By Lynne Snierson

    OLDSMAR - The Puma stalked the field of nine talented 3-year-olds and then pounced in the lane to capture the 46th running of the Gr. III, $400,000 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday and advance on The Road to the Kentucky Derby. 

    With the victory, The Puma jumped from the maiden ranks into the second spot on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard by earning 50 qualifying points to add to the six points he had acquired from his third-place finish in the listed Sam F. Davis on this track in his previous start on February 7. The Sam Davis is the traditional prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby. 

    "We're a small barn. We have to scout, we have to buy the horses. It's more gratifying when you only get one or two horses at the sale and they end up like this. It's very satisfying. I'm very pleased. It's not an easy thing when you enter a maiden in a stakes race. People think what are they doing? It's a good thing when they respond on the track," Gustavo Delgado Jr., the assistant trainer to his father, Gustavo Delgado Sr., told America's Best Racing from the winner's circle. "From the first time he ran, I said that this is a very good horse and I kept telling everyone." 

    The Puma, who was ridden by Javier Castellano, broke alertly from the far outside post and settled off the pace as the field continued up the backside while 38-1 longshot Redland Rebels under Junior Alvarado set splits of :23.07 and :46.48 for the first half-mile in the 1 1/16 miles test over the fast main track.

    The Puma steadily advanced while commencing his bid on the far turn and by the time he reached the leaders at the top of the lane, he put his head in front. He dueled through the lane with Further Ado and the $1.50-1 favorite Canaletto, who was ridden by Flavien Prat, and then edged clear by three-quarters of a length in the final time of 1:43.23 to the delight of the on-track crowd of 9,070.

    Further Ado, trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., was the runner-up and  Chad-Brown trained Canaletto finished a head behind him.

    "Everybody was trying to save ground and there was a lot of traffic to get there from the outside post (No. 8). From there it's really hard to go all the way to the inside. Nobody spilt up. I was tracking Canaletto with Prat all the way.  I really like my horse and what he did and the way he did it. He ran really good," said Castellano, who took the 2016 Tampa Bay Derby with Destin. "With three-year-olds, you have to give them a chance to develop. In his first race he got beat by a really good horse. In the second race (the Sam Davis) it was his first time around turn turns. He started to figure it out today. When he got rolling, he did what he was supposed to do. I like the way he finished."

    Canaletto, who was a $1 million yearling buy for Coolmore, Peter Brant and Brook T. Smith, was also attempting to handle the class hike from the maiden ranks. In his only previous effort he was an eight-length winner in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 25 under Prat.

    "He was looking around. He never really traveled. They went fast and I was in deep water from the gate," said Prat. Then he made a run, surprisingly, and I thought he was going to make a run at the three-eighths pole. He was brave enough to make a run, but I never really felt that I was traveling well."

    Spendthrift Farm's Further Ado picked up 25 Kentucky Derby points by finishing second to add to the 10 points already in his column, and Canaletto earned 15 points. Redland Rebels took home 10 points to get on the Triple Crown Trail and Talkin garnered 5 points to bring his total to 10. Powershift, representing Repole Stable and trainer Todd Pletcher; Thunder Buck, making his first start for trainer Brendan Walsh after competing three times for Brad Cox; Hulkamania, who is owned in part by former Major Leage Baseball Jayson Werth's Icon Racing Stables; and Smith Ranch Stables Roger That Dana completed the order of finish. 

    The Puma, who is by Essential Quality and the Declaration of War mare Eve of War, was bred in Kentucky by Hidden Brook Farm and Brain Kahn and is owned by the partnership of OGMA Investments, JR Ranch, and High Strep Racing. OGMA Investments campaigned Mage, winner of the 2023 Kentucky Derby, and now they have another colt to take them back to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

    "From the beginning (with The Puma) I said, 'Let's get everything'. Right now, it makes sense," said Delgado Jr.

    The Puma, dispatched at $7.40-1, rewarded his backers with $16.80 for the $2 win wager and picked up $210,000 from the purse for his efforts to increase his earnings to $244,280. 

    The Festival 46 Day crowd supported the enthusiastic crowd by betting $757,139 on track and the intra-state wagering total was another $441,601. The total inter-state handle was another $13,964,047.

    In the undercard stakes, the Gr. II, $225,000 Hillsborough for older fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on the green, Destino D'Oro proved she's not just good, she's gutsy as she overcame a troubled trip to triumph in a five-horse blanket rush to the finish and assert her dominance in her division.

    The 4-year-old daughter of Bolt d'Oro and Heart of Destiny by Lion Heart showed that she has the heart of  a lion after getting stopped at the half-mile pole but then gathering herself to execute a huge run from far back under Junior Alvarado. She rallied down the lane to get her nose in front of short-priced favorite Whiskey Decision at the wire in the final time of 1:52.18 on a "good" course. Proctor Street was third by a neck. 

    "I had a great trip all the way through to the half-mile pole. The horse that was in front I couldn't even see. I'm thinking he's the (number) One (Whiskey Decision, under Flavien Prat) and he's going to close the door. He came out right in the position where I was and made me lose three, four spots right there. Then I thought I was okay, but this is over. But she just kept coming and coming. She's a very good horse. She's a very good filly. I'm very excited for her because today was the trip for her to get beat, 100 percent. She came out with a run, and she put herself and myself in the winner's circle," Alvarado said. 

    Destino D'Oro took the Gr. II  Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park in her last and is now a three-time graded stakes-winner with six wins in nine starts. She is trained by Brad Cox for Steve Landers Racing.

    Cox, who witnessed his charge Further Ado take second in the Tampa Bay Derby later on the card, drove the 200 miles to the track from Payson Park Training Center in South Florida after breezing 18 horses in the morning.

    “I'm very proud of the filly. I want to congratulate Steve Landers, big win. She’s tough, obviously she showed that today from the half-mile pole home, kind of getting checked out of it a little bit and circling, no pace. It was a question mark with the turf [condition] if she would like it, but I think she’s just honest. She shows up and runs hard when she’s doing well," Cox said. 

    Child of the Moon, And One More Time, Scythian, and Aunt Mo rounded out the order of finish. Dreaming of Abba was scratched. 

    Kentucky-bred Destino d' Oro, sent postward as the 3-1 second pick in the field of eight, paid $8.00 to win and upped her career earnings to $949,884, including the $120,000 winner's share of the purse.

    Cox said, “I loved her last spring and summer, and last fall, she wasn’t doing bad, she just wasn’t doing quite as good as she is now. No reason to stop on her, we kept her ticking over and she got on a roll in December at Gulfstream and she’s been rolling. I wasn’t sure about running here, but her last two works at Payson have been very good and I thought, you know, we’ll just fill the calendar with this race and then maybe look at the Jenny Wiley at Keeneland.”

    Tagermeen Racing's Dandona made her first foray into stakes company a winning one as she rallied from the back of the pack to best a field of 10 other three-year-old fillies to capture the Gr. III , $200,000 Florida Oaks in her third career outing for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. 

    Under a confident ride by Flavien Prat, she waited patiently behind a fast pace and then made a bold move on the far turn of the 1 1/16 miles test over a turf course rated as "good" before the pace picked up. Dandona stormed down the lane while inhaling the fillies in front of her and crossed the wire in the final time of 1:44.71. Time to Dream was 1 1/4 lengths behind with Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard and the $1.80-1 favorite Kokomotion, who led earlier in the race under John Velazquez, faded to third.

    Said Prat, "She broke well and it felt like the pace was too hot for her so I gave her a chance. It didn't feel like she wanted to be up in the race. She was traveling good considering the soft ground and I was able to get her outside and get her going and she showed up. I felt the pace was fair enough. I gave her a chance and she was grinding away."

    Laigina, Abigail, Bossy Candy, Special Wood, Alone Time, Backgammon, Bramble Blast, and Courageous Diane followed the leaders home.

    Dandona is a Kentucky-bred daughter of Tiz the Law out of Tulsa Queen by Cactus Ridge. Her record is now 3-2-0-1 and her lifetime earnings are $121,000. 
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    In the 20th running of the $125,000 Columbia Stakes, DJ Stables homebred Alpyland won his fourth race and second stakes on the grass in his last five tries when he easily dispensed with seven other sophomores for trainer Mark Casse.

    Alpyland, a gelded son of Vekoma who was piloted by Javier Castellano, relished the slight cutback in distance to one mile from his last effort, a third place run in the 1 1/16 miles Kittens Joy at Gulfstream. Rated patiently while longshot Knick's honor set pedestrian fractions of :23.23 and :48.20 for the first half-mile, Alpyland responded to his cue from Castellano coming out of the turn and kicked clear through the lane to win by a comfortable two lengths in the final time of 1:37.61 on a turf course rated good. Proton was second, a neck in front of Knoty Knicks.

    "I really liked the distance. We pointed to this race. A mile, I think, is perfect for the horse. He's got plenty of speed, but he sat beautiful behind the two pace-making horse. I like the way he relaxed on the backside and the way he developed within himself. Every time I asked him, he was there. Turning for home, he exploded. I think he's a really nice horse," Castellano said. 

The winning trainer agreed with his rider. Said Casse by phone from Oaklawn Park, "That was a very nice effort from him. He did that pretty nicely. He's a horse that we liked a lot early on and he's turned out to be nice. It's just taken him a while to get his act together, but he's a pretty good turf horse now. We're probably going to go next with him to Churchill Downs for the American Turf Classic, it's for a million dollars and a Grade 1 on (Kentucky) Derby Day. We hope this horse has a bright future and we're keeping our fingers crossed."

    Out of the Kela mare Il Brigante, Alpyland was bred in Kentucky by his owner and improved his record to 8-4-0-2 while upping his bankroll to $271,596 with the $60,000 winner's cut.

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