OLDSMAR - Munnys Gold didn’t just live up to the hype before Sunday’s Florida Cup Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies. She sent veteran racing writers to their thesauruses to try to find an apt description for her record-breaking victory.

    Awesome and incredible seemed totally inadequate. Unbelievable might suffice after the 3-year-old daughter of Munnings obliterated the 7-furlong track record in her third career start.

    Munnys Gold’s 17 ¼-length victory over Dreaming of Snow – the filly who upset Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Wonder Wheel here on Feb. 11 in the Suncoast Stakes – provided the top thrill in the 20th annual Florida Cup, which decided bragging rights among registered Florida-breds in six races.

    Each Florida Cup race carried purse money of $110,000, with three of the six winners earning $70,000 and three earning $60,000 based on their eligibility for the additional $10,000.

STONEHEDGE FARM SOUTH SOPHOMORE FILLIES

    Samy Camacho, the jockey on trainer Gerald Bennett’s runner-up Dreaming of Snow, did his best to put Munnys Gold’s victory in perspective, albeit from almost a time zone in arrears. “The winner is a champ,” Camacho said. “My horse did her best, but (Munnys Gold) is amazing.”

    The winner’s time of 1:20.09 astounded onlookers. The previous track mark of 1:20.89 was set in the 2019 Pasco Stakes by Win Win Win, who as a 4-year-old won the Gr. I Forego Stakes at Saratoga.

    Long-shot Pretty’n Awesome stayed with Munnys Gold early, and Dream Concert threatened to mount a challenge on the turn for home. But the winner had too much class, too much talent and who knows what else for winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., to worry.

    “She took a step forward from her last race,” Ortiz said of her Jan. 25 allowance victory at Gulfstream. “I wanted to feel what she had early and I felt she was able to relax. When I asked her for some speed, she just took off. She was very impressive in the stretch. Hopefully she stays solid because she has a lot of talent.”

    Ortiz was joined in the winner’s circle by his parents Irad Sr. and Vilma, visiting from Ocala.

    Munnys Gold, a 3-year-old daughter of Munnings out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Haraawa, bred by Nicksar Farms, is owned by Lawana L. and Robert E. Low, who purchased her for $300,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale. She had won her previous two starts by a combined 20 ¾ lengths, including her career debut at Monmouth last June in :56.60 seconds for 5 furlongs.

    Winning trainer Todd Pletcher can only hope he can keep Munnys Gold on an upward spiral. "That was a pretty impressive performance. She's handled each step up in class and each increase in distance without any problem,” he said via telephone. “You don't see horses do what she's done very often. She broke her maiden going 5 furlongs by 15 lengths and she won by even more today, so this is very exciting.

    “We'll see how she comes out of it and maybe take a look at the Eight Belles at Churchill Downs going 7 furlongs on (Kentucky) Oaks Day. Hopefully, she'll keep stepping up."

    On breaking the track record at 7 furlongs, Pletcher remarked, "I didn't see too many other races there today so I don't know if the track is really fast or not, but regardless, that's a crazy fast time on any surface."

OCALA BREEDERS’ SALES SOPHOMORE

    The connections of 3-year-old gelding Zydeceaux knew they were taking a chance running him 15 days after his ninth-place finish in the Gra.II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

    But when Zydeceaux emerged from that race looking as fresh and fit as ever, trainer Ramon Minguet decided to roll the dice at a distance Zydeceaux had already won at on Jan. 14 in the Pasco Stakes.

    Rated nicely off the lead of Dangerous Ride early, Zydeceaux responded to jockey Samuel Marin’s urgings around the turn for home and powered home to a length-and-a-quarter victory over Diamond Cool. This Run’s for You finished third. Zydeceaux’s time for the 7 furlongs was 1:23.29.

    “Before the Tampa Bay Derby, Ramon told me he was thinking about this race,” said Jose Carrillo, who owns Zydeceaux under his Stud Carmen Cristina banner. “We had some doubts, but this horse has a lot of class and we didn’t work him too hard, just galloped him up to the race. We took the chance today and it paid off. Maybe we can make something more with him now, but he will definitely get some rest before he races again.”

    The victory was the fourth in eight starts for Zydeceaux, a son of Cajun Breeze-Wink At the Boys, by Graeme Hall, bred by Dee Ellen Cook and Suzette Parker. Zydeceaux paid $5.20 as the wagering favorite in the six-horse field.

GREY GOOSE TURF CLASSIC

    Peter Mattson’s homebred 6-year-old gelding Drama Chorus joined select company with his length-and-a-quarter victory over Me and Mr. C, becoming the second horse to capture back-to-back editions of the race. Old Time Hockey was a two-time winner in 2014-2015. Drama Chorus becomes the fourth horse to win any of the Florida Cup races in back-to-back years.

    The race unfolded in similar fashion to last year’s running, with Drama Chorus and jockey Alonso Quinonez leading his eight opponents on a merry chase almost the entire way. The son of Big Drama-Missmollybygolly, by Scat Daddy, spurted clear on the turn for home, then outlasted even-money favorite Me and Mr. C, the 2021 winner, with Cashier Check getting third. The winner’s time for the mile-and-an-eighth distance was 1:48.65, .07 seconds off last year.

    “The pace was slow enough early that it was perfect for him,” said winning trainer Tim Padilla. “When he cut that corner and opened up about 2 lengths, I said ‘Game over, boys.’ He (Quinonez) rode him perfect.” Padilla said Mattson, who recently had a pacemaker installed, watched the race back in Minnesota.

    The victory was the second at the meet for Drama Chorus, who is 8-for-29 lifetime. The Florida Cup victories are the only stakes triumphs for Drama Chorus, who needed 12 tries to break his maiden as a 4-year-old.

    “It’s so easy to ride for Tim because he doesn’t give me any instructions – I mean, I read the form and I played the break good and that’s my horse’s style anyway, so I let him out and sent him away,” Quinonez said. “We were where we wanted to be, and coming for home I had so much horse I was like ‘Let’s go’ and then ‘vroom.’ He can move pretty strong.”

EQUISTAFF SOPHOMORE TURF

    Trainer Kelsey Danner found her attention split between her two entrants, Otago and Anamnestic, during the stretch run, and by the time she switched back to Otago, he was powering along the hedge to grab an upset victory under jockey Antonio Gallardo. Gr. III winner Boppy O, the betting favorite, held on gamely for second, a neck behind the winner, with pace-setter Swan Lake third and Anamnestic fourth after a troubled trip in the eight-horse field.

    This was the first start for Otago since a fifth-place finish in a high-level Keeneland allowance race on Oct. 29. The son of Speightstown out of Mom’s Deputy, by War Chant, finished second on Oct. 1 in the Laurel Futurity, which was taken off the turf because of sloppy conditions.

    “We had to kind of rush him up to the Laurel race after he broke his maiden (on Sept. 11 at Pimlico), which probably wasn’t the best thing for him mentally,” Danner said. “At Keeneland, we were trying to get him to back off the bit and settle and he didn’t quite have the concept, so we gave him some time off and took everything kind of slow.”

    Otago improved to 2-for-5 with the victory for owners Crown’s Way Racing, NBS Stable, Eduard Dalava and Eli Diamant. The winner was bred by Courtney Meagher and Speightstown Syndicate. He paid $27.80 after touring the mile-and-a-sixteenth on the grass in 1:42.47.

NYRABETS SPRINT

    Entering the race, 4-year-old gelding Magical Warrior hadn’t won in more than a year. And when co-owner Rich Averill saw the field included a pair of Gr. III winners from the barn of trainer Jorge Delgado, along with the well-regarded Gatsby, he suggested to his partner and trainer, Gerald Bennett, that he consider scratching out of the race.

    “He said we had no shot. He told me I was nuts,” Bennett said after Magical Warrior rallied late under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano for a length-and-a-quarter victory from Lightening Larry. “My wife Mary said, ‘Did you see the form on these other horses?’

    “I asked her, ‘Do you remember those other times when no one thought we could win?’ You can’t win it unless you’re in it,” said Bennett, who increased his career victory total as a trainer today to 4,107, also winning the fourth race with R Funny Bizness.

    Magical Warrior improved to 4-for-11 with the victory, with all four victories in Oldsmar. Bred by Richard Arnold, the son of Poseidon’s Warrior-Magical Madam, by Put It Back, was claimed in February of his 3-year-old season for $20,000 by Bennett, whose investment was paid back handsomely.

    The winner’s time for the 6-furlong distance was 1:08.96, just off It’s Me Mom’s stakes and track record of 1:08.67 set in 2012.

    Bennett, Oldsmar’s leading trainer who turned 79 two weeks ago, was almost giddy to be in a winner’s circle with Castellano for the first time. And Castellano, who recently was voted the recipient of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, was just as pleased to get the opportunity to ride the winner.

    “When you get the opportunity, you have to take advantage of it,” Castellano said. “He (Bennett) gave me this opportunity, and it was the right time and the right place.”

    Magical Warrior benefited from the red-hot pace set by Lightening Larry and Oil Money, who dueled through the first quarter mile in 21.37 seconds and the half in :43.85 to set up the finish. Magical Warrior paid $23.60.

    ‘Our horse has a lot of speed, but our only shot at winning it was to get the horse to relax, and we had a world-class rider who was able to do that,” Bennett said. “When I saw he was sitting third on the turn for home, I thought, we can win this.”

PLEASANT ACRES STALLIONS DISTAFF TURF

    The connectios of Sweet Dani Girl weren’t discouraged after she faded to 10th three weeks ago in the Gr. III Honey Fox at Gulfstream Park after racing near the lead until the stretch.

    “She’d won her previous race (the Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf Stakes on Jan. 14 at Gulfstream) and she’s been training well, so we felt really good about running her in this race,” said John Williams of co-owner J & J Stables.

    Sweet Dani Girl led every step of the way under Castellano, turning in a 4-length victory over 43-1 shot Prudent Song. A 74-1 shot, the Bennett-trained Alexa’s Dream finished third in the 12-horse field. Sweet Dani Girl was the betting favorite, paying $6.80.

    The winner’s time for the mile-and-a-sixteenth on the grass was 1:40.87, .45 seconds off Speed Seeker’s 2016 stakes record. The victory was her fourth in eight starts and third in stakes competition.

    The 4-year-old Sweet Dani Girl is trained by Carlo Vaccarezza, the father of co-owner Nicholas Vaccarezza. The trainer bred her in partnership with J & J Stables. She is by Jess’s Dream out of My Sweet Dani Girl, by Scat Daddy.

    "She's a quality filly,” Carlo Vaccarezza said by telephone. “Three races back (in the Gr. II Eight Belles on May 6 at Churchill Downs) she bled and it broke my heart. John Williams and I decided to send her to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky and give her as much time off as she needed. We always put the horse first, and we gave her all the time in the world to heal her lungs. She got to go and eat grass and just be a horse. We gave her an 8-month layoff, and when we brought her back, she won (the Sunshine Filly and Mare Turf). 

    "Javier rode that filly beautifully today. He did a perfect job. But she was ready. She was training really well at Palm Meadows, and I figured the turf course at Tampa would fit her perfectly.”

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