TORONTO, August 4 – Following a professional career debut, Dirty Girl will have her first stakes test in this weekend’s $125,000 Nandi Stakes for two-year-old Ontario-sired fillies on Sunday, Aug. 6 at Woodbine Racetrack. The five and a half furlong race will be contested on the all weather main track. Trained by Mike De Paulo, Dirty Girl went from last to first in her career debut on July 7 at Woodbine, coming through late in an Ontario-sired filly maiden race to win by 1-3/4 lengths. The final time was :59.72 over five furlongs on the Tapeta surface. “Initially, she started off kind of slow,” said De Paulo of the filly’s development. “Her works weren’t that great, but then her last couple works before she ran, the light bulb went on and she worked quite well. She went a real professional race when she won and she came back and breezed well. Her last work was quite good and we’re expecting to run well [on Sunday].” Jesse Campbell was aboard Dirty Girl in her first race, but will stay with the Stuart Simon-trained 2-1 morning line favourite Summer Sunday for the Nandi Stakes while Rafael Hernandez will take the reins on Dirty Girl for Le Amici Racing Stable. “He’s only worked her the one time, which was her last work, and he seems to like her,” said De Paulo, who also took a liking to the Giant Gizmo-Moonlite Walk filly when he first saw her. Dirty Girl was purchased for $53,410 from the 2016 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society Yearling Sale. “I thought she was one of the better fillies in the sale; she had good legs, I thought she looked a lot like her sire and we were looking for a Canadian-bred, Ontario-sired filly that possibly could go long and might grass,” said the multiple graded stakes-winning trainer. “She might hopefully tick all the boxes.” While her name might indicate otherwise, the filly is a pleasure to train with a friendly temperament. “The owner was trying to call her Dirty Blonde and the name got refused [being already in use] and we ended up with Dirty Girl, but she’s actually not really that dirty, she’s very sweet,” said De Paulo. The Nandi Stakes field includes first-time out Woodbine winners Summer Sunday and Midnight Strider along with Belmont shipper She’s the Berries, Shady Well Stakes competitor Miss Danielle, two-time starter My Silent Present, and the debuting Mark Casse trainee Rosemere. Here is a look at the complete field for the $125,000 Nandi Stakes, which is scheduled as race eight on Sunday’s 1 p.m. program: $125,000 Nandi Stakes Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer – Morning Line 1. Midnight Strider – Eurico Rosa Da Silva – Darwin Banach – 7-2 2. Rosemere – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse – 6-1 3. Miss Danielle – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Ricky Griffith – 10-1 4. She’s the Berries – David Moran – Brian Lynch – 5-2 5. Dirty Girl – Rafael Hernandez – Michael De Paulo – 8-1 6. Summer Sunday – Jesse Campbell – Stuart Simon – 2-1 7. My Silent Present – Gary Boulanger – Sylvain Pion – 20-1 Share This:Share