Florida Derby Draw Scheduled for Today

Florida Derby Draw Scheduled for Today

By Jim Freer
Tuesday, March 24 -- At 5:00  p.m. this afternoon, Gulfstream Park will hold the post position  draw for this Saturday‘s $1 million Florida Derby (Grade 1).

The draw, with  announcement  of  entrants and post  positions, will be in Gulfstream’s walking ring. Gulfstream  officials expect a field of at least  eight horses for  the 1 1/8 mile dirt stakes  for 3-year-olds.  Gulfstream’s condition book shows the Florida Derby as Saturday’s  14th and final race.  The projected post time is 6:30 p.m.

Post time for the first  race is 12:00 p.m.  Gulfstream will have seven other stakes races. Throughout this week, we will have previews of those races and  of the Florida Derby.

Barring  any last-minute plan changes by trainers, the  Florida Derby will  be a rematch of three of the top four finishers from Gulfstream’s Fountain of Youth Stakes (Grade 2) on Feb. 21. It  also will be the first stakes race for the highly touted Materiality, who has won  both his career starts.

Upstart, Itsaknockout and Frosted finished frst, second and fourth  in  the 1 1/16 mile Fountain  of Youth.

Upstart came in 2 ¼ lengths ahead of Itsaknockout. But stewards declared Itsaknockout the winner and put Upstart in second place for what they determined was interference in two incidents in the stretch run.

The decision was controversial. Many observers  felt that the first bumping was triggered by a tiring Frosted who forced Upstart  to change paths.  But stewards decided there was sufficient evidence that it  may have cost Itsaknockout the race.

On Jan.  24, Upstart beat second place finisher Frosted by 5 ½ lengths in the 1 1/16 mile Holy Bull (Grade 2) at Gulfstream.

Trainer-jockey combinations are: Upstart  (Rick Violette-Jose Ortiz), Itsaknockout (Todd  Pletchrer-Luis Saez) and Frosted (Kiaran McLaughlin-Irad Ortiz Jr.).

Materiality, also trained by Pletcher, was the impressive winner of a 1 18 mile allowance  at Gulfstream on  March 6. John Velazquez will ride on  Saturday
Eh  Cumpari, winner of  the Palm Beach  (Grade 3) on turf  at Gulfstream on March 7, also is likely for the Florida Derby.  So are Ami’s Flatter, My Point Exactly, Quimet and Dekabrist.

The Florida Derby is the first of seven ‘championship round” races in  qualifying  for the Kentucky Derby (Grade 1) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on May 2.

The first four Florida Derby finishers will earn 100, 40, 20 and 10 qualifying  points, respectively. The winner and  runner up points will be enough  to make the 20-horse Kentucky  Derby field.

Latest standings show Itsaknockout in eighth place with 50 points and Upstart ninth with 36.  Frosted is 19th with 13 points. It will probably take at least 20 points to make the Kentucky Derby field.

Tampa Bay: Turf Sprint Highlights Saturday Card

Tampa Bay: Turf Sprint Highlights Saturday Card

By HorseracingFla Staff

Saturday, March 14 -- Tampa Bay Downs will have an  11-race card today,  with  first post time of 12:40  p.m. 

The feature is the fourth race, a $25,500 allowance/optional claimer race at five furlongs on turf for 4-year-olds and up.  Post  time is 1:40 p.m.

Varsity and Master Blender, both shipping in from southeast Florida are the likely favorites in  an eight-horse field.  The Tampa Bay-stabled contingent includes the 10-year-old Florida-bred Hold On Smokey, who is owned and trained by Joyce Kielty and will be ridden by Augusto A. Marin.

Varsity, Hold on Smokey and Bonetown  Wild are the only three horses in  for the $62,500 claiming price.

Hold On Smokey has won 19 of 61 starts, with career earnings of $416,707. In his previous start on Jan. 10, he finished a highly respectable fourth in a 12-horse field in the $100,000 Turf Dash in a race in which the winner, Bold Thunder, set a Tampa Bay Downs five-furlong turf course record of 54.63 seconds.

Hold On Smokey will break from the seven post, directly inside 8-year-old gelding Varsity, a homebred racing for owners Mr. and Mrs. Bertram R. Firestone of Genuine Risk fame and trained by Christophe Clement. Varsity will be ridden by Victor Lebron.

Varsity, who did not race until his 4-year-old season, last found the winner’s circle in February of 2013 in the Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint Stakes, but back-to-back bullet workouts at the Payson Park Training Center in Indiantown, Fla., seem to indicate he is in excellent form.

Master Blender, a 5-year-old Florida-bred owned by Anne D. Scott and trained by Kirk Ziadie, will be making his first career turf start. He won three consecutive dirt sprints in south Florida last year before finishing fourth in the Grade III Mr. Prospector Stakes at Gulfstream on Dec. 27. Leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Antonio Gallardo has the riding assignment.

Gulfstream “Fountain Day” Handle of $20.6 Million is Near Record

By Jim Freer

Gulfstream Park had all-sources handle of $20,583,598 on its 12-race Fountain of Youth card on Saturday, for its second-best handle on a non-Florida Derby Day since it  opened its new facility in 2006.

Gulfstream had $20,748,939 in all-sources handle for 12 races Feb. 22, 2014--also a Fountain of Youth day.

Gulfstream’s all-time record for all-sources handle was $26,820,951 for 14 races set March 29, 2014--last year’s Florida Derby day.

The numbers are from Equibase charts.  Breakdowns for live handle  and for components of simulcast and other off-site handles are  not readily available.

Later today, we will have a more detailed analysis of Saturday’s handle and of recent wagering  trends at Gulfstream.

Tampa Bay Preview: R Free Roll Heads Field in Distaff Sprint Stakes

By HorseRacingFLA Staff

Saturday, Feb.21, 8:00 a.m. -- Graded stakes-winning Florida-bred mares R Free Roll and Wildcat Lily head the field at Tampa Bay Downs for today’s $50,000 Minaret Stakes, at six furlongs on dirt for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up.

The “Oldsmar Oval” will have eleven races, with first post at 12:40 p.m.  The Minaret is the tenth race with  scheduled post time of 5:10 p.m.
The Minaret has a field of 14, with 5-year-old R Free Roll likely to be the post-time favorite. She is 7-for-19 lifetime with five stakes victories, including a win in last July’s six-furlong Honorable Miss Handicap (Grade 3) at Saratoga in 1:10.12 on a sloppy track.

R Free Roll is trained by Kirk Ziadie and will be ridden by leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Antonio Gallardo. She will make her 2015 debut in the Minaret.

Wildcat Lily, also a 5-year-old, is trained by Enrique A. Sanchez, She is posted her biggest victory in the 2013 Azalea Stakes (Grade  3) at Calder at six furlongs. At that time, she was trained by Manuel Azpurua.

Wildcat Lily followed up that victory with runner-up performances in the Prioress Stakes and Test Stakes, both Grade 1 at Saratoga. She did not win in six 4-year-old starts while competing primarily in stakes company.

But she appeared to be in top form on Feb. 5 when capturing a starter/$35,000 optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park by nine 9 ½ lengths.

Wildcat Lily is scheduled to be ridden by Carlos Marquez, Jr.

Other top Minaret contenders include 8-year-old Risky Rachel, a six-time stakes winner who captured last year’s Minaret and Manatee Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs for breeder-owner Sanford Bacon, and Nesso, winner of the 2014 Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay  Downs.

Saturday’s ninth race, a conditional allowance/$32,000 optional claiming event for older fillies and mares going a mile on the turf, boasts several stakes-quality runners among its ten entrants.

Trainer Tom Proctor will send out the 4-year-olds Please Explain and Ceisteach, the latter the morning-line favorite at 3-1. Please Explain will be ridden by Gary Boulanger while Ceisteach has the services of Rosemary Homeister, Jr.

The two horses have different owners and are not a betting entry
Please Explain won last year’s Suncoast Stakes on the dirt track at Tampa Bay Downs, but has been idle since a fourth-place finish last August in an allowance/optional claiming event on the grass at Arlington Park near Chicago.

Ceisteach, bred in Ireland, won her North American debut last June on the turf at Arlington. Today’s race is her first in 2015.

Looking ahead. Reserved seats are available for the March 7 Festival Day card, featuring the 35th running of the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby (Grade 2) for 3-year-olds. The race is part of Churchill Downs’ Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying points points series.

Also on tap are a pair of Grade 3 turf stakes – the  $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies and the $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares – and the $60,000 Challenger Stakes for older males.

For information on seating, call the Admissions Department at (813) 855-4401.