Dubawi Heights was
sidelined until April 1, when she returned with a visually impressive
entry-level allowance victory at Santa Anita, and punched her ticket to the
Wilshire.

Bred by Aston Mullins Stud in Great Britain, Dubawi Heights has gone through
the sales ring at Tattersalls three times. She initially brought $133,871 as a
Tattersalls December weanling, and in her second visit to the venue, she fetched
$131,891 as an October yearling, before her aforementioned tour in December
2009. Her dam, the winning Suave Dancer mare Rosie’s Posy, is herself a
half-sister to English highweight older sprint mare Tante Rose (Barathea [Ire]),
winner of the 2004 Haydock Sprint Cup (Eng-G1) over males. Rosie’s Posy is also
a half-sister to Group 3-placed stakes victress Bay Tree (Ire) (Daylami [Ire]).

Dubawi Heights’ second dam, multiple English stakes heroine My Branch
(Distant Relative), placed in such events as the Irish One Thousand Guineas
(Ire-G1) and Cheveley Park S. (Eng-G1). Further back, this is the family of the
great Royal Palace (*Ballymoss), hero of the 1967 Derby and Two Thousand Guineas
and the 1968 Coronation Cup, Eclipse and King George VI and Queen Elizabeth S.

Her trainer mentioned the May 30 Gamely as a likely objective.