OLDSMAR - Apprentice jockey Madeline Rowland notched the first three-victory day of her fledgling career today, capping her performance with an 11 ¾-length victory aboard 4-year-old gelding Lemon Creek Louie in the ninth and final race.

    Rowland, 18, began by winning the second and third races. Her first victory came on Jara ($8.80), a 5-year-old mare owned by Bruno Schickedanz and trained by Richard M. Davis. Rowland captured the third on I Kickn $5.40), a 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Debra M. Smith and trained by Gary House.

    I Kickn was claimed from the race for $5,000 by trainer Chandradat Goberdhan for new owner Karina McDonald, marking the third consecutive race and fifth time in his last six starts I Kickn has changed barns.

    Rowland’s victory aboard Lemon Creek Louie ($5.60) gives her 20 victories from 110 mounts at the meet. Owned and trained by Mike Dini, Lemon Creek Louie was claimed from the race for $10,000 by trainer Douglas Nunn for new owner Winner Circle Stables. She also finished second aboard Magic Mikaela, a 12-1 shot by Handsome Mike, in the fourth. 

BLUE GRASS COMING UP - Seven horses that have competed at Tampa Bay Downs this season are among the 12-horse field set to chase valuable “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points in Saturday’s Gr. I, $1-million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington.

    The Oldsmar veterans who will tackle the mile-and-an-eighth distance of the Blue Grass include Grantham, the runner-up in the Gr. II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby; Volcanic, third in the Gr. III Sam F. Davis Stakes; Golden Glider, fourth in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and fifth in the Sam F. Davis, and an allowance/optional claiming winner here on Jan. 7; Trademark, unplaced in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and Sam F. Davis; Emmanuel, winner of an allowance/optional claiming race here on Jan. 30; Fenwick, winner of a maiden special weight race on March 12; and Commandperformance, runner-up to Fenwick in his most recent start.

    The Blue Grass will be the ninth race on an 11-race card, with first-race post time of 12:30 p.m.

    Meanwhile, Nest, a 3-year-old filly who won the Suncoast Stakes here on Feb. 12 by six lengths in stakes-record time of 1:39.30 for the mile-and-40-yard distance, attempts to score at the Gr. I level Friday on Keeneland’s opening-day card in the $600,000 Central Bank Ashland Stakes, a mile-and-a-sixteenth prep race for the $1.25-million Longines Kentucky Oaks on May 6 at Churchill Downs.

    Nest, who is owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House and trained by Todd Pletcher, is 2-1 on the  morning line in the eight-horse field. She will break from the No. 4 post under Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Nest in the Suncoast and in her victory on Dec. 4 in the Gr. II Demoiselle at Aqueduct.

    The Ashland is the ninth race on a 10-race card that begins at 1 p.m. Both the Friday and Saturday cards will be simulcast in their entirety at Tampa Bay Downs.

    Pablo Morales rode two winners today. Morales won the first race on U Know I B Lion, a 6-year-old mare owned by Pirate Racing and trained by Christos Gatis. He added the fifth race aboard Mystic Link, a 6-year-old gelding owned by Patrick Mogauro Jr., and trained by John Rigattieri.

 

 

comments powered by Disqus