Jose D’Angelo is hoping Twirling Queen brings the same renewed spark she displayed at Keeneland as she heads into Sunday’s Islamorada Handicap, where the multiple stakes-winning filly carries a highweight assignment of 124 pounds. The 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy enters the $100,000 feature after finally breaking through with an Oct. 24 allowance victory that ended a winless run through her first four starts of 2025.
“She was very healthy. She just didn’t want to run,” D’Angelo said, noting that she will concede between one and nine pounds to her six rivals in the 5½-furlong stakes for fillies and mares on Tapeta. “She definitely improved for the Keeneland race.”
Twirling Queen had joined D’Angelo’s stable at the start of 2024 and immediately produced a four-race winning streak, starting with an allowance score followed by stakes victories in the Melody of Colors at Gulfstream, the Mamzelle at Churchill Downs, and the Coronation Cup at Saratoga, all at 5½ furlongs on turf. After finishing off the board in a Keeneland stakes, she added the five-furlong Sen. Ken Maddy at Del Mar.
Following a five-month layoff, she finished out of the money in three Saratoga stakes, including two graded races, then ran second in a Colonial Downs stakes before rebounding with her Keeneland allowance win.
“We brought her to Saratoga this summer and she didn’t run well. We brought her back to Florida before the Keeneland race and it worked perfect. She ran good again. She loves it here,” D’Angelo said.
D’Angelo Also Sends Out Sporting Lady in Islamorada Handicap
D’Angelo is also represented by Three Diamond Farm’s Sporting Lady, a 3-year-old daughter of Munnings making her first start for the barn after a five-furlong turf allowance win at Laurel for Keri Brion. “The filly is training good here. I don’t have much time to know her, but everything I see I like,” D’Angelo said.
Edgard Zayas rides Twirling Queen, while Samuel Marin takes the mount on Sporting Lady.
Great Venezuela Favored; Le Amazonia Joins Barboza Entry
Orlyana Farm’s Great Venezuela, the 8-5 morning-line favorite, receives a pound from Twirling Queen. The 4-year-old daughter of Neolithic comes off a fourth-place finish in the Oct. 31 Sen. Ken Maddy, her first time finishing lower than third in 15 starts. She has been particularly strong on Gulfstream’s Tapeta, with six wins and one second in seven starts.
Victor Barboza Jr. also saddles Le Amazonia, a 3-year-old daughter of Practical Joke who won an optional claiming allowance on Tapeta two starts back. Great Venezuela will be ridden by Emisael Jaramillo, while Samy Camacho has the call on Le Amazonia.
Choose Joy, Me Governor, Win N Your In Round Out the Field
Steve Dwoskin’s Choose Joy (120 pounds) brings a consistent Gulfstream record, with 10 wins and eight seconds in 27 career starts across Tapeta and turf. The 8-year-old daughter of Munnings returned from a 14-month layoff to capture a five-furlong optional claiming allowance on Tapeta. Miguel Vasquez rides.
Danbro Farms LLC’s Me Governor (118) makes her first start on Tapeta after a close third in a 5½-furlong Churchill Downs allowance. She is ridden by Jorge Ruiz.
Carlos David also starts Win N Your In (116), a multiple stakes winner on dirt who makes her Tapeta debut with Joe Bravo aboard.
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