HALLANDALE BEACH - Arindel homebred Boots, a gray granddaughter of Hall of Famer Ghostzapper and champion mare Wait a While, launched her career in grand style with a 3 ½-length victory Thursday in the first race of the season for 2-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.
Ridden by Samy Camacho for trainer Jorge Delgado, Boots ($7) ran 4 ½ furlongs over a fast main track in :52.09 seconds to follow in the footsteps of her stablemate Mythical, who successfully kicked off Gulfstream’s 2025 juvenile season for Arindel before going on to win five stakes in her next seven starts.
Breaking outside each of her four rivals, including another Arindel homebred, Dorothy trained by Carlos David, Boots pressed 6-5 favorite Celtic Dispute through a quarter-mile in :21.93 seconds while racing in the two path. The half went in :45.55 with the two still engaged until leaving the far turn, when Camacho gave Boots her cue and she opened up once straightened for home.
“She just put me in a good position out of the break,” Camacho said. “After that, [Celtic Dispute] shakes loose a little bit, so I just tried to stay away from her, because they’re first-time horses. Before the three-eighths pole, I know we’re going to the first wire, so I asked my filly and she responded right away. She had enough kick to the end.” Celtic Dispute, by Leinster, the sire of multiple stakes-winner and Royal Ascot Group 2-placed Lennilu, was a decisive second by 5 ¾ lengths over 20-1 shot Jost a Chance Yadi. It was another length back to Dorothy in fourth with Satira fifth. Dama Du Sucre was a late scratch.
Boots is by Arindel’s foundation sire Brethren out of the Ghostzapper mare Medusa whose only sibling, the 3-year-old colt Bowie, has one second in six starts. Ghostzapper won four Gr. 1 races and nearly $3.5 million in purses and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012. Wait a While was a three-time Gr. 1 winner of close to $2.2 million and was the champion 3-year-old filly of 2006. “She won very easy,” Camacho said. “She’s not 100 percent there. She’s still learning and she’s going to be an even better horse. Thank the owners for putting me on this winner.”
For Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo, the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. grounds are where they are most in their element, the venue where they have made their name and plied their trade to exceptional professional heights. With so much OBS history already part of their foundation, the noted consignors came to the 2026 edition of the OBS Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training quietly confident that some of their biggest career highlights would be on tap. The first round of fireworks expected from the Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds offerings this week went off during the second day of selling of the OBS April Sale. Hip 570, a dark bay or brown filly by Jackie’s Warrior that is part of the boutique Hartley/DeRenzo consignment, became the highest priced filly to sell at an OBS juvenile auction when she elicited a final bid of $2.3 million from Dermot Farrington on behalf of Mrs. Fitriani Hay. The price is the second highest ever for the OBS Spring auction, behind only the $2.45 million generated when Conquistador was purchased during the 2017 sale. “It means a lot, this is home,” DeRenzo said. “We sold the first million-dollar horse (at a 2-year-old auction) here at OBS and she is the highest priced filly. We are part of OBS. It feels good to do it at home.” The Hartley/DeRenzo shedrow has been a popular spot this week as they also consign Hip 1056, a well-regarded son of Flightline set to sell during Friday’s session. Like her barnmate, the Jackie’s Warrior filly generated her fair share of looks after she breezed in :9 3/5 during the under-tack show, tying for the fastest time at the distance. Out of the graded stakes winning Indian Charlie mare Brazen Persuasion, an OBS graduate, the filly is one of four horses offered by Hartley/DeRenzo this week. She is a half sister to stakes placed winner and OBS graduate Ruggs and is from the female family of graded stakes winner Godmother. “We thought she was the best filly in the sale, and we thought we had the best colt in the sale,” DeRenzo said. “We were pretty confident about it because those kind of horses don’t come around very often. They stand out like a sore thumb. We were confident she would do really well.” Alex Cole, racing manager for Hay, said the filly was headed to the barn of trainer Wesley Ward. “We wouldn’t spend that sort of money if there was any flaw,” Cole said. Moments after the Jackie’s Warrior filly earned her spot in OBS history, Hip 576, a chestnut colt by Cyberknife consigned by de Meric Sales, became the second horse to hit the seven-figure threshold during the session when he sold for $1.2 million to the partnership of West Point Thoroughbreds, Mike Talla, LEB, and John Sadler, agent. The colt is out of the winning Unbridled’s Song mare Broadway Show, a daughter of graded stakes winner and dual OBS graduate Richiegirlgonewild. “He was so stretchy. We’re looking for two-turn colts and we just liked him a lot,” Sadler said. “We thought his video was excellent. You would always like to buy everything for a little less, but he was a nice prospect.” The colt, who was bred by Machmer Hall, breezed in :9 4/5 during the under-tack show. “Beyond expectations. I am blown away, thrilled,” said Carrie Brogden of Machmer Hall. “This is a dream come true and it’s a long-time partnership. Not only are the de Merics our friend, but every time I come here and consign, I feel like I know exactly what I have with them.” Following on the heels of a strong opening session that featured a son of Epicenter selling for $1.95 million, the second day of action for the OBS Spring Sale generated its own stellar returns. The gross for the session came in at $25,522,000 from 148 head sold, down from the $27,462,500 generated from 183 head sold during the corresponding session one year ago. Last year’s second session was bolstered by the sale of six seven-figure horses that day alone. The session average of $172,446 was up compared to $150,068 posted in 2025 while the median improved to $77,500 over $60,000 during the session a year ago. The cumulative gross through the first two days is $50,805,000 from 317 head sold, up from the $47,918,500 generated by 348 sold through this point last year. The overall average is up to $160,268 from $137,697 in 2025 while the median has improved to $75,000 compared to $60,000 a year ago. The RNA rate came in at 27.8% compared to 11.6% a year ago. Wednesday’s session wasted no time getting off on the right foot when Hip 312, a bay colt by Life Is Good consigned by Britton Peak, sold to KP for $725,000. The colt, who breezed in :9 4/5, is out of the graded stakes winning Tiznow mare Tiz Breathtaking. “Tell you the truth, he was the whole package. He had all the right angles, the right size, the right mind,” said Nelson Arroyo of Arroyo Bloodstock, who consigned the Life Is Good colt through Britton Peak. “I loved him from the first second I saw him. He was a big horse but he is real light on his feet. He has all the right angles and he has that presence.” Other top prices on the day included: Hip 437, a chestnut filly by Omaha Beach that sold to Alex & JoAnn Lieblong for $650,000. Consigned by Harris Training Center LLC, the filly breezed in :10 during the under-tack show. She is out of the Distorted Humor mare Alma Llanera and is from the female family of champion Singspiel (IRE). Hip 375, a chestnut filly by Jackie’s Warrior that sold for $625,000 to Flanagan Racing, LLC. Consigned by Six K's Training & Sales, the filly is out of the Nyquist mare Well Remembered, a half sister to stakes winner and graded stakes placed Audrey’s Time. She worked in :10 flat during the under-tack show. Hip 596, a gray or roan colt by Roadster consigned by Ocala Stud that sold for $625,000 to Shunsuke Kubota. The colt is out of the Group 3 winning Lope de Vega mare Candy Store (IRE) and is a half brother to stakes winner and graded stakes placed Vive Veuve. He worked in :20 3/5 during the under-tack show, co-fastest time at the distance on the day.
Hip 499, a gray or roan colt by Essential Quality consigned by Five Point Thoroughbreds that sold for $550,000 to Breeze Easy LLC / Jethorse LLC. The colt is out of the Tiznow mare Back Up the Brinks and is from the female family of champions Forte and Folklore. He worked in :9 4/5 during the under-tack show.
Hip 517, a bay colt by Tapit consigned by Paul Sharp that sold for $550,000 to KSI. The colt is out of graded stakes winner and Grade 1 placed Be Fair, an OBS April graduate who is by Exchange Rate, and is a half brother to Grade 1 winner and OBS April graduate And Tell Me Nolies.
Count consignor Tom McCrocklin among those having a good week ahead of the 2026 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. Spring Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. After sending out Hip 74, a dark bay or brown filly by Omaha Beach, and Hip 262, a dark bay or brown filly by Oscar Performance, to work in :20 4/5 during the first two days of the under-tack show, McCrocklin’s consignment was again responsible for the fastest quarter mile works on the day as Hip 851, a bay filly by Oscar Performance, and Hip 915, a gray or roan filly by Liam’s Map, each worked in :20 2/5 April 10, the fifth day of under-tack shows for the OBS April Sale. The Oscar Performance filly is out of the winning, stakes-placed Daylami (IRE) mare Going Day, a half sister to champion Covfefe. The Liam’s Map filly is out of the Honor Code mare Honor Hop, a half sister to stakes winner Ex Pirate. Joining McCrocklin in the good mood club was Nelson Arroyo of Arroyo Bloodstock. Each time Arroyo looked up to watch one of his juveniles breeze over the OBS track this week, he couldn’t help but let a wide grin stretch across his face and a groundswell of pride overtake his being. When the time came for the founder of Arroyo Bloodstock to watch his seventh and final youngster from the Britton Peak consignment work Friday, the end result sparked a surge of emotions as powerful as the nimble athletes he is set to sell. In his third year of pinhooking under his own banner, Arroyo and his team are poised to have one of their most successful outings yet in the public auction arena. When Hip 822, a dark bay or brown colt by Jack Christopher owned by Arroyo Bloodstock, worked an eighth in :9 4/5 Friday to tie for the fastest time at the distance, it capped off a week that went above and beyond in terms of the expectations the former jockey held for his crew. Of the seven horses Arroyo has entered in the OBS April Sale, five of them worked in :9 4/5 with the two others going in :10 flat. This year marks the first time Arroyo has consigned with Greg Martin’s Britton Peak, a pairing that is already off to a flying start following a strong outing together in March. “It’s still hitting me. It feels real good,” Arroyo said of his week. “We put in a lot of work, and it feels so good to see it pay off. I want to thank the whole team, without them it wouldn’t be possible. Greg Martin did a great job training. This is the first year we’ve worked with him and he’s doing a great job. My (sons), Elijah and Brandon have done a great job. And I want to thank Dean DeRenzo (of Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds) for sure because that’s the man who is making this all possible. He’s the one who taught me all this stuff.” A focus on conformation and physical presence is what Arroyo zeros in on when purchasing pinhook prospects, and the Jack Christopher colt ticked those boxes in addition to having an accomplished pedigree page. The colt is out of the Uncle Mo mare Forced Family Fun, a half sister to stakes winner and multiple graded stakes placed Cat Burglar, and is a half brother to stakes placed winner Walley World. Like his fellow barn mates, the colt backed up the ability he teased in his prep and ensured his connections head into next week’s sale overflowing with confidence. “He’s been really nice since Day 1. He’s done everything right from the get-go and this was something we were expecting,” Arroyo said of the colt. “They all did what we expected them to do. We bought good horses and it was up to us to get them here the right way. I was just hoping the team and the crew and Greg’s outfit were going to be able to bring them here in good shape and healthy and have them perform. “For the five of them to go in :9 4/5 and have two on 10 flat, and great gallop outs…I’m in awe. I can’t believe it.” Arroyo’s Jack Christopher colt was one of 12 horses to work in :9 4/5 Friday: Hip 817, a dark bay or brown colt by OBS graduate Yaupon consigned by Wavertree Stables, Inc. (Ciaran Dunne). The colt is out of the Verrazano mare Flume, a half sister to Grade 1 placed winner Identity Politics.
Hip 819, a bay filly by Vekoma consigned by S B M Training and Sales. The filly is out of the graded stakes winning Palace Malice mare Fly On Angel. Hip 840, a bay filly by Bolt d'Oro consigned by Kings Equine. The filly is out of graded stakes winner Gas Station Sushi, a daughter of leading sire and OBS graduate Into Mischief. Hip 866, a chestnut filly by champion and OBS graduate Corniche consigned by Kings Equine. The filly is out of the winning Tapit mare Grey Stark, a full sister to stakes winner Siem Riep. Hip 917, a gray or roan colt by leading sire and OBS graduate Into Mischief consigned by Chuy Ceballos. The colt is out of the Cairo Prince mare Hot Date, a half sister to graded stakes winner Gibberish. Hip 940, a bay filly by Drain the Clock consigned by Wavertree Stables, Inc. (Ciaran Dunne). The filly is out of the stakes winning Untuttable mare Into Reality, a three-time OBS graduate, and is a half sister to stakes winner Meadowood. Hip 960, a bay filly by OBS graduate Yaupon consigned by Longoria Training & Sales. The filly is out the mare Joyful Cat, who is by OBS graduate Kitten’s Joy and is a full sister to graded stakes winner Charming Kitten.
Hip 961, a gray or roan colt by Roadster consigned by Omar Ramirez Bloodstock. The colt is out of the Grey Swallow (IRE) mare Joyous Angel, who is a half sister to graded stakes winner English Bee. Hip 990, a bay colt by Nashville consigned by Omar Ramirez Bloodstock. The colt is out of the winning, stakes-placed Kodiac mare Kodiac Gal (IRE). Hip 1004, a dark bay or brown filly by Munnings consigned by Kings Equine. The filly is out of the graded stakes winning Justin Phillip mare Lady T N T, an OBS graduate. Hip 1012, a bay colt by Bolt d’Oro consigned by Grassroots Training & Sales LLC. The colt is out of the Speightstown mare Laquezza, a half sister to stakes winner and Grade 1 placed Light the City and the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Tumbarumba.
Two horses worked in :20 3/5 to tie for the second fastest quarter: Hip 888, a dark bay or brown colt by Liam’s Map consigned by Hoppel LLC. The colt is out of the stakes winning Violence mare Heart Full of Soul.
Hip 925, a dark bay or brown colt by Upstart consigned by Tom McCrocklin. The colt is out of the Distorted Humor mare Humor Me Dixie, a daughter of graded stakes winner Dixie City, and is a half brother to stakes placed winner Presha, an OBS April graduate.
Spendthrift Farm’s Further Ado (Gun Runner- Sky Dreamer, by Sky Mesa), who scored his maiden victory at Keeneland by 20 lengths last October, continued to show his affinity for the Lexington track when he captured the $1,250,000, Gr. I Blue Gass Stakes by 11 lengths, cementing his status as one of the favorites for the first leg of the Triple Crown and leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week. With the Blue Grass victory, Further Ado earned 100 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard for a total of 135 points and guaranteed a spot in the starting gate for the 152nd running of the $5 million Kentucky Derby.
Trained by Brad Cox, Further Ado is now a two-time graded stakes-winner and boosted his earnings to $1,146,328. “I felt he had moved forward since Tampa (when he finished second in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) March 7), so I expected him to run well,” Cox said. “I thought he got a great trip. We kind of put a plan together with him last fall after he won here, to run him at Churchill and have two races leading up to what we hoped would get him to the (Kentucky) Derby, and it worked out. It’s always nice when a plan works out because most of the time it doesn’t. He’s a good colt, full of quality, athletic, a great mover.”
Further Ado was purchased by Spendthrift at the 2025 OBS April Sale for $550,000 from the Six K’s Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :21 1/5. About an hour after Further Ado’s victory, So Happy (Runhappy-So Cunning, by Blame) joined him as a top Kentucky Derby contender when he prevailed in the $500,000, Gr. I Santa Anita Derby. Trained by Mark Glatt, So Happy is owned by Norman Stables and Saints or Sinners. He previously captured the Gr. II, $200,000 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park Jan. 10. “He kept on going today,” winning jockey Mike Smith said. “Today he really felt fit and ready to race. I can’t say enough of what a great and wonderful man Mark Glatt. The Kentucky Derby is America’s race. Anyone in the world would want to be in that race. There’s more there in the tank for sure.” Bred by former Ocalan Leverett Miller, So Happy was purchased by Glatt, agent, for $150,000 at the 2025 OBS March Sale out of the First Call consignment after breezing in :10 flat. The undercard of the Blue Grass Stakes saw Gr. 1 winner Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming – New Narration, by Tapit) pounce at the top of the stretch and coast to a 2¾-length victory in the Gr. III Commonwealth Stakes. Trained by Brad Cox, Saudi Crown is now a three-time graded stakes - winner and increased his earnings to $3,686,508. Consigned by Top Line Sales, Agent, to the 2022 OBS Spring Sale, Saudi Crown was sold for $240,000 after breezing in :10 flat. At Aqueduct, Winning Move Stable’s Yo Daddy (Yoshida (JPN)-Elle Stormin’, by Tale of the Cat) earned his first stakes score in the $150,000 Excelsior. Trained by Linda Rice, Yo Daddy was offered at the 2023 OBS June Sale by Britton Peak where he failed to meet his reserve after breezing in :21 4/5. At Evangeline Downs, Michael H. Rotstein and Olof’s Tiz Mary’s Comet (Good Samaritan - Suzie's Dream, by Tiz the One) prevailed in the $60,000 Lafayette Stakes. Trained by Rylee Magnon, the gelding was purchased by his owners at the 2025 OBS June Sale from the Omar Ramirez Bloodstock consignment after breezing in :10 flat.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Meet will offer substantial increases in overnight purses as well as bonuses in open stakes and Florida-bred races and stakes as part of a $6 million Florida-Bred Incentive Fund (FBIF). Overall, the Royal Palm Meet, which runs through Aug. 30, will offer total stakes purses of $2.9 million plus an additional $575,000 ($25,000 per race) to any Florida-bred finishing in the top five in 23 summer stakes. The percentage of purse money for those top five Florida-breds will be 50%-30%-11%-6%-3%. On the heels of the memorable 2025-2026 Championship Meet that wound down Sunday, Gulfstream Park will usher in the 2026 Royal Palm Meet with a nine-race program today. A Thursday-through-Sunday racing schedule will be conducted through April. Top-class Thoroughbred racing will continue Friday through Sunday through August. Purses in maiden special weight races for Florida-breds will climb from $43,000 last summer to $65,000 this summer while allowance races will climb from between $54,000 to $58,000 last summer to $65,000 and $75,000 this summer. The purses of all claiming races will see a $2,000 increase. Increases will be for all ages. Once again, the winners of the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile and $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies May 9 will earn automatic entry into one of Royal Ascot’s six 2-year-old races in addition to a $25,000 travel stipend. The Royal Ascot meet runs June 16-20. On April 25, Gulfstream will offer six $100,000 stakes races restricted to Florida-breds.
Today’s program marks the return of popular jockey Paco Lopez, who has five mounts, including Fear in the Race 8 feature, a 5 ½-furlong allowance for Florida-bred 3-year-olds on Tapeta. The Carlos David-trained son of Win Win Win, a winner on turf, finished third against open company on the all-weather surface last time out. Jose D’Angelo-trained Bronze Bullet, 7-5 in the morning-line, who finished first twice on Tapeta, returns to the all-weather track with Luis Saez aboard following a pair of show finishes on turf. Samy Camacho also rejoins the Royal Palm Meet jockey colony that will be missing Edgar Zayas, a two-time Royal Palm Meet champion who has switched his tack to New York. Camacho has six mounts on toay’s card. Leonel Reyes, who was just three wins away from his 1000th victory in North America when he sustained a broken left ankle Nov. 3, is nearing a return to pursue the milestone. Fresh off claiming his fifth consecutive Championship Meet title, Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. will pursue his 16th Gulfstream Park title in a row while chasing another Royal Palm Meet championship.
One year after becoming the eighth Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company graduate to win the Gr. I Dubai Golden Shaheen, Sultan Ali’s Dark Saffron (Flameaway-Meadow Saffron, by Military) defended his title in the $2 million race when he outsprinted reigning Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner and fellow OBS graduate Bentornato on the Dubai World Cup undercard at Meydan Racetrack, leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week.. Trained by Ahmad Bin Harmash, Dark Saffron joins the likes of Caller One and Mind Your Biscuits as back-to-back winners of the Dubai Golden Shaheen, which serves as a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for this year’s Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland. “Obviously he won this race last year and he come back and run really well, it was a bit of a workout first time he ran this season,” winning jockey Connor Beasley said. “Then he had a bit of an incident in the stalls and banged his head and sort of lost his way. I think he lost a bit of confidence for his next three or four runs, but his last run we felt he was coming back to himself.” Consigned by Julie Davies, Dark Saffron was purchased by Harmash Racing for $120,000 out of the 2024 OBS April sale after breezing in :9 4/5.
At Oaklawn Park, West Point Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars (Honor A.P.- Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter) cemented her spot in the Kentucky Oaks field when she rolled to a 5 ½-length victory in the $1 million, Gr. II Fantasy Stakes. The Fantasy awarded 150 total points to its top five finishers (75-37.5-18.75-11.25-7.5, respectively) toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks. A daughter of Honor A. P., Counting Stars raised her career earnings to $972,606 following her fourth victory from seven starts.
Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Counting Stars was purchased by her owners at the 2025 OBS April Sale for $150,000 from the Wildheart Thoroughbreds consignment after breezing in :10 flat. The Oaklawn Park card saw Doubledown Stables’ Nu What’s New (Munnings-Heavenly Scat, by Scat Daddy) hold off Gr. 1 winners East Avenue and Full Serrano to win Saturday’s $500,000, Gr. III Oaklawn Mile by three-quarters of a length. The Oaklawn Mile represented the first career stakes victory for the speedy Nu What’s New, who was exiting a runner-up finish behind subsequent Dubai World Cup winner Magnitude in the $500,000, Gr. III Razorback Handicap. Trained by Jimmy DiVito, Nu What’s New was purchased by DiVito, as agent, for $300,000 at the 2024 OBS April Sale from the Eddie Woods consignment after breezing in :10 1/5. At Gulfstream Park, Lou Donato, Theodore Manziaris, Paul Borrelli and Lanni Bloodstock’s Sultana (Always Dreaming- Private Offering, by Pulpit) pulled off a late-rallying upset in the $175,000, Gr. III Orchid Stakes. The Kevin Attard-trained daughter of Always Dreaming had run on turf only once in five prior starts. She was a $50,000 purchase by Harbour 60 Club at the 2023 OBS June Sale from the New Hope consignment after breezing in :21. At Oaklawn Park, Gr. III winner Desert Gate (Omaha Beach-Theogony, by Curlin) showed his class with a wire-to-wire romp in the one-mile, $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes. Desert Gate finished 9 3/4 lengths ahead of fellow OBS grad Soldier N Diplomat in the four-horse field. Hall of Famer Bob Baffert trains Desert Gate for longtime clients Mike Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman. He was purchased by his owners for $260,000 at the 2025 OBS March Sale from the Navas Equine consignment after breezing in :9 4/5. At Tampa Bay Downs during the 23rd edition of the Florida Cup, Maykomotion (Vekoma-Maymont by Unbridled's Song) made light work of the $110,000 Ocala Breeders' Sales Sophomores by tapping into his early speed for a two-length victory. Trained by George Weaver, he is owned by Bona Venture Stables and Bianco Thoroughbreds. He was purchased by SGV/GRW, Agent for Bona Venture Stable at the 2025 OBS April Sale for $160,000 from the Niall Brennan Stables consignment after breezing in :10 1/5. The Florida Cup card also saw Mr Mo's Magic (Uncle Chuck- Magical Flair, by Defrere), a Lynn Rarick trainee, pull off a 13-1 upset in the $110,000 Sophomore Turf. Owned by Ray Huelsman and Keith Anderson, Mr Mo's Magic is a dual OBS grad, having been sold by Summerfield to Laureles Racing for $12,000 at the 2024 OBS Winter Mixed Sale and then purchased by his owners for $50,000 at the 2025 OBS April Sale from the Majestic consignment after breezing in :10 1/5.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Saffie Joseph Jr. put the finishing touches on his 15th consecutive leading trainer title at Gulfstream Park Sunday as the 2025-2026 Championship Meet concluded its prestigious 72-day winter stand. It was the fifth straight Championship Meet title for Joseph, a 39-year-old native of Barbados whose string of success dates back to Gulfstream’s 2021 Royal Palm stand. He was tops with 255 starters, 45 wins and more than $4.7 million in purse earnings, capturing Race 7 Sunday with 4-year-old colt Miami Frank ($4.40) and the Race 11 finale with Barakah ($38.80).
“It’s a lot of help,” Joseph said. “Obviously my name is in the program, but it takes all the owners and the staff. They do everything. It’s a full team, and a lot of people make it possible. We’re grateful and thankful to keep it going.”
Joseph’s biggest win of the Championship Meet came with Skippylongstocking in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 24 over his stablemate, defending champion and fellow 7-year-old multimillionaire White Abarrio. Skippylongstocking also won Gulfstream’s Harlan’s Holiday (G3) in December and subsequently captured the Essex Handicap (G3) March 21 at Oaklawn Park.
Other stakes wins for Joseph came with R Disaster in the Hurricane Bertie (G3), Claret Beret in the Royal Delta (G3), Solitude Dude in the Swale and Neoequos in the Sunshine Turf. He is eight wins shy of 1,500 for his career. Entering Sunday, Joseph ranked third nationally with $5.8 million in purse earnings and seventh with 50 wins in 2026.
“The Pegasus was definitely the highlight,” Joseph said. “To run first and second in that race and have both horses be at 7 years old, both of them started their careers here at Gulfstream and they’re still going. It’s amazing. We know we’re getting toward the end. I’ve been thinking about it, to have those two horses in their final year, hopefully we have some young ones coming up to replace them.”
Irad Ortiz Jr. finished as leading rider of the Championship Meet for a fourth straight time and record-extending seventh overall, with 82 wins from 312 mounts (26 percent). Tyler Gaffalione was second with 68 wins but led all jockeys with more than $5.3 million in purses earned.
Ortiz, 33, spent the final weekend of the Championship Meet honoring out-of-town commitments, taking off eventual Curlin Florida Derby (G1) winner Commandment but taking the Arkansas Derby (G1) with Renegade. Represented by agent Steve Rushing, he finished second with $3.94 in purses earned.
Among Ortiz’s victories were the Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) and Mucho Macho Man with Commandment, Forward Gal (G3) with On Time Girl and Fort Lauderdale (G3) with Wolfie’s Dynaghost. On Dec. 13 he picked up his 1,000th Gulfstream Park winner with White Claw Woman.
Bruno Schickedanz scored in Race 10 Sunday with Irish-bred Palace View ($6.80) to tie Rachel Gerson’s Starry Night Racing as leading owner with 10 wins.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Wathnan Racing’s Commandment overcame a tepid early pace to stamp himself as the early favorite for this year’s Kentucky Derby with a late-rallying drive to eke out a narrow victory in the 75th running of the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa Saturday at Gulfstream Park.
The Brad Cox-trained son of 2014 Curlin Florida Derby winner Constitution, who was coming off a victory by a neck in the Feb. 28 Coolmore Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream, prevailed by a nose over The Puma in the tradition-rich 1 1/8-mile stakes for 3-year-olds that closed out a stacked 14-race program featuring 10 stakes, five graded, with purses totaling $2.675 million.
Commandment’s brave triumph gave Cox back-to-back wins in Gulfstream’s definitive Kentucky Derby prep, following Tappan Street’s victory last year over eventual Horse of the Year Sovereignty. “I’m proud of the horse. He’s a solid horse,” Cox said. “This is a good race and it’s going to set him up for the Derby. Win or lose. I’m glad we came out on the right end.” The Diamond Anniversary of the Curlin Florida Derby offered 200 qualifying points for the May 2 Kentucky Derby on a scale of 100-50-25-15-10 to the first five finishers. The first jewel of the Triple Crown has been won by 26 starters in the Curlin Florida Derby, while 47 starters have captured a total of 63 Triple Crown races. “He’s a big sturdy horse, I’ve said that several times. He takes his races really well and a couple people told me he was the paddock pick,” Cox said. “He’s a big sturdy horse and once again, if he comes out of it in good order, I think it will set him up for five weeks.” Commandment, the 9-5 second choice, rallied from last in the field of six under Flavien Prat after sitting off the pace set by Wayne’s Law and pressed by Nearly past fractions of :24.10 and :48.80 seconds for the first half-mile. Nearly, who was coming off a 5 ¾-length victory in the Jan. 31 Holy Bull at Gulfstream, took over the lead on the far turn only to be immediately challenged by The Puma, who took over the lead on the turn into the homestretch and opened up a clear lead. Prat sent Commandment five-wide on the final turn to loom as the only danger. The Cox-trainee responded to Prat’s urging to just catch The Puma at the wire. “I was a bit worried because I wasn’t traveling very well the first part. The pace wasn’t very fast, and I was just in the back, and I thought I would be a bit closer. Then I tipped him out turning for home, he swapped leads and from there he gave me a good, solid run,” Prat said. "I thought I had the bob, but I wasn’t sure. He’s very workmanlike. He’s straightforward, and he’s a fighter. He showed some guts down the lane.” Commandment, a three-time winner during this season’s Championship Meet, ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.99 to nip The Puma, who captured the Tampa Bay Derby in his prior start. “We thought we had him,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., the son and assistant to The Puma’s trainer, “but other than that, it was really, really what we wanted to see before the Derby.” The Puma, who was ridden by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, edged third-place finisher Chief Wallabee, the Coolmore Fountain of Youth runner-up trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, by a half-length. “The trip was OK. We were saving ground. He tipped him out and he just felt like, as easily as he was traveling, he would probably accelerate a little quicker than what he did. I mean, he came on but maybe not as quick,” Mott said. “As well as he was traveling on the bridle, when [jockey Junior Alvarado] released him he thought he would probably quicken a little more. But, you know, it’s only his third race and they’ve got to learn to do that. He’s getting more experience, and it wasn’t a bad race. It was a good race.” Chief Wallabee rallied mildly in the stretch to finish 3 ¼ lengths clear of a tiring Nearly, who finished fourth under Hall of Famer John Velazquez. “Maybe he needed this to make him move forward. We'll see. We've got time to see how he comes out of it, train here a little bit, survey the complexion of everything,” said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, whose 7-5 favorite was coming off three straight victories at Gulfstream by a combined 20 lengths. “[Velazquez] felt like he didn't handle the track the way it was today, the way he handled it previously. He felt like he was sort of just spinning his wheels a little bit. He didn't run bad. He just didn't run as well as he's capable of.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - Florida Derby Day at Gulfstream Park features a spectacular program Saturday featuring10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.675 million in purses anchored by the $1 million, Gr. I Curlin Florida Derby presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa for 3-year-olds, the country’s premier Triple Crown prep celebrating its 75th anniversary. Gulfstream odds-maker Brian Nadeau has Fountain of Youth runner-up Chief Wallabee at 2-1, Fountain of Youth winner Commandment at 5-2, Holy Bull winner Nearly 3-1, and Tampa Bay Derby winner The Puma 9-2.
Trainer Brad Cox is seeking his second consecutive victory in the Florida Derby. He won last year with Tappan Street. Todd Pletcher, who saddles Nearly, will seek his record ninth Florida Derby victory. Bill Mott, trainer of Chief Wallabee, will try to win his first Florida Derby after finishing second three times. A victory by The Puma would provide trainer Gustavo Delgado with his first Florida Derby victory. Delgado won the 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) with Mage. First race post Saturday is 11:30 a.m.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Though he will spend the final weekend of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet honoring out of town commitments, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. put the finishing touches on an expected record-extending seventh riding title Sunday at Gulfstream Park. The 33-year-old Ortiz won aboard Brian Lynch-trained favorite Zakinthos ($4.60) in Race 5, a maiden special weight for 3-year-olds, and finished the country’s premier winter meet with 82 victories from 312 mounts, holding a 19-win lead over runner-up Tyler Gaffalione (408 mounts) with just four racing days remaining. It will be the fourth consecutive Championship Meet riding title for Ortiz, one shy of the track record set by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano between 2011-2012 and 2015-2016, and seventh overall. Last winter, Ortiz became the first jockey to win the riding title for a sixth time. “I’m happy. It’s been a great meet,” Ortiz said. “I’m thankful for the huge support as always from all the trainers and owners. I’m happy to have been able to win another title here. It’s amazing. My agent does a great job. I’m just happy and glad to be here.”
Represented by Steve Rushing, Ortiz will finish second to Gaffalione with $3.94 million in purses earned at the Championship Meet. Among his victories are six stakes, including the Gr. II Coolmore Fountain of Youth and Mucho Macho Man with Commandment, Gr. III Forward Gal with On Time Girl and Gr. III Fort Lauderdale with Wolfie’s Dynaghost.
On Dec. 13, Jose D’Angelo-trained White Claw Woman gave Ortiz his 1,000th Gulfstream Park winner. Already a five-time Eclipse Award winner, he finished second in balloting for 2025 despite leading the country with 351 wins and setting a North American record with $40,498,792 in purse earnings. Ortiz missed action last weekend with a sore hip after his mount, A Moment a Love, veered after breaking from the gate and tried to jump the temporary inner rail on March 12, throwing Ortiz to the turf. He returned to action Saturday at Turfway Park and Sunday was his first day back at Gulfstream. “It’s a beautiful place to be in the wintertime. I love the track. I love the people. I love the people that run the track. I’ve been coming here for a lot of years and I love it all,” Ortiz said. “You have some good prep races and some nice young horses here to try to find the Derby winner. That’s where you start the dream, here at Gulfstream.”
Lennilu Opens Season with Popular Melody of Colors Win Amy Dunne, Caitlin Dunne, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing, Tranquility Lake Farm, Maury Harrington and Christopher Harrington’s Lennilu kicked off her season in style with a popular victory in Sunday’s $125,000 Leinster Melody of Colors for 3-year-old fillies. Ridden by Luis Saez for trainer Patrick Biancone, Lennilu ($2.80) covered five furlongs over a turf course rated good in :56.26 seconds for her fifth win from seven career starts and fourth in a stakes. Three of her four stakes wins have come on the grass at Gulfstream, where she is 3-0 lifetime. Mystical Belle, a winner of two straight on the all-weather Tapeta course trying turf for the first time, broke alertly and was sent to the lead by jockey Tyler Gaffalione, leading trough a quarter-mile in :21.28 seconds while racing in the two path. Viable Asset, unbeaten in two starts and making her stakes debut, pressed in second along the rail with Lennilu in the clear three wide in third. The half went in :43.87 seconds with Mystical Belle clinging to a short lead after straightening for home, but Lennilu asserted her class and wore down the longshot leader, edging clear late to win by three-quarters of a length. Mystical Belle held second, followed by 73-1 Tizasweetlady, Viable Asset, Jetty’s Home, Canton, I Love Giraffes and Finch. Secane and Rockyta were scratched. Lennilu ran six times as a 2-year-old, winning Gulfstream’s Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies in her second start last spring to earn an automatic berth in the Gr. II Queen Mary at Royal Ascot where she ran third, beaten less than two lengths by subsequent Group 1 winner True Love. She returned to win the Desert Vixen division of the Florida Sire Stakes series over Gulfstream’s main track in September, then was back on turf to beat the boys in the Hollywood Beach sprinting five furlongs. Sunday was her first race since finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, also against males, Oct. 31. “It was good,” Biancone said of Sunday’s win. “It was a long layoff. We decided to give her plenty of time to grow because she started early in April [2025]. She’s back. I think she’s a little better than she was last year.” Next up for Lennilu is the 5 ½-furlong Limestone (G3) April 10 at Keenland, Biancone said.
Daniel Alonso’s Gr. 1 winner Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator – Twinkling, by War Chant) made short work of his overmatched rivals when he cruised to a 5 ¼-length victory in the $500,000, Gr. III Essex Handicap at Oaklawn Park, leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates. The victory marked the 12th career graded triumph for Skippylongstocking and increased his overall earnings to $5,746,250 after winning for the 14th time in 37 starts. The 7-year-old son of Exaggerator has won his last three starts, including the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. Skippylongstocking’s winning time was 1:48.82, the quickest since the Essex was extended from 1 1/16 to 1 1/8 miles in 2024. “Obviously before the race, you’re the favorite” Joseph said. “There’s a lot of pressure and you’re thinking all different variables, but it worked out great. He was very impressive once again.”
Skippylongstocking was purchased by Alonso for $37,000 out of the Top Line Sales consignment at the 2021 OBS April Sale after breezing an eighth in :10 2/5.
Paradise Farms Corp.’s Willy D’s (Lookin At Lucky-Boston Mine, by Mineshaft) out-finished defending winner Mercante to capture the $295,000, Gr. III Kentucky Cup Classic at Turfway Park and earn his first graded stakes win. Trained by Mike Maker, Willy D’s boosted his earnings $757,008. The six-time winner was purchased for $60,000 by Greg Compton, agent for Danny W. Brown at the 2023 OBS April Sale from the Woodside Ranch consignment after breezing in :22 1/5. At Fair Grounds, Twin Oaks Bloodstock’s Way to Be Marie (Not This Time –Woman of the World, by Henrythenavigator) successfully defended her title in the $150,000 Tom Benson Memorial, part of the undercard stakes on Louisiana Derby Day. Way to Be Marie was making her first start for trainer Eddie Kenneally and rallied down the center of the stretch to capture the Tom Benson Memorial for the second straight year. She was purchased by Madaket Stables for $95,000 out of the 2023 OBS April sale from the GOP Racing Stable consignment after breezing in :21 1/5. The Louisiana Derby undercard also saw Keith Plaisance’s Nine Part (Leofric - Alva, by Into Mischief) earn his first stakes victory in just his second turf start in the $100,000 Costa Rising. Trained by Bobby Felks, Nine Part prevailed by one length to earn his sixth win from seven career starts. He was purchased by Nick Hines, agent for Plaisance, for $46,000 at the 2023 OBS June Sale from the Grassroots Training and Sales consignment after breezing in :10 1/5. At Laurel Park, Miss Fulton Gal (Rock Your World-Leah Forestiere, by Not This Time) managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in the $100,000 Beyond the Wire Stakes when she scored by a head. Miss Fulton Gal is trained by Michael Gorham and is a two-time OBS graduate, having sold for $5,000 as a yearling at the 2024 OBS October Sale out of the Afleet Equine Services consignment before being purchased $35,000 at the 2025 OBS June Sale by jockey Vincent “Jimbo” Bracciale on behalf of co-owners Trott Racing Stables and Five Sisters Farm, who campaign her with John Polizos, out of the Blue Sapphire Stables consignment after breezing in :21 3/5.
At Turfway Park, Highlander Training Center’s Stylish Sue (Nyquist-Maria Maria, by Curlin) went straight to the front and was never headed en route to victory in the $248,000 Latonia Stakes. Trained by Joe Sharp, Stylish Sue was offered by Clary Bloodstock at the 2023 OBS March Sale where she failed to meet her reserve after breezing in :10 3/5. The Gulfstream Park card on March 22 saw Amy Dunne, Caitlin Dunne, Brenda Miley, Jean Wilkinson, Hoffman Family Racing, Tranquility Lake Farm, Maury Harrington and Christopher Harrington’s Lennilu (Leinster – Lulu’s Pom Pom, by Pomeroy) kick off her season with a victory over fellow OBS grad Mystical Belle in the $125,000 Leinster Melody of Colors.
Trained by Patrick Biancone, Lennilu earned her fifth win from seven career starts and fourth in a stakes. She was purchased by Glencrest Farm for $23,000 from the Abbie Road Farm consignment at the 2024 OBS Winter Mixed Sale.
At Fair Grounds, Blue Fire (Aurelius Maximus – Mystic Blue, by Maimonides) sped to the lead and held off fellow OBS grad Margie’s Intention in the four-horse field to win the $100,000 Shantel Lanerie Memorial
Owned by Stonestreet Stables and Peter Leidel and trained by Steve Asmussen, Blue Fire was purchased for $32,000 by Fast Horses out of the 2023 OBS Winter Mixed Sale from the Kaizen Sales consignment.
The success Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. graduate Yaupon enjoyed with his first crop of runners in 2025 was enough to catch the eye of one of the more noted bloodstock agents in the thoroughbred industry. It also helped contribute to a bit of history being made inside the sales pavilion where the son of Uncle Mo first made his mark. When the dust settled on the OBS March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale a year ago, a milestone for top-end success had been established as seven horses sold for seven figures during the auction, the most ever for an OBS March sale. When the 2026 edition of the sale concluded its three-day run on March 12, another illustrious chapter had been added to the annals as it delivered a record March gross and equaled the OBS March record with seven horses crossing the million-dollar threshold.
After having six horses reach the seven-figure stratosphere during the first two days of the sale, Hip 576, a bay colt by Yaupon consigned by King’s Equine, became the final horse to bust through that lofty barrier when he was purchased by agent Donato Lanni on behalf of the “Three Amigos,” also known as the ownership trio of Michael Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. That final exclamation point put a stamp on a sale that continues to build upon the breadth and depth of buying power showcased a year ago. The overall gross of $72,050,000 from 443 head sold at the close of business Thursday surpassed the previous March record of $71,473,500 from 464 sold, established in 2023. In addition to hitting that mark and besting the total gross of $65,660,500 generated by 432 sold in 2025, the cumulative average of $162,641 surpassed the 2025 figure of $151,992, with the median improving from $70,000 last year to $85,000 this season. “Very gratified and pleased and happy for the consignors,” said Tod Wojciechowski, Director of Sales for OBS. “As I say all the time, they bring the horses and it’s the quality of the horses they bring is that brings those prices. Very pleased with the amount of trade that took place all three days, both domestically and internationally. We had involvement from a lot of different buyers, so we were very happy with that. What we saw early on proved out in the sale prices and proved out over the last three days.” At the close of business Thursday, a total of 123 horses failed to meet their reserve, resulting in an RNA rate of 21.7% compared to 17.6% in 2025. Wednesday’s session saw Hip 372, a bay filly by Nyquist consigned by Wavertree Stables (Ciaran Dunne), top the auction when she sold for $2 million to representatives of Boyd Racing. That final bid put the filly, who breezed in :9 3/5, in a three-way tie for the honor of being the second-highest priced horse to sell at an OBS March sale - second only to Brant who brought a record $3 million last year – joining Muth (2023) and Chestertown (2019). “(Buying) has been so tough, we knew we’d have to stretch for her,” said Hannah Jennings of Killora Stud after signing the ticket on behalf of Boyd Racing for the Nyquist filly. “We never thought we’d have to stretch that far but when the horse is the right one, everyone is on them.” The Nyquist filly highlighted a Wavertree consignment that sold 13 head for a sales-leading gross of $7,730,000. After witnessing the precocity showcased by Yaupon’s offspring on the track, Lanni stretched a fair amount himself to land Thursday’s session-leading son of the Spendthrift stallion. Yaupon was the leading first-crop sire of 2025 and the speed that was his trademark was flaunted by Hip 576 when the colt breezed in :9 4/5 during the under-tack show. “He was beautiful, fast, and sound. He came out of the work really well,” said Lanni, who added the colt would head to California. “These horses, they have to do it here and they have to do everything right. And he was a horse who did well. We love the sire. Big Yaupon fan. They’re precocious they’re quick, they look really forward. (Yaupon) had a good year last year. We were on the sidelines last year, we watched. But we’re getting in now.” The colt is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Balbina, who is a daughter of multiple graded stakes-winner Ready’s Gal and a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Machen. “He’s a beautiful horse, he’s got everything people want on a horse,” Raul Reyes of King’s Equine said of the colt. “He really looks good and he’s very fast, that helps too. We felt he would probably bring seven figures and he barely made it, but he made it.” Lanni also signed the ticket for the second highest priced horse to sell during Thursday’s session, Hip 694, a daughter of Constitution that he purchased for $800,000 on behalf of owner Frank Fletcher. Consigned by de Meric Sales, the filly breezed in :10 flat during the under-tack show and is out of the winning Curlin mare Curls and Bows, who is a half-sister to Gr. 1 winner Dearest Trickski. Fletcher led all buyers by gross with two horses purchased for $2,650,000. He also purchased the sale’s second highest priced horse, Hip 416, a bay colt by OBS March graduate and leading sire Into Mischief, who elicited a final bid of $1.85 million and became the first seven-figure horse ever sold by Susan Montanye’s S B M Training and Sales consignment. “The other thing that I think was noteworthy is… a lot of the younger consignors are becoming a bigger and bigger part of the sales as we lose people like Eddie Woods,” Wojciechowski said. “We see these younger consignors starting to grow more and more within the industry.” The sale also featured the first 2-year-olds by champion Flightline, and Hip 698, a daughter of the Lane’s End stallion, produced the third-highest price of the third and final session when she sold for $775,000 to Hideyuki Mori. Consigned by Wavertree Stables (Ciaran Dunne), the filly breezed in :10 flat and is out of Gr. 1 winner Dalika (GER), a daughter of Pastorius (GER). Other notable prices on the day included: Hip 683, a gray or roan ridgling by Epicenter consigned by King's Equine who sold for $560,000 to William K Werner. The colt, who breezed in :9 4/5, is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Copper Quest, who is a half-sister to graded stakes-winner Copper Bullet. Hip 671, a bay colt by Nashville consigned by Twelve Toes LLC who sold for $525,000 to St. Elias Stable. The colt, who breezed in :10 flat, is out of the winning Tapit mare Closet Shopper and hails from the female family of Gr. 1 winner Sweet Lulu. Thursday’s session finished with a gross of $19,396,500 from 130 head sold, down from the $25,161,500 generated by 152 sold during the third session in 2025. The session average of $169,204 was up over the $165,536 posted last year while the session median improved from $61,000 in 2025 to $77,500. There were 47 horses who failed to meet their reserve during the final session, resulting in an RNA rate of 26.5%, compared to 15.5% during the corresponding session a year ago.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Jeff Kerber’s 3-year-old homebred colt Unsearchable, making her second career start, came with a steady run through the stretch and edged clear of Triple Crown-nominated Final Story late to give trainer George ‘Rusty’ Arnold II his 2,000th career victory Saturday at Gulfstream.
Ridden by jockey Jorge Ruiz, also up for Unsearchable’s Feb. 7 unveiling at Gulfstream, the son of Not This Time ($5.80) ran seven furlongs on a fast main track in 1:22.97 to win the maiden special weight for 3-year-olds by a half-length.
Unsearchable was the lone starter of the day, 26th of the Championship Meet and third winner for Arnold, who turns 71 on March 26. He picked up win No. 1,999 with 3-year-old filly To a Flame March 7 at Gulfstream.
“We’ve stood the test of time. It’s been a long haul and then the last month it got really slow. It’s great. It’s very exciting that I got there,” Arnold said. “Good horses keep you going. They make you wake up a little more excited. This is one of them, I think.”
A native of Paris, Ky., Arnold celebrated the milestone victory in the winner’s circle with his wife, Sarah, a former exercise rider who has been his long-time assistant.
“She’s the backbone of the operation. She’s been there for them all, just about,” Arnold said. “I’ve had a bunch of really, really good assistants and been very, very lucky. Good owners, good assistants and a great wife that oversees it all and steadies me when I need steadying.”
Arnold has banked nearly $92.4 million in purse earnings from 13,623 starters since going out on his own in 1975. He has reached seven figures in purses earned in 40 of the last 41 years, reaching a career high of $5,603,177 in 2025.
“Fortunately for us, it got really good now. A lot of it doesn’t happen when you’re my age,” he said. “It kind of tips off the hill, and the last three years have been the best three years we’ve ever had. It kind of keeps you going.”
A third-generation horseman, Arnold’s father co-owned Fair Acres Farm where he bred horses to race and sell. Arnold’s brother, Terry, works at WinStar Farm.
Growing up, Arnold worked on the family farm during weekends and summers. He galloped for trainer Eugene Euster while taking pre-veterinary courses at the University of Kentucky, working his way up to assistant trainer before going out on his own. In 1985, Arnold was named to train a division of John Ed Anthony’s Loblolly Stable replacing eventual Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey. In recent years he has had success training for owner G. Watts Humphrey Jr.
Arnold earned the first of his 108 graded stakes victories with The Wheel Turns in the 1982 Barbara Fritchie (G2) at Bowie Race Course in Maryland. Later that year, Wavering Monarch gave him his first Gr. 1 win in the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.
Other Gr. 1 success for Arnold has come in the 2025 and 2001 Test, 2019 Belmont Oaks Invitational, 2017 and 1997 Spinster, 2016 and 2012 Ashland, 2013 Jenny Wiley, 2010 Maker’s Mark Mile, 2007 Breeders’ Futurity, 1996 Shuvee, 1993 Nassau County Handicap, 1990 Top Flight Handicap, 1989 Demoiselle, 1988 Futurity and 1986 Brooklyn.
Arnold has trained seven millionaires, led by two-time graded stakes-winner Gear Jockey ($1.6 million). Last fall, he became the all-time leading trainer at Keeneland with his 309th victory, one more than Hall of Famer Bill Mott. “Becoming the all-time leading trainer at Keeneland was big for me. I grew up there,” Arnold said. “You always think about the first graded stake you won. There’s a lot of things to sit back and reflect on. Fifty-one years I’ve been lucky enough to do this. To come to work and do this job for 51 years, it doesn’t happen much.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - Jockey Diego Herrera called his victory aboard British Isles in the Santa Anita Handicap Saturday “the big daddy.”
Having now won his first Gr. 1 race, the 21-year-old rider is ready for more success.
After riding British Isles in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational in January at Gulfstream Park and “enjoying the atmosphere,” Herrera has decided to leave the left coast for South Florida and Gulfstream. He will be represented by agent Kevin Meyocks.
“I’m trying to seek more opportunities to ride and get more experience,” said Herrera, who has won 257 races since 2021 through Saturday. “Things can get light out here sometimes, a lot of smaller fields. I went to Gulfstream to ride British Isles in the Pegasus, and I liked the atmosphere, I liked Gulfstream, and I spoke to Kevin and it seemed like something I’d like to try.”
It’s a big move for Herrera, who was born in Inglewood, California and has been around horses all his life. He won the 2025 Cecil B. DeMille (G3) aboard Unrivaled Time and the 2024 Autumn Miss (G3) on Watchtower.
“I was riding ponies at probably 6 years old, quarter horses around 12 and I got licensed at 15 ? to ride,” Herrera said. “I love the sport. I’m due to get in around March 19 and we’ll see what happens. I’m really looking forward to it."
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. * 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.
The start of the juvenile auction season also represents the anticipated unveiling of 2-year-olds from first-crop sires. Fittingly, two of the more precocious members of their generation are already showing signs of success ahead of the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. 2026 March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale. Hip 508, a chestnut filly by Drain the Clock, and Hip 598, a dark bay or brown colt by Golden Pal, combined to produce a standout day for the Top Line Sales consignment as both flagbearers of Jimbo and Torie Gladwell’s barn worked an eighth in :9 3/5 to tie for the fastest time at the distance during the third day of under-tack shows. Both Drain the Clock, who stands at Gainesway, and Golden Pal, a member of Coolmore’s Ashford Stud roster, are represented by their first 2-year-olds this year and each appear to be stamping their offspring with the same precocity they showed during their respective Grade 1 winning careers. The Drain the Clock filly is out of the winning Grand Appointment mare Windsail and is a half sister to stakes winner Windy Lu Who. The Golden Pal colt is out of the winning Sligo Bay (IRE) mare Bide a Wee Island and is a half brother to graded stakes winner Island Commish. “Those horses have both been really good all year,” said Jimbo Gladwell of Top Line Sales. “We knew we had a shot at going fast today but you never think you’re going to go :9 3/5. Once the Golden Pal did it, we thought the Drain the Clock might do it because she’s been right there head and head with him all year. The Drain the Clocks have been big, beautiful horses. And the Golden Pal, he’s been straightforward. Anybody can get him to go fast. “They’re both big horses who have a lot of balance and a lot of muscle to them and both of them have a good way of moving with really big strides,” Gladwell continued. “The way OBS has the track set up safe and fast for us, the bigger striding horses get across it easily and they come back home safe and happy.” The fastest quarter-mile on a day dotted with overcast conditions came when Hip 453, Candy Illusion, a dark bay or brown filly by Twirling Candy, covered the distance in :20 2/5. Consigned by Tom McCrocklin, Candy Illusion is out of the winning, stakes-placed Tizway mare Tizanillusion, an OBS graduate and half sister to stakes winner All That Magic. “Very high expectations for her. She’s always been nice, a very fast filly,” McCrocklin said of Candy Illusion. “I had set myself up for disappointment because I was expecting a big breeze when she came through. “She has a lot of length and scope. She’s deceptive because she’s not moving her legs fast but she’s covering a lot of ground which to me is always a good sign. She’s a very exciting filly.” McCrocklin also consigns Hip 610, Dash, a dark bay or brown filly by Cyberknife who worked a quarter in :20 4/5. The filly is out of the winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Blast, who is a full sister to graded-stakes placed winner and OBS March graduate Fun. Dash is also a half sister to Grade 1 winner Velocity, an OBS March graduate. A pair of horses posted the second fastest quarter of the day, going in :20 3/5: Hip 433, a dark bay or brown filly by Olympiad consigned by Hoppel LLC. The filly is out of the winning stakes-placed Tapit mare Tapped, who is out of graded stakes winner Gemswick Park and is a half sister to stakes winner and Grade 1 placed Scotland.
Hip 537, a gray or roan filly by Roadster consigned by Ocala Stud. The filly is out of the winning Trippi mare Alotofappeal and is a half sister to stakes winners and OBS graduates Epona’s Hope and King Cab as well as fellow stakes winner B C’s Train. A total of 17 horses worked an eighth in :9 4/5Hip 416, a bay colt by leading sire and OBS March graduate Into Mischief consigned by S B M Training and Sales. The colt is out of the winning, graded stakes placed Will Take Charge mare Sweet Diane and is a half brother to stakes winner Miss Martini. Hip 419, a bay colt by Olympiad consigned by Omar Ramirez Bloodstock. The colt is out of the First Defence mare Tactical Move, a daughter of Grade 1 winner Game Face, an OBS March graduate. Hip 437, a dark bay or brown filly by OBS graduate Yaupon consigned by de Meric Sales. The filly is out of the Candy Ride (ARG) mare Tempered, a half sister to stakes-winner and graded stakes placed Cowan, an OBS March graduate. Hip 445, a dark bay or brown filly by Aloha West consigned by Top Line Sales LLC. The filly is out of the winning Smart Strike mare Thepartyneverends, who is a half sister to stakes winners Laurie’s Rocket and Greeley’s Rocket, an OBS March graduate. Hip 449, a dark bay or brown filly by Jackie’s Warrior consigned by Kings Equine. The filly is out of the multiple stakes winning and graded stakes placed Sky Mesa mare Thundering Sky and is a half sister to graded stakes placed winner Corruption, an OBS graduate. Hip 466, a dark bay or brown colt by Early Voting consigned by L. G., Agent. The colt is out of the winning stakes-placed Hold Me Back mare Truth in the Lies, a half sister to multiple stakes winner Trueamericanspirit.
Hip 474, a dark bay or brown filly by Omaha Beach consigned by Blue River Bloodstock. The filly is out of the multiple stakes winning Hook and Ladder mare Under Serviced and is a half sister to stakes placed winners Kingpin and Lucky Mike. Hip 476, a gray or roan colt by Army Mule consigned by Hoppel LLC. The colt is out of the Creative Cause mare Upandtotheright, a half sister to graded stakes winner The Pamplemousse, an OBS March graduate. Hip 505, a bay filly by Golden Pal consigned by Blue River Bloodstock. The filly is out of the winning Wildcat Heir mare Wildcat Gaze, a half sister to stakes winners Saratoga Treasure and April Gaze. Hip 519, a bay filly by Nashville consigned by Blue Sapphire Stables. The filly is out of the winning Runhappy mare Zebra Cake and is from the female family of graded stakes winners Red Ruby and Mo Tom. Hip 526, a bay colt by Practical Joke consigned by Top Line Sales LLC. The colt is out of the Speightstown mare Air of Authority, who hails from the female family of graded stakes winner and OBS March graduate Conquest Panthera. Hip 533, Martha, a gray or roan filly by Independence Hall consigned by Golden Rock Thoroughbreds. The filly is out of the winning Liam’s Map mare All Over the Map. Hip 561, a dark bay or brown colt by Life Is Good consigned by Top Line Sales LLC. The colt is out of the stakes-winning and graded stakes placed Run Away and Hide mare Ask Bailey, an OBS graduate. Hip 572, a dark bay or brown colt by Mendelssohn consigned by Dark Star Thoroughbreds (Stori Atchison). The colt is out of the Street Cry mare Bachelors Walk, a daughter of multiple group winner Sander Camillo.
Hip 576, a bay colt by OBS graduate Yaupon consigned by Kings Equine. The colt is out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Balbina, a daughter of multiple graded stakes winner Ready’s Gal and a half sister to graded stakes winner Machen. Hip 595, a gray or roan filly by Drain the Clock consigned by J & R Thoroughbreds LLC. The filly is out of the Street Boss mare Bettyfromtheblock, a daughter of Balboa Betty, who is a full sister to champion Tiznow and graded winners Budroyale and Tizdubai. Hip 607, a bay colt by Authentic consigned by de Meric Sales. The colt is out of the winning Not For Love mare Bitterroot, a full sister to multiple stakes winner Clubman.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Gulfstream Park and the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (FHBPA) are currently developing a 2026 fall racing schedule designed to provide expanded opportunities for Florida-bred horses with fewer restrictions. As part of this effort, FHBPA President Tom Cannell expressed strong support for owners purchasing Florida-bred two-year-olds at the upcoming Ocala Breeders’ Sales. “We are committed to providing prospective owners of these two-year-olds with a quality and worthwhile racing schedule,” Cannell said. “While the full schedule is still being finalized, it will include stakes races designed to reward Florida-bred horses across the board.”
Gulfstream and the FHBPA recently reached a new racing agreement extending through 2028, reinforcing a shared commitment to maintaining a strong and competitive racing program in South Florida. Both organizations are actively working to retain and attract trainers and owners to make Gulfstream Park their racing home.
“Gulfstream Park remains a top-tier racetrack, and we will demonstrate our continued commitment to the owners, trainers, and horses that compete here,” Cannell said. “This initiative will help dispel the many rumors about our immediate racing future, and we look forward to putting our best foot forward.”
Gulfstream Park Executive Vice President David Duggan echoed that commitment and emphasized the track’s focus on strengthening the Florida-bred program. “We value the important role Florida-bred horses play in the success of Gulfstream Park and the broader Florida racing industry,” Duggan said. “Working together with the FHBPA, we are focused on creating a racing schedule that offers meaningful opportunities for owners, trainers, and breeders while continuing to position Gulfstream Park as a premier racing destination.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - Robert Cotran’s Rezasrolex, his nine-race win streak over the course of two seasons ended by an agonizing neck last time out, returns home to resume what the connections feel could be his best year yet in Saturday’s $125,000 Silks Run at Gulfstream Park. The 12th running of the five-furlong Silks Run for 4-year-olds and up, scheduled on the turf, co-headlines a 12-race program with the $175,000, Gr. III Hurricane Bertie for older filly and mare sprinters on the main track. First race post time is 12:50 p.m. Following a 2025 campaign where he was perfect in five starts, Rezasrolex, a gelded 5-year-old son of multiple Gr. II-winning turf sprinter Bucchero, has run twice this year going five furlongs on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs. He won a Jan. 11 optional claimer by 1 ½ lengths to extend a streak that began in June 2024 at Gulfstream, but was beaten in the Feb. 14 Turf Dash, his stakes debut. The winner, My Boy Prince, is a multiple stakes-winner on both turf and synthetic who has placed five times in graded stakes, four of them Gr. 1. Despite the loss, Rezasrolex registered a Beyer Speed Figure of 98, a career-best on any surface, finishing a head in front of stablemate And Uwish. “He got beat a tough neck the other day, I’ll tell you that. He kept trying and the truth is, he took the worst of it,” trainer Joe Orseno said “The one speed horse was in front of him and [jockey Edgard Zayas] didn’t want to go to the inside fearing that that horse would just angle down on us, so he went around him. Actually, the horse that was in front stopped my other horse from coming. And UWish maybe would have won the whole race if the horse didn’t stop in his face. Both my horses showed up and ran well, but My Boy Prince just got to sit on the rail and beat us a neck. That was a tough one.” Rezasrolex has won 13 of 18 lifetime starts, primarily in starter company, with 11 of those wins coming after Orseno claimed him for $16,000 out of a Dec. 7, 2023 victory on the all-weather Tapeta course. It was his first race at Gulfstream following two starts at Belterra Park, where he graduated going one mile on the grass. “A couple of years ago before Bucchero had a lot of runners, I had a few in my barn and I liked the stallion a lot. Actually, the fellow that I claimed this horse for bought into Bucchero so he now owns a piece of the stallion. That’s how much I liked him,” Orseno said. “I happened to see this horse run at Belterra and I thought, ‘Wow, this is a Bucchero that went a mile on the turf’ and that’s something, because they’re sometimes better off sprinting, but they do just about anything. “It just stayed in the back of my head,” he added. “When he came down to Gulfstream, he had run against a horse that we had, Tapit Three Times, and he beat him. The owner was like, ‘Well, I’m tired of this horse beating us, so we should take him.’ Then I said that this is the horse I saw run at Belterra and I liked him and he’s by Bucchero, so we should definitely take him.” Rezasrolex lost his first two races for the new connections, won the next two before losing again, then went on a run that covered a span of 570 days, winning on turf and Tapeta sprinting five and 5 ½ furlongs, favored eight times in nine races.
“He was eligible for that starter condition, from the [$25,000] to the [$35,000] to the [$50,000]. He won and every starter raised him in price,” Orseno said. “His numbers were starting to get better and the more confidence he got. The horse has had some minor little issues here and there and I’ve always stopped on him and gave him time. He’s a very happy horse right now.”
Though he has primarily won on the front end, Rezasrolex has also had success coming from just off the pace as he did in his season debut. He drew the rail in a field of seven with regular rider Zayas back.
“He’s been amazing,” Orseno said. “It looks like he’s going to be a stronger 5-year-old. The stallion didn’t really get good until he was 5, so this is kind of what we’re hoping. I kind of ran him sparingly last year, five starts, just in preparation to try and have a good campaign this year.” Among the competition for Rezasrolex will be his stablemate and defending champion Eamonn, also owned by Cotran. It will be the 48th career start for the 8-year-old, who hasn’t won since last year’s Silks Run with thirds in the Gr. II Shakertown at Keeneland and Wolf Hill at Monmouth Park last spring and summer. Six of Eamonn’s eight career wins have come on the Gulfstream turf. He makes the quick turnaround and cuts back off a fifth-place finish after getting away slowly and closing late in a one-mile optional claimer on the grass Feb. 22 at Tampa.
Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber’s Bold Journey (Hard Spun – Polly Freeze, by Super Saver) rallied from last-of-5 to secure his second career graded score in the Gr. III, $175,000 Tom Fool Stakes at Aqueduct, leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week. Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the 7-year-old son of Hard Spun previously captured the Gr. III Fall Highweight Handicap in 2023. On Saturday, he rallied down the outside of the track to get up and win by a nose with fellow OBS grad One Nine Hundred in third. “He did his job today. He was able to get really comfortable,” winning jockey Eric Cancel said. “By the three-eighths (pole), he started picking it up little by little. Once we turned for home, I still had some horse, and he gave his all out there."
Bold Journey was purchased by McMahon and Hill Bloodstock, agent, for $80,000 out of the McKathan Bros. consignment at the 2021 OBS April Sale after breezing in :10 1/5. At Fair Grounds, Black Hornet (Essential Quality-Brattata, by More Than Ready) tipped out in the stretch and ran down odds-on favorite Touch of Fire to win the $100,000 Black Gold Stakes. Trained by Brendan Walsh and owned by Calumet Farm, the son of Essential Quality was purchased by his owner at the 2025 OBS March Sale for $120,000 from the Scanlon Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :10 1/5.
Saturday’s Fair Grounds card also saw Boss of All Bosses (Street Boss-Tensas Salt, by Salt Lake) take command in the final furlong to win the $100,000 Edward J. Johnston Memorial Stakes by 3 1/2 lengths for trainer Mike Maker. Owned by Paradise Farms Corp., David Staudacher, Angelo Carlesimo, and Gata Racing Stable, the colt was purchased by Maker for $90,000 at the 2024 OBS April Sale from the Grassroots Training and Sales consignment after breezing in :10 1/5.
At Aqueduct, Winning Move Stable, John C. Oxley, Lady Sheila Stable, Silverwood Stables and Sanford H. Robbins’ With the Angels (Omaha Beach – Sister Margaret, by Pulpit) earned a 4 1/2-length score for her first open-company stakes victory in the $135,000 Correction Stakes.
Trained by Linda Rice, the 4-year-old daughter of Omaha Beach adds to previous state-bred stakes success in the Joseph A. Gimma, Maid of the Mist and Key Cents as part of a 4-for-4 juvenile campaign in 2024. She was purchased by Justin Casse, agent, out of the Wavertree Stables consignment at the 2024 OBS April Sale for $350,000 after breezing in :9 4/5.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Jockey David Egan made a winning return to Gulfstream Park Thursday after spending two weeks back in Europe, guiding Lea Farms’ Never Count Me Out ($4) to a popular victory in Race 4. The 26-year-old Irish-born and Great Britain-based jockey, has ridden at Gulfstream during Europe’s offseason the past few years, notched his 18th winning ride of the Championship Meet aboard the Jorge Delgado-trained 3-year-old Tacitus colt in the 5-furlong, $35,000 maiden claiming race. Making his second career start, Never Count Me Out stumbled early before making a four-wide sweep to the lead and drawing off to win by five lengths. “This horse definitely wants longer,” Egan said. “The first jump was quick. The second step out of the gate he stumbled and went to his head, and I had to rush him down the backstretch, which was not ideal. But he’s was much the best. He’s a big strong horse.” Egan, the multiple Group 1 stakes-winning former British champion apprentice, is under contract with European sports agent Kia Joorabchian’s AMO Racing. “I was back in the U.K., riding some horses on the track. We have a lot of young horses coming through, so I was over there to breeze them at the farms,” Egan said. “It’s an important time of year getting these horses ready.” Egan has a busy riding schedule this weekend with six mounts today, 11 on Saturday’s 14-race Coolmore Fountain of Yout Day card, and nine on Sunday. “I’m here all of this week and next week anyway,” Egan said. “I’ve got some nice rides – a nice filly, Domino Vitali, for Jorge again for AMO Racing. I have lots of rides on Saturday, Fountain of Youth Day, not in the big one, but I’m in nearly all the other races.”
Champion Apprentice Moran Rides at Gulfstream Sunday Pietro Moran, who won the 2025 Outstanding Apprentice Eclipse Award, will begin riding at Gulfstream Sunday. The 20-year-old Irish-born jockey, whose meet-leading 140 wins at Woodbine included a $1 million King’s Plate victory aboard Mansetti, has been named on a pair of 3-year-old maidens by Canadian trainer Rachel Halden. He has the mounts on Magical Factor in Race 8, a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight on turf, and Just In Touch in Race 11, a 1 1/8-mile maiden special weight race on turf for fillies. “I’ll ride here until April and head back to Woodbine,” said Moran, who lived in Ireland for six years before moving with his family to Canada. “I’m here for the experience. It’s a good room with a lot of good riders I can learn from and a lot of good trainers and owners.” Moran no longer qualifies for the five-pound apprentice allowance. “I’ve been very fortunate so far. I’ve had a lot of opportunities and support, and I hope to keep it going,” Moran said.
OLDSMAR - It looked for all the world as if pair of longshot winners had helped to create a huge late Pick-5 carryover pool going into Friday’s action.
Instead, 9-5 second choice Midway Vow staged a dramatic rally in the ninth and final on the turf under jockey Cipriano Gil for a victory that enabled one bettor to take home the whole Pick-5 shebang of $98,367.
Earlier victories by 46-1 shot Curlin Gunner in the sixth race and 17-1 shot Keigs in the seventh had raised everyone’s hopes (well, almost everyone) of a carryover, but the 5-year-old mare Midway Vow proved best in sterling fashion, showing that sometimes a pot of gold does rest at the end of a rainbow for somebody.
OLDSMAR - Just past the halfway point of the meet, jockey Samuel Marin is on pace to eclipse the track’s single-season victory record of 147 set 11 years ago by Antonio Gallardo.
Marin, a 24-year-old product of Trujillo, Venezuela, rode five winners Friday for the second time this season. He followed up that performance Saturday with three winners and two seconds from five mounts, capping the card in exciting fashion with a victory aboard trainer Mark Casse’s 5-year-old gelding My Boy Prince in the $100,000 Turf Dash Stakes.
With 81 winners, Marin is on pace to ride 153 winners assuming he competes through the May 3 finale. He has a 28-victory advantage over five-time Tampa Bay Downs champion Samy Camacho in the standings. Marin added three more winners to his ledger Sunday.
Friday’s card brought into clear focus some of the reasons Marin has been so dominant. His first four winners were all favorites – in some part, of course, due to trainers clamoring for his services because of his all-around skills. But having a target on his back hasn’t stopped him from making the right moves at the right time in a majority of races to get those “people’s choices” home in front.
Then, in Friday’s final race at a mile on the turf aboard 5-year-old horse Son of a Slew, Marin angled over to the rail from the No. 5 post soon after the start and stayed there throughout while the pace-setters vied for the lead. Son of a Slew gave a strong response along the inside when summoned, posting a ¾-length victory.
Saturday’s Turf Dash, although shorter at 5 furlongs, was decided similarly, as Marin got My Boy Prince to the rail right before the turn, a maneuver that proved decisive through the stretch as the winner outlasted hard-charging Rezasrolex by a neck.
Marin’s winning percentage of 26.6 is the best of any jockey at the meet with at least 40 mounts.
My Boy Prince’s victory was the fifth stakes triumph in a nine-day period for Casse, who also won Saturday’s Lightning City Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs with 5-year-old mare Creed’s Gold. And, wouldn’t you know it: Less than an hour after the Turf Dash Stakes, the trainer’s 3-year-old filly French Friction won the Dixie Belle Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Little Thunder makes big noise. Although the main track was producing faster times than usual Saturday, plenty of horsemen and handicappers took notice when 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding Little Thunder won the seventh race in 1:08.95, .28 seconds off the track record set in 2012 by filly It’s Me Mom.
Trainer Tim Hamm, who also owns Little Thunder under his Blazing Meadows Farm banner in partnership with the horse’s breeder, Thomas Equels, watched the allowance/optional claiming race from his Ocala training center after supervising a full schedule of 2-year-old breezes earlier in the day. By the time he was finished, he thought he’d be cutting it too close to make it to Tampa Bay Downs in time for the race, entrusting assistant Julie Hutchison with the saddling duties.
What they witnessed in the horse’s third career start was awesome to behold. Despite only moderate encouragement from jockey Cipriano Gil, Little Thunder kept widening his lead through the stretch, posting a 7 ¾-length victory from Mor Spring Spirit.
“He’s a horse that every single time he has done something, he has shown up,” Hamm said. “I told my son Shane that when you get a horse that shows up every time, that’s a horse.” Hamm has been patient in developing the son of Noble Bird-Circular Rainbow, by Circular Quay, who he described as “a big, gangly horse” as a 2-year-old. He decided against running him up north last summer to start him at Tampa Bay Downs and take advantage of Florida-bred money opportunities.
The plan has worked nicely thus far. Little Thunder broke his maiden here on Dec. 24 as a 3-year-old in 1:22.50 for 7 furlongs. On Jan. 31, he finished second by 3 ½-lengths to the Todd Pletcher-trained Disruptor in an 11-horse field. The 7-furlong time was 1:22.83. Gil has ridden Little Thunder in all three starts.
“I can’t say I expected that (kind of performance) Saturday,” Hamm said. “Once he got in front (rounding the turn), he just started to extend and (Gil) rode him out. After seeing those earlier times, I thought he had a chance to shade 1:09, but that was really impressive.”
OLDSMAR - Bill Boland flexed his right hand a couple of times between autograph-seekers during Friday’s Jockeys & Jeans “Once in a Lifetime” Meet and Greet event at Tampa Bay Downs to benefit the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF).
At 92, Boland – who won the 1950 Kentucky Derby as a 16-year-old apprentice aboard Middleground – remains the picture of good health. The Palm Coast resident, who traveled to the event with his wife of 75 years Sandy, is surprisingly spry for his age, at least to an observer 24 years younger.
In fact, Boland would have been happy to sign all day to help those jockeys less fortunate than he who are permanently disabled from a riding accident, whether during a race or in morning workouts. “We (his fellow Hall of Famers and racing legends) are lucky. We’re lucky,” Boland said.
“They (the disabled riders) are great. If you asked any of them, they would do it (ride races) again tomorrow. They are a lot stronger than I am. I couldn’t do it.”
Fans turned out by the scores during Friday’s racing card to get autographs and interact with their heroes. The roster of attendees included Boland, Steve Cauthen, Mike Manganello, Ramon Dominguez, Alex Solis, Earlie Fires, Edgar Prado, Sandy Hawley, Chris McCarron, Angel Cordero, Jr., Jose Santos, Jean Cruguet, Laffit Pincay Jr., Jorge Velasquez, Jacinto Vasquez, Jon Court and at least 10 members of the PDJF who brightened the day further with their cheerfulness and approachability.
The event was held as part of the track’s centennial celebration.
“The PDJF has held a number of events here at Tampa Bay Downs, and to be able to be here with all these Hall of Fame riders and Triple Crown race winners is pretty special,” said Joe Clabes, the President of the PDJF. “They still stick around the sport to help us take care of the injured riders.
“Everybody here at the track has been fantastic in helping support not only Jockeys & Jeans, but the PDJF. There is always going to be a need,” Clabes added. He said there currently are 51 former jockeys receiving benefits from the PDJF, with other applicants being processed. The organization benefits those with permanent disabilities, including brain injuries and spinal cord injuries resulting in paralysis
Around the oval - Leading jockey Samuel Marin continued his record-breaking pace, riding five winners. Marin scored in the first race on Marty’s Gal, a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by Hit The Bid Racing Stable and trained by Jose Francisco D’Angelo. He added the second aboard Rules for Three, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by A and LGY-SE Racing and trained by Arthur Agostini.
Marin next won the fourth race on Two’s a Crowd, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Atlantic Six Racing and trained by Derek Ryan, and added the sixth with Abigail, a 3-year-old filly owned by Waterville Lake Stables and trained by Miguel Clement.
Marin delivered a clinic in the eighth and final race on the turf, never leaving the inside and receiving the needed response through the stretch from 5-year-old Florida-bred Son of a Slew to prevail. The winner is owned by Glenn Conklin and trained by Mike Dini, who also owns and trains the runner-up Just Comply
John Oxley’s Silent Tactic (Tacitus-Magical Sign, by Gun Runner) roared late to capture the $1 million, Gr. III Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, putting himself on the Kentucky Derby trail and leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week. Ridden by Cristian Torres and trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Silent Tactic led a sweep of the top three places by OBS grads when he finished 3 ¼ lengths ahead of Solider N Diplomat with Buetane a head farther back in third. He collected 20 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and has 25 points overall. Silent Tactic, a son of Tacitus, also became the first graded stakes winner for his sire. “He wanted to go and I just waited a little bit longer,” Torres told Oaklawn Park publicity. “I knew when I got him clear he was going to fire for me. Good horse. Hopefully, he’s going to keep improving. The more distance the better, I think.” Silent Tactic was purchased by Justin Casse for $500,000 at the 2025 OBS April Sale from the Thorostock consignment after breezing in :10 1/5. At Santa Anita Park, El Potente (Temple City – Charmsil, by Silver Charm) won the Gr. 3, $100,000 Thunder Road Stakes for the second year in a row when rolling to a front-running victory. Trained by Dan Blacker, El Potente is owned by My Way Racing and was purchased by McMahon and Hill Bloodstock, agent, for $35,000 out of the Nice and Easy Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2021 OBS June Sale after breezing in :10 1/5. The Feb. 7 card at Santa Anita also saw Light Won Up (City of Light-Factorofwon, by The Factor) roll to a 2 ¾-length victory in the $100,000 Sweet Life Stakes. Trained by Doug O’Neill, the filly by City of Light bested fellow OBS grad Himika, who was making her turf debut. Light Won Up is owned by Purple Rein Racing and Mark D. Davis. She was purchased by her owners for $265,000 at last year’s OBS March Sale from the Top Line Sales consignment after breezing in :10 1/5. At Tampa Bay Downs, Florida-bred stalwart Mystic Lake (Mo Town – Salty Soul, by Itsmyluckyday) broke on top and turned her speed up a notch after being headed briefly on the turn for home, powering to a 7 ½-length victory in the $125,000 Minaret Stakes. Now 12-for-22 lifetime, Mystic Lake increased her career bankroll to $1,537,517. She is owned by Miller Racing, BAG Racing Stables and Stefania Farms and trained by Saffie Joseph Jr. She is a two-time OBS graduate, sold by Summerfield (Francis & Barbara Vanlangendonck), Agent, at the 2022 October Yearling Sale and then purchased for $130,000 out of the Tom McCrocklin consignment at the 2023 March Sale after breezing in :20 4/5.
At Turfway Park, BSF Equine Athlete’s Coco Connect (Connect-Miss Chanel, by Commissioner) notched her first career stakes victory when she defeated five rivals by a half-length in the $125,000 Valdale Stakes. Trained by John Ennis, Coco Connect was purchased by Jeremiah O'Dwyer, agent at the 2025 OBS March Sale for $150,000 from the Wildheart Thoroughbreds consignment after breezing in :21. At Oaklawn Park, heavily favored Roll On Big Joe (Prospective – Nina’s Gift, by Victory Gallop) carried his razor-sharp form into 2026, scoring a half-length victory over Tejano Twist in the $150,000 King Cotton Stakes. The King Cotton was the fifth career stakes victory and third consecutive for Roll On Big Joe, owned by Rancho Temescal, Rancho Temescal Thoroughbred Partners, White Fence and Richard Hale Jr. All five stakes victories have come in the last year, including the $150,000 Ring the Bell Dec. 13 at Oaklawn to conclude his 2025 campaign. Trained by Bob Hess Jr., Roll On Big Joe was purchased by Southern California-based owner Tim Cohen (Rancho Temescal) for $90,000 at the 2022 OBS June Sale from the Gayle Woods consignment after breezing in :10 flat. At Santa Anita, Jim Daniell’s Yellow Card (Lost Treasure (IRE)-Paris Girl, by Pulpit) closed to win the $100,000 Clockers’ Corner Stakes.
Trained by Michael McCarthy, Yellow Card earned his first stakes win. He was purchased by West Bloodstock at the 2023 OBS April Sale for $87,000 from the Little Farm Equine consignment after breezing in :10 flat. At Oaklawn Park, T. C. Stables and Hickory Stables’ Mackman (Union Rags-Silverpocketsfull, by Indian Charlie) earned his first stakes victory when he captured the $135,000 General MacArthur Overnight Stakes. Trained by Matt Shirer, Mackman was purchased by his owners for $160,000 at the 2022 OBS April Sale from the Mayberry Farm consignment after breezing in :10 1/5.
Dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse has been named the sixth Chairman of the Board in the history of Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company, Inc., succeeding Francis Vanlangendonck, who steps down after 35 years on the OBS board. Vanlangendonck had held the position of chairman since 2022, succeeding Mike O’Farrell, who was elected chairman in 2007 and was an OBS board member for nearly 40 years. George Onett was the first chairman in 1975, followed by Harry T. Mangurian, Jr., Norman E. Casse, O’Farrell and Vanlangendonck. OBS extends deep gratitude to Vanlangendonck and Treasurer, Nick de Meric, who is also stepping down from the board, for their leadership and significant contributions to the success of OBS. Mark Casse and his wife Tina manage the vast Casse Racing operations from their base in Ocala. His father Norman was a founding member of OBS and Chairman of the Board of OBS for over twenty years and Mark became an OBS board member in 2001 and Secretary-Treasurer in 2022. Casse has won more than 4,100 races to date with career earnings exceeding $274 million. He has been inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Barry Eisaman will continue as Vice President of the OBS board. Dr. Eisaman, a veterinarian, was first elected to the OBS Board in 1996 and Secretary-Treasurer from 2010-2021. Along with his wife Shari, Eisaman operates Eisaman Equine. Many of the elite racing stables in the country rely on Eisaman Equine to provide the foundation for their young horses for their racing career and to rehabilitate older horses for their return to the races.
David O’Farrell will serve as Secretary for OBS. He was elected to the OBS board in 2022 and serves as the TOBA Board of Trustees chair, steward at The Jockey Club, and a member of Breeders’ Cup Limited. The O’Farrell family’s Ocala Stud is celebrating their 70th year anniversary and is synonymous with the Florida breeding industry and OBS. David and his brother Joe are now directing operations, taking over the helm from their father, Mike O’Farrell. Another generation back, Joe O’Farrell, was a promoter of Florida breeding and pioneer of the two-year-olds in training sale concept. He was one of the founding members of Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company, Inc. in 1974 and the first vice president of OBS. James L. (Jimbo) Gladwell, IV was elected Treasurer of OBS. He joined the OBS Board in 2021. Gladwell is a third-generation horseman with deep roots in Ocala and, along with his wife Torie, operates Top Line Sales, one of the leading OBS two-year-old sale consignors. Among the Grade 1 winners who are graduates of Top Line Sales are Princess Noor, Arabian Knight, Saudi Crown, and Muth. Joining the OBS Board for the first time are Tristan de Meric of de Meric Sales and William B. Russell, DVM Peterson Smith Equine Hospital. The rest of the board includes Tom Ventura; Jonathan I Green (DJ Stables); John Penn (Pennston Farm); Bryan Rice (Woodside Ranch); George Russell (Rustlewood Farm), Paul Sharp, and Eddie Woods.
OLDSMAR - As part of its centennial celebration, Tampa Bay Downs will host the 11th annual “Jockeys and Jeans” Fundraiser for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund on Friday and Saturday on the first floor of the Grandstand.
Friday’s event from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. is billed as a “Once in a Lifetime” Autograph Meet & Greet event featuring such legendary riders as Steve Cauthen, Laffit Pincay Jr., Angel Cordero Jr., Pat Day, Chris McCarron, Jean Cruguet, Sandy Hawley, Jacinto Vasquez, Edgar Prado, Jorge Velasquez, Mike Manganello, Ramon Dominguez, Earlie Fires and others.
Tickets are available for the “Once in a Lifetime” event for $40 apiece on the “Jockeys and Jeans” website at www.jockeysandjeans.com.
On Saturday, active jockeys will be available for autograph signing from noon-2 p.m. on the first floor of the grandstand. A donation to the PDJF is requested.
The Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund is a 501 (c) (3) public charity that provides financial assistance to approximately 60 former jockeys who have suffered catastrophic on-track injuries, predominantly paralysis and/or brain injuries.
Festival Preview Day was filled with memorable performances. Victories Saturday by 3-year-old colt Renegade in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes and Zany in the $125,000 Suncoast Stakes highlighted an outstanding day of racing.
Renegade, who collared longshot leader Wayne’s Law in the stretch and rolled on to victory under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., is likely to make his next start on March 28 in the Arkansas Derby, according to both trainer Todd Pletcher and co-owner Mike Repole of Repole Stable. Renegade’s breeders and co-owners, Robert and Lawana Low, are Springfield, Mo., residents known as passionate Oaklawn Park supporters.
Pletcher told racing journalist Lynne Snierson they will keep their options open, but ruled out a return to Oldsmar for the Gr. III, $400,000 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby on March 7.
A crowd of 5,261 turned out for the festivities in cool, sunny weather. Total all-sources wagering handle was $11,484,564. Somewhat overlooked amid four exciting stakes races were strong undercard performances by a pair of 3-year-old maidens.
In the sixth race, first-time starter Emerging Market, a son of Candy Ride out of an Empire Maker mare, rallied stoutly through the stretch to catch the favorite, fellow first-time starter Powershift, by three-quarters of a length. Flavien Prat was aboard the winner for owner Klaravich Stables and trainer Chad Brown.
Emerging Market’s time of 1:39.11 for the mile-and-40-yard distance was .97 seconds off Golden Juan’s track record. Powershift finished 13 ½ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Make My Day.
Three races later, another first-time starter, Kokomotion, rallied from dead-last early to post a resounding 8 ¼-length victory from Ati Girl in a mile-and-sixteenth turf event for maiden 3-year-old fillies. Jevian Toledo was aboard for the romp in the sunshine. Kokomotion is a daughter of Quality Road owned by Icon Racing Stable and trained by Whit Beckman.
Turf Sprint Showcase Day is Saturday. Rezasrolex, a 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding who is riding a nine-race winning streak, is a probable entrant for Saturday’s $100,000, 5-furlong Turf Dash Stakes for older horses sprinting 5 furlongs on the Oldsmar turf course.
Rezasrolex won his Tampa Bay Downs debut on Jan. 11 on the grass under jockey Edgard Zayas, scoring in :55.65 seconds for 5 furlongs. He is owned by his breeder Scott Herbertson and trained by Joseph Orseno.
Last season’s Turf Dash winner, trainer Gerald Bennett’s 5-year-old gelding Rouki, is also among the probable starters.
The other stakes race on the card is the $100,000, 5-furlong Lightning City Stakes for older fillies and mares on the grass. Trainer Victor Barboza Jr.’s 5-year-old mare and 2025 winner Great Venezuela is expected to return to defend.
Rouki sprang a 20-1 upset last year in the Turf Dash for Bennett and owner Tropic Lightning Racing. He has five victories from 14 lifetime starts. Samy Camacho was aboard for the triumph. Great Venezuela, who is owned by Orlyana Farm, won the 2025 Lightning City under Leonel Reyes as the 2-1 favorite. Great Venezuela is 9-for-16 lifetime with four seconds.
In the Turf Dash, Bennett may also start Team Equistaff’s 4-year-old gelding Aegon Targaryen. Other Turf Dash probables include multiple stakes-winner Coppola, from the barn of Dale Romans, and 5-year-old gelding and career millionaire and six-time stakes-winner My Boy Prince, a multiple Gr. I-placed Ontario-bred trained by Mark Casse.
Two horses from the Casse barn are under consideration for the Lightning City: 5-year-old Creed’s Gold, who won the Gr. III Hendrie at Woodbine last July in her most recent start, and 4-year-old filly Abientot, a Gr. II winner. Expected to make her Oldsmar turf course debut is 6-year-old Love Appeals, a multiple stakes-winner trained by Miguel Clement.
Around the oval. Daniel Centeno rode three winners today. He captured the first race on 6-year-old Florida-bred ridgling Copazo for owner GOP Racing Stable and trainer Gerard Ochoa, then added the sixth race with Blue Fashion, a 5-year-old mare owned by Amaty Racing Stables and trained by Jose A. Gallegos. Blue Fashion was claimed for $8,000 by trainer Gregg Sacco for new owner Elliot Mavorah.
Centeno wasn’t done yet, winning the eighth aboard first-time starter Hulkamania, a 3-year-old colt owned by Hoolie Racing Stable, Blue Mist Racing and Icon Racing Stable and trained by Whit Beckman.
All patrons attending the Wednesday, Feb. 18 racing program marking the 100th anniversary of the first race in track history will receive a season Grandstand pass for the 2026-27 meet.
HALLANDALE BEACH - 1/ST today announced a new partnership with Arranca TV, launching a dedicated Spanish-language horse racing channel on YouTube designed to deliver live race coverage, analysis, and original programming to Spanish-speaking fans across the United States and internationally. The channel is available now on YouTube https://youtube.com/@arrancatv The Arranca TV channel will feature live race coverage from Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park from Thursday through Sunday, along with interactive live chats, interviews, and behind-the-scenes access that bring fans closer to the sport’s biggest moments. “Having covered horse racing at the highest level for years, launching Arranca TV allows me to bring Spanish-speaking fans closer to the sport with the depth, emotion, and professionalism they deserve,” said Pedro Casella, founder of Arranca TV. “Working alongside 1/ST makes that vision possible.” Arranca TV will operate under a three-tier subscription model, offering fans flexible access ranging from live race broadcasts and interactive chats to premium weekly programming, exclusive handicapping content, and VIP-level engagement with Casella and the Arranca TV team. The platform is designed to deliver a more immersive, personalized experience for racing fans at every level. In addition to the YouTube presence, Arranca TV will also be offering a subscription-based viewing option through its official website, ArrancaTV.com, which is currently under construction. This platform is being developed to provide fans with another way to enjoy live racing from Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita Park, particularly for audiences in markets where YouTube subscriptions can be more challenging.
Both platforms will operate under the same paid-access model and are designed to complement each other while expanding reach and improving the overall fan experience Joining Casella is Claudia Spadaro, an acclaimed racing content creator and racing personality who will serve as Arranca TV’s on-site reporter. Spadaro will provide paddock coverage, winner’s circle interviews, and race-day reporting. Spadaro made history as the first woman to broadcast major horse racing events in Spanish including the Breeders’ Cup, Preakness Stakes, and Pegasus World Cup. “Arranca TV is exactly the kind of platform we want to support - authentic voices, deep racing knowledge, and real interaction with fans,” said Joe Longo, Chief Revenue Officer at 1/ST. “Pedro Casella and Claudia Spadaro understand how to tell racing’s story in Spanish, and this partnership helps bring the sport closer to a broader audience in a modern, engaging way.”
OLDSMAR - Three-year-old colts trained by Todd Pletcher and Brad Cox, who have combined to win the Kentucky Derby three times, comprise one-third of a nine-horse field for Saturday’s $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, one of four stakes races on Tampa Bay Downs’s annual Festival Preview Day card. The 46th edition of the mile-and-a-sixteenth race for 3-year-olds on the main track is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race. At stake are 20, 10, 6, 4 and 2 Run for the Roses qualifying points for the top five finishers. The Kentucky Derby is scheduled May 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. The Sam F. Davis is also the major prep race for the Oldsmar oval’s biggest race of the meet, the Grade III, $400,000 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby, to be contested March 7. Pletcher has two Sam F. Davis entries in Renegade and Epic Desire, who will break from the Nos. 6 and 2 post positions, respectively, while Cox has entered Confessional, who will break from the inside No. 1 post. Post time for the first race Saturday is 12:10 p.m. The Sam F. Davis is carded as the 11th and final race at approximately 5:30 p.m. It’s a busy week at Tampa Bay Downs, with an eight-race card on Thursday offering fans five consecutive days of racing. The track will also race Wednesday through Sunday next week. The $125,000 Suncoast Stakes, at a mile-and-40-yards for 3-year-old fillies on the main track, is a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” points race, awarding 20, 10, 6, 4 and 2 qualifying points to the top five finishers. It is the fifth race on the card. There are eight sophomore distaffers entered, headed by unbeaten Zany, the potential-laden daughter of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah trained by Pletcher. Also on tap Saturday are a pair of $125,000, 6-furlong sprint stakes for older horses. The 45th edition of the Minaret Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward, which is the fourth race, has attracted six entrants, headed by 5-year-old mare Mystic Lake, a multiple-Grade II winner and career millionaire, from the barn of trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. The remaining stakes on the card is the 42nd running of the Pelican Stakes for male sprinters 4-years-old-and-upward, which is the 10th race. Nine-time leading Tampa Bay Downs trainer Gerald Bennett has a strong hand for the Pelican with three entrants, including his three-time stakes-winning 4-year-old Florida-bred colt Naughty Rascal, who won last season’s Pasco Stakes via disqualification; 6-year-old Florida-bred gelding Chrome Ghost, winner of his last two starts; and 5-year-old stakes-placed Florida-bred gelding El Principito. Of course, the focus of a majority of racing fans Saturday will be on the Sam F. Davis Stakes, won by Cox and jockey Flavien Prat last year with John Hancock. Both Renegade and Confessional will be ridden by world-class jockeys, with Irad Ortiz, Jr., aboard Renegade and Prat on Confessional. Epic Desire’s jockey will be Samy Camacho. Prat has won the two most recent Eclipse Awards as North America’s Outstanding Jockey, with Ortiz winning the two before that and five of the previous six. Pletcher has won the Sam F. Davis a record seven times, including five times between 2010-2023 when the race was classified as a Grade III stakes. The conditioner’s first two Sam F. Davis victories played a vital role in the race achieving Grade III status in 2009.
Pletcher’s first Sam F. Davis winner, Bluegrass Cat (2006), subsequently finished second in the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby, the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes and won the Grade I Haskell Invitational. The trainer’s Sam F. Davis winner the following year, Any Given Saturday, was second in the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby and won the Grade II Dwyer Stakes, the Grade I Haskell Invitational and the Grade II Brooklyn Handicap. Pletcher’s sixth Sam F. Davis winner, Destin (2016), also won that year’s Grade II Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade II Marathon Stakes Presented by TAA and was second by a nose to Creator in the Belmont Stakes. Although Renegade is a maiden (non-winner), he is held in high regard by respected handicappers. On Oct. 17, he won a 1-mile maiden special weight race at Belmont At The Big A but was disqualified and placed second behind Paladin for a bumping incident. In the Grade II Remsen Stakes on Dec. 6 at Aqueduct, Renegade took the lead briefly in the stretch before falling victim by 2 lengths to Paladin’s late rally. Confessional won his career debut on Oct. 16 at Keeneland, then finished second by 5 lengths to the Pletcher-trained Nearly on Jan. 2 in an allowance/optional claiming race at Gulfstream Park. Nearly won his next start, Saturday’s Grade III Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream, winning by 5 ¾ lengths to make Confessional’s last performance better-looking. The full field for the Sam F. Davis in post position is as follows: No. 1, Confessional, No. 2, Epic Desire; No. 3, The Puma; No. 4, Game For It; No. 5, Ocelli; No. 6, Renegade; No. 7, Wayne’s Law; No. 8, Max Capacity; and No. 9, Dr. Kapur. Pletcher appears to have a heavy favorite for the Suncoast in Zany, who posted a 2-for-2 mark as a 2-year-old. She will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. The Repole Stable-owned filly broke her maiden by 6 ½ lengths on Nov. 2 at Gulfstream, then went north to capture the Grade II Demoiselle Stakes on Dec. 6 at Aqueduct at the demanding mile-and-an-eighth distance. She won by 6 ½ lengths in a time of 1:50.55, .42 seconds faster than Paladin’s Remsen time six races later.
Around the oval. Tampa Bay Downs is instituting a daily purse increase of $1,500 for each overnight claiming (non-allowance) race. The increase, which will take effect with the Feb. 11 card (condition book 4), is attributable to increases in wagering handle throughout the first third of the mee
Beth Bayer had good reason to be biased about the gray or roan filly by Taiba in her consignment for the 2026 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company January Winter Mixed Sale.
Not only was the newly turned yearling one of the more popular residents in Bayer’s shedrow once she arrived on the grounds, but she carried an added dose of sentiment as Bayer had bred the filly and hence, had been there for every moment of her development. “I bred her, I raised her…I’ve loved her since the day she was born,” Bayer said of the filly catalogued as Hip 80. The high opinion Bayer held of her homebred proved more than just emotions talking as the youngster headed up an outstanding day for her breeder/consignor when she sold for a sale-topping $150,000 during the one-day January Winter Mixed Sale held Jan. 27. In addition to selling the Taiba filly to Marc Gunderson, Bayer also consigned Hip 22, a colt by Nashville, who brought the day’s second highest price when he elicited a final bid of $140,000 to Always Dreaming. When the dust settled, Bayer had sold three of the top four prices during the session, including Hip 133, a colt by Zandon out of the winning Roman Ruler mare Built in a Day, who went to Pine Creek Ranch for $90,000. The market for short yearlings was expected to be solid heading into the sale, and that theory indeed held true once the bidding started. The Taiba filly proved most desirable as she is out of the winning Unbridled’s Song mare Tranquil Song and is a half sister to Isolate, a multiple group 2 winner in Dubai. “I loved everything about her. She just had so much class and has done everything right for me,” Bayer said. “It ended up paying off for me at the end of the day.” The son of Nashville Bayer brought to the auction was another who ended up paying handsome dividends. Bred by Boone Family Trust, the colt is out the stakes winning Forest Wildcat mare Rapid Racer and is a half sibling to graded stakes placed Lee’s Baby Girl. Rapid Racer is out of a half sister to the top producing mare Ticket to Houston, dam of multiple graded stakes winner Runway Model who herself produced Grade 1 winner and sire McKinzie. “When he arrived, I was pleasantly pleased with him because he was a big strong colt, lots of bone, lots of size, a lot of substance,” said Bayer, who also sold Hip 90, another son of Nashville, for $75,000 to Dark Horse Racing Stable. “He presented himself really well. He reciprocated what I thought he would bring.” Overall, Bayer led all consignors with 21 head sold for $719,800. Bayer’s leading duo were among a trio of yearlings that cracked the six-figure mark during the session. Hip 191, a colt by Simplification, also reached that threshold when he sold for $100,000 to Rising Dividends Racing. Consigned by Danielle Loya’s Silver Oaks Farm and bred by Tami Bobo, the colt is out of the Sky Mesa mare Gidget Girl and is a half brother to King’s Plate winner and OBS graduate Mansetti and multiple stakes winner Straight Up G. Other notable hips included Hip 91, a colt by Pappacap consigned by Kaizen Sales (Richard Kent), and Hip 260, a colt by Cairo Prince consigned by Hare Hill Farm, both of whom sold for $85,000. The son of Pappacap was purchased by Pinhook Partners while Banks Bloodstock landed the Cairo Prince colt. Hip 49, a colt by Drain the Clock, was purchased by Pine Creek Ranch for $82,000 from the Silver Oaks Farm consignment while Hip 116, a filly by Engage now named Ms. Engaged from the Hare Hill consignment, and Hip 217 Mom Said Win, a filly by Win Win Win consigned by Colin Brennan Bloodstock at Highlander Training Center, each brought $65,000. The Engage filly sold to Silver Creek Thoroughbreds with Breeze Easy & Robert Cotran purchasing Mom Said Win. The highest priced broodmare or broodmare prospect to sell was Hip 267, Callie’s Courage, a daughter of Girvin consigned by Kaizen Sales, who sold for $48,000 to William Churly. Callie’s Courage sold in foal to Gunite and is out of the winning mare Mom’s a Cougar, a daughter of OBS grad Kantharos, who is a half sister to multiple graded stakes winner and OBS grad Mom’s On Strike and multiple stakes winner Otago. The January Winter Mixed Sale finished with across-the-board gains over the 2025 exercise in all key metrics. At the close of business Jan. 27, a total of 186 head sold for total gross receipts of $3,507,850, an increase over the $3,093,700 generated by 212 sold a year ago. The average came in at $18,859, up from $14,593 in 2025, while the median of $12,000 was an improvement over $7,500 a year ago. A total of 71 horses failed to meet their reserve for an RNA percentage of 27.6%, up from 21.4% in 2025.
OLDSMAR - Morning rain and chilly winds did little to diminish the enthusiasm of bettors seeking a pot of gold at the end of Sunday’s late Pick 5, which started with a carryover pool of $80,016 because no one selected the winners of Saturday’s final five races.
By post time for the fifth race – at almost the exact time the sun peeked through the clouds for one of the few times – an additional $664,026 had been funneled into the 50-cent late Pick 5, creating a mammoth pool of $744,042.
With one betting favorite and four second choices winning the late Pick 5 events, plenty of winners (1,165, to be exact) cashed in on the 1-6-8-4-5 combination, each winning ticket worth $552.75.
Leading jockey Samuel Marin enjoyed another big day, riding four winners on the nine-race card. Marin also won four races Wednesday and has 49 for the meet. He was aboard 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding Net Profit in the fourth race for owner Karen S. Nielsen and trainer Jon Arnett. Marin added the sixth on Twilight Dancer, a 5-year-old gelding owned and trained by Juan Arriagada.
Marin came right back to win the seventh on the turf on Navigation, who was making his first career start. Navigation is owned by Stone Farm, Madaket Stables, Oakwood Stables and Paul Braverman and trained by Miguel Clement. Marin made it three in a row and four overall in the eighth, piloting 4-year-old Florida-bred filly Long Gone Sally to victory for owner Tom Abrahamson and trainer Lynn Rarick.
The victory was the fourth in a row at the meet for Long Gone Sally, who was claimed by Rarick after her second victory here for $8,000.
Nine-time leading trainer Gerald Bennett swept the early daily double. Bennett won the first race with 3-year-old Florida-bred filly Duchess Eleanor, who is owned by his Winning Stables, and Todd R. Bittiger. Jose Batista was the jockey.
Bennett captured the second with 5-year-old Florida-bred mare Three Run Bolt, owned by Averill Racing and Jayson R. Werth and ridden by Samy Camacho. Three Run Bolt was claimed from the race for $6,250 by new owner-trainer Jose Antonio Vargas.
Camacho also won the fifth race on the turf on Fitz Right, a 3-year-old filly owned by Michael Dubb, William H. Lawrence, The Elkstone Group (Stuart Grant) and Michael E. Kisber and trained by Chad Brown. Camacho made it three on the day in the ninth, prevailing on Cupid’s dude for owner Amazing Luxury Miami and leading trainer Juan Carlos Avila.
Saturday is the track’s annual “Cap Giveaway Day.” All patrons will receive the centennial black cap with gold lettering against the Tampa Bay Downs 100 logo with their paid admission, while supplies last. Encircling the logo are the words “100 Years of Thoroughbred Racing,” and directly below, the years “1926-2026.”
Tampa Bay Downs jockeys will be on hand to sign the caps for fans wanting autographs. The gates will open at 11 a.m.
“Cap Giveaway Day” kicks off a fun-filled weekend that will also be highlighted by the first “Mouse’s Kids & Family Days” celebration on Sunday, Jan. 25. Fans of all ages get to meet track mascot Mouse the Miniature Horse, while youngsters can choose between bounce houses, pony rides and a variety of games and special activities. Buzzy’s Food Truck will also be on the scene.
OLDSMAR - Since her horses were sidelined for seven racing days in December, Tampa Bay Downs trainer Kathleen O’Connell has been making up for lost time.
O’Connell sent out four winners on Jan. 2, tying a track record she established in 2003. It is shared by Gerald Bennett (three times), Jamie Ness (twice) and Chad Brown. That performance was instrumental in O’Connell earning the Martin’s Italian Trainer of the Month Award.
It also kindled hopes for a third consecutive Oldsmar training crown and fifth overall for O’Connell, who first won the title in 1998-99 and captured it again in 2009-10, tying with Ness. O’Connell has nine victories, trailing Juan Carlos Avila (18), Juan Arriagada (13) and Bennett (12).
More on O’Connell in a moment. With $817,003 funneled into today’s late Pick 5 carryover pool, the potential for a huge payoff seemed likely, and victories in the first two legs by 17-1 and 20-1 shots seemed to assure it. At the end of the card, the winning 4-11-10-6-2 combination paid $21,765 apiece to 35 lucky ticket holders.
\ The Ultimate 6 was also hit, with one bettor correctly selecting the winners of the final six races – the old 8-4-11-10-6-2 combination – to the tune of $33,093.
Back to O’Connell, one of the track’s most popular trainers due as much to her humility as her winning ways. “Four in a day doesn’t happen too often,” she said Wednesday from Gulfstream Park, where she is overseeing her south Florida string this week. “We felt they were all in good spots and drew good post positions, but you still need to get a good trip to win. “I’m very happy for everyone in our crew and the owners – it was very hard for them to watch races their horses were supposed to run in.”
Her record-tying afternoon began when the 5-year-old mare Fullmoonmagic won the first race for owner Joseph Capriglione, with Sonny Leon in the saddle. O’Connell and Leon teamed to win the sixth race with Stonehedge-bred and owned 3-year-old filly Justamomentplease, who was claimed from the race for $16,000 by trainer Ralph N. Baez.
O’Connell added the eighth race with DiBello Racing homebred 6-year-old mare Princess Britni, ridden by Jose Ferrer, and the ninth on the turf with Katies a Lady, a 7-year-old mare owned by Double D Stable and ridden by Ademar Santos.
O’Connell’s barn was one of two sidelined last month by a quarantine imposed after a horse was confirmed to have the neurological form of EHV-1 (Equine Herpesvirus Type 1), which is highly contagious. No other horse on the grounds tested positive or displayed any signs of having the virus.
Tampa Bay Downs established numerous safety measures to keep the virus from spreading, including requiring workers at both barns to wear protective footwear and clothing and adopting a temporary training schedule for the affected barns – after the rest of the track’s horse population had already been out and galloped or breezed.
“It was a very tough thing to go through, but everyone on our team pulled together and did a great job. It was a total group effort,” O’Connell said. “Horses are creatures of habit who want structure and routine, and we had to break that up and go to a different routine that was hard on everybody, including the horses. I am a firm believer in schooling a horse at the starting gate and we didn’t have gate-schooling for 21 days, so everything needed to be revamped and we did the best that we could.”
On Sundays during the quarantine, when there was no racing, the track maintenance department dragged the racetrack after horses from other barns had worked to provide O’Connell’s horses a smooth surface. O’Connell cited that as one example of track officials working closely with her to ensure she could keep her horses as race-ready as possible.
“I thought they did a great job of accommodating our needs wherever possible,” she said. “Everybody worked together and tried to do things in a safe manner while helping us with what we needed to get back into action.”
That is when O’Connell and her charges are at their best. Since joining the training ranks in 1981, she has sent out 2,606 career winners, briefly holding the No. 1 spot all-time among North American female trainers in 2023 before being passed by Linda Rice. O’Connell’s national profile skyrocketed in 2015 as the trainer of exciting 3-year-old filly Lady Shipman, who finished second by a neck to Mongolian Saturday in the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland after winning six stakes and setting two course records.
O’Connell has also trained the likes of 2011 Gr. II Tampa Bay Derby winner Watch Me Go, her lone Kentucky Derby starter; Blazing Sword, a winner of three graded stakes from 1997-2000; 2019 Gr. III Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Well Defined; Stormy Embrace, winner of back-to-back runnings of the Gr. II Princess Rooney Stakes in 2018-19; and Ivanavinalot, who won the Gr. II Bonnie Miss Stakes in 2003 and is the dam of Hall of Fame member Songbird.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Three-time leading rider and former track record-holder Luis Saez made a triumphant return to Gulfstream Park Thursday, riding a winner to open the card in his first mount of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet. The 33-year-old Saez guided 3-year-old colt Fuoco Vivo ($13.60) to a front-running 3 ¾-length triumph in a five-furlong maiden sprint that was rained off the grass to the all-weather Tapeta course. The winning time was :57.62 seconds. “I’m so grateful to be back here at Gulfstream,” Saez said. “This horse broke pretty well from the outside and he took me to the lead. He’s very fast and he took me all the way to victory.” Saez added a second winner with Sound of the Beast ($) in Race 6. Both horses are trained by Rohan Crichton. Saez won back-to-back Championship Meet riding titles in 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, the latter with 137 victories, a single-season record that was broken by Irad Ortiz Jr.’s 140 three years later. Saez also finished first with 122 wins in 2021-2022.
Last winter, Saez ranked second with $4.38 million in purse earnings and third with 70 wins from 422 mounts, including a victory aboard Tappan Street in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby. He is based this winter at Oaklawn Park, which does not resume racing until Dec. 30.
At Oaklawn, Saez sits second in purse earnings ($1.12 million) and third in wins (14) from 73 mounts, four wins behind leader Christian Torres.
“It always feels great to be back,” Saez said. “I miss this place. I had to move my tack to Oaklawn, but I’ll be around.”
Approaching 3,900 career victories, Saez said he plans to ride at Gulfstream through the end of the month. Among other mounts on Pegasus World Cup day, he will back aboard Tappan Street for the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 24.
“I was off for two weeks and took the time to see my mom and dad in Panama,” he said. “I start here today for the Pegasus and all those big races, just getting ready.”
OLDSMAR - After jockey Vernon Bush fractured his back in three places and broke a rib last August when his mount flipped over in the post parade at Belterra Park, some relatives and close friends began planning a retirement party.
But the 64-year-old Bush, who began riding in 1978 at River Downs in Ohio, asked them to hold off until he got to Tampa Bay Downs and won one more race. “I wanted to go out on top and be able to hold my head high and say I did it my way. There is no better way to go out than on a winner,” Bush said Thursday, still savoring his victory on 18-1 shot Protest in Wednesday’s seventh race, a 7-furlong maiden claiming event.
Bush had ridden the (now)-6-year-old gelding to a decent fourth-place finish on Dec. 31 for owner Carla March and her husband, trainer William March. “He made a good run and got a little tired, but I knew he had to improve off that race,” Bush said. “When I got to the winner’s circle, Bill March told me ‘I knew you were going to do this.’ ”
For Bush and the Marches, Protest’s victory brought things full circle. Bush had won numerous races for the couple on their horse Well Connected, including a starter/optional claiming race for them two years ago at Tampa Bay Downs.
Bush, the brother of Midwest trainer George Bush, retires with 3,288 career victories and total purse earnings of $25,212,469. Best known for his success in New England, he won six riding titles at Suffolk Downs in Boston and four at Rockingham Park in New Hampshire. He rode six winners on a card at both Suffolk and Northampton Fair in Massachusetts.
Among almost a half-century of racing-related memories, Bush also notes a piece of trivia: He was moved up from third to first in two separate races when the top two finishers were both disqualified.
“I’ve ridden so many nice horses through my career. I won stakes at Rockingham, Suffolk, all the Ohio tracks and New Jersey. I’ve won races at almost every track on the East Coast and the Atlantic Seaboard from Saratoga to Gulfstream and Hialeah. I’ve been very lucky and had a very good career,” said Bush, whose late father Vernon Bush was also a jockey.
Bush did not ride from the summer of 2018 until March of 2022 due to a broken femur, a broken ankle and two hip surgeries, including a hip replacement. He worked at Belterra Park as a jockeys’ room supervisor and entry-taker in 2019 and 2020 before his love for racing inspired him to return to the saddle.
Bush rode 47 winners after his comeback. He was honored three years ago with the Randy Romero Pure Courage Award, given to a jockey who has overcome serious injuries and/or adversity. Romero, a member of the sport’s Hall of Fame who died in 2019, incurred an abundance of racing-related injuries, requiring more than 20 surgeries.
“I’m honored just to have my name next to his on something, and I hope it gives other people inspiration that they can overcome things in their life and go forward. Anything can be achieved when you put your mind to it,” Bush said.
Bush created another lifetime memory last August, shortly before he was injured. He had found a saddle used at least 40 years earlier by jockey Al Herrera, the father of Bush’s close friend Marilee. Bush cleaned and polished the saddle and used it to ride 5-year-old mare Whiskey Diamond – owned and trained by George Bush, his brother – to an 18-length victory in a claiming race at Belterra Park.
Bush plans to continue to exercise horses in the mornings (he was on four Wednesday). He hopes to continue working in the industry, possibly as a racing-office employee, and may try to become accredited as a steward.
Wherever he winds up, Bush will be forgiven for occasionally reflecting on the thrills, the big wins, the occasional setbacks and the friendships he has made throughout his career.
“It’s that time for me. I have to step away. I know I can still ride a race and not interfere with a horse, but I’d rather go out on top than ride a lot of races not knowing if I would win again. I can say that I enjoyed every moment of my career and I’m happy the way it ended,” he said.
Norman Stables and Saints or Sinners’ So Happy (Runhappy-So Cunning, by Blame) made a successful leap into graded company when he prevailed in the Gr. II, $200,000 San Vicente Stakes at Santa Anita Park, leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week. Bred by Leverett Miller and trained by Mark Glatt, So Happy’s victory kicked off a banner weekend that saw OBS graduates sweep all three graded stakes scheduled. The son of Runhappy surged to the lead inside the final furlong and held off a late charge from 1-2 favorite and fellow OBS grad Buetane to score by two lengths. “I was really happy with the way he handled the seven-eighths because usually that’s a pretty good indication they will go two turns,” winning jockey Mike Smith said. “He was well within himself running underneath the wire. I was really happy with the way he did things.” So Happy was purchased by Glatt, agent for $150,000 at the 2025 OBS March Sale out of the First Call consignment after breezing in :10 flat. So Happy’s triumph set the stage for an outstanding couple of days for Glatt and Saints or Sinners. The following day’s Santa Anita card saw the connections enjoy more success with another OBS grad when Margarita Girl (Twirling Candy-My Day, by Uncle Mo) was victorious in the Gr. III, $100,000 Las Flores Stakes to notch her first career graded win.
A 4-year-old daughter of Twirling Candy, Margarita Girl joined Glatt’s barn as a juvenile with high expectations after being purchased by Saints or Sinners for $575,000 at the 2024 OBS March Sale from the Wavertree Stables consignment after breezing in :9 4/5. The Jan. 11 card at Santa Anita also saw Queen Maxima (Bucchero – Corfu Lady, by Corfu) earn her fifth stakes and third at the graded level when prevailing in the Gr. III, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes for older fillies and mares on the hillside turf course.
A 5-year-old daughter of fellow OBS grad Bucchero, Queen Maxima is owned by Dutch Girl Holdings and Irving Ventures and trained by Jeff Mullins. Consigned by Blue River Bloodstock, she was purchased by Michael Pender, agent, for $40,000 from the 2023 OBS June sale after breezing in :20 3/5. At Fair Grounds, Blue Fire (Aurelius Maximus – Mystic Blue, by Maimonides) proved too much in the $100,000 Bob F. Wright Memorial Stakes, winning by 2 1/4 lengths. Owned by Stonestreet Stables and Peter Leidel and trained by Steve Asmussen, Blue Fire was purchased for $32,000 by Fast Horses out of the 2023 OBS Winter Mixed Sale from the Kaizen Sales consignment.
OLDSMAR - One of the track’s most popular promotions, the “Live It Up Challenge” handicapping contest, begins Saturday, running through the March 7 Festival Day 46 card highlighted by the Gr. III ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby and the Gr. II Hillsborough Stakes on the turf.
Players may register for the contest free of charge at www.liveitupchallenge.com any time before 9:30 a.m. on Saturday.
All wagers are mythical, with players required to make selections each racing day in any two of the three randomly selected “Challenge Races.” A player’s bankroll is based on the payoffs for their selections based on a $2 win, place and show wager.
Participants start the contest with one free lifeline. If a player’s selections in both of a day’s “Challenge Races” do not hit the board, they lose a lifeline. Players may purchase up to eight additional lifelines for $5 each upon signup; up to eight more for $10 each on Jan. 31; and up to four more for $25 each on Feb. 14.
Once a player loses all their lifelines, they are eliminated. Players can only lose a maximum of one lifeline per day.
The player with the largest bankroll will be declared the Grand Prize winner and will receive two seats in the High Rollers Contest in February of 2027 at Tampa Bay Downs, a $2,000 value. The second, third and fourth-place finishers will receive one High Rollers Contest seat apiece in February of 2027 at the Oldsmar oval, a $1,000 value.
A bonus prize of $500 will go to the player who selects the most winners during the contest. The recipient of the “Most Winners” bonus may have been eliminated and does not have to remain active by the close of the contest period.
If all players are eliminated before the conclusion of the contest, the four players with the highest bankrolls will win the prizes.
To register and for a complete set of contest rules, visit www.liveitupchallenge.com on the Internet.
MORRISTON - Pleasant Acres Stallions has announced the arrival of MR FISK’s first foal, a healthy filly out of NY-bred Brass Cat, a daughter of Gr. I-winning millionaire BLUEGRASS CAT. “Our beautiful Brass Cat has blessed us with another big, athletic baby,” said breeder Martine Britell. “Paired with MR FISK’s amazing bloodlines and triple-digit speed, we are excited for this filly’s future!” “A stallion’s first foal is always a milestone, and this filly is exactly the kind of start you hope for,” said Christine Jones, Director of Stallion Services at Pleasant Acres Stallions. “MR FISK has the race record, the physical and the pedigree depth we believe Florida breeders deserve. He was a multiple graded stakes winner with triple-digit Beyer ability, and he brings the rare opportunity to access ARROGATE’s line along with a deep successful European female family. This first foal is a great start, and we can’t wait to see what his first crop delivers for Florida breeders.” MR FISK (Arrogate / Plein Air (IRE), by Manduro (GER)) delivers proven graded stakes class and consistency to the Pleasant Acres Stallions roster. Trained by Bob Baffert, he broke his maiden at Santa Anita, then returned to place second in the Affirmed Stakes at 1-1/16 miles on dirt. He went on to win the Shared Belief Stakes and the Gr. III Native Diver Stakes at Del Mar, and at four captured the Gr. III Californian Stakes and G. II Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes at Santa Anita, earning a triple-digit Beyer. MR FISK hit the board in seven of 11 starts, finishing in the money 64% of the time while facing deep, high-quality fields. On pedigree, MR FISK offers a rare continuation of ARROGATE’s line, as the four-time Gr. I winner stood for only three breeding seasons. The ARROGATE résumé includes victories in the Travers Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Pegasus World Cup, and Dubai World Cup, with earnings of $17.4 million.
MR FISK’s dam, PLEIN AIR (IRE), is a two-time black-type winner on two continents and is by world champion MANDURO (GER), a multiple Gr. I winner who was ranked the IFHA’s top horse in the world for 2007 and later secured by Sheikh Mohammad for a reported $25 million in breeding rights. MANDURO is by MONSUN – four-time champion German sire who is considered the most successful stallion in the history of Germany. The female family is stacked with black type through multiple generations, reflecting the kind of speed, soundness, stamina, and durability that has repeatedly produced stakes performers in Europe and around the world.
OLDSMAR - Drexel Hill, who finished a determined second to Good Cheer in last year’s Longines Kentucky Oaks, heads a six-horse field for Saturday’s $125,000 Wayward Lass Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward at Tampa Bay Downs.
The 42nd edition of the Wayward Lass, to be contested at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth, is one of two stakes on Saturday’s 10-race Skyway Festival Day card, with the other the 42nd running of the $125,000, 7-furlong Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Both races will be run on the main track.
Post time for the first race Saturday is 12:30 p.m.
The $125,000 Pasco Stakes for 3-year-old males drew an insufficient number of entries to be run Saturday as originally scheduled and has been “brought back” as an extra race on the overnight sheet by the track’s racing office in an effort to attract enough horses to run it on Sunday or another future date.
Drexel Hill, who has earned more than $500,000 in her nine-race career, is owned by Legion Racing and trained by D. Whitworth Beckman. She will be ridden by Ben Curtis. Drexel Hill followed her Kentucky Oaks performance by finishing second in the Gr. II Mother Goose Stakes at Aqueduct.
Trainer Saffie A. Joseph has entered three fillies in the Wayward Lass, the most accomplished being 4-year-old Andrea, a multiple stakes-winner who finished third last summer in the Gr. II Charles Town Oaks.
Another Joseph entry, 4-year-old Early On, finished second by a nose in the Gr. III Gazelle Stakes at Aqueduct, earning her a trip to Churchill Downs for the Kentucky Oaks, in which she finished eighth.
Bettors will also take a close look at trainer Michelle Hemingway’s 5-year-old mare Runaway Diva, who was the runner-up on Sept. 28 in the Gr. III Delaware Handicap. The Wayward Lass is the seventh race on Saturday’s card.
Meanwhile, six promising 3-year-old fillies are well-prepared to begin building on their 2025 foundations Saturday in the 42nd edition of the $125,000, 7-furlong Gasparilla Stakes. The Gasparilla is the sixth race.
Topping the Gasparilla field are a pair of Florida-bred stakes-winners in Tessellate and Gerrards Cross. Tessellate, who is trained by for a partnership, won the Juvenile Fillies Sprint Stakes by 13 lengths on Nov. 15 at Gulfstream Park. Tessellate will be ridden by Edgard Zayas. Gerrards Cross, bred and owned by James Chicklo and trained by Kathleen O’Connell, won the Colleen Stakes on the turf on July 27 at Monmouth Park. Sonny Leon has been named to ride.
Five horses who are graduates of Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company auctions were announced as finalists for the 2025 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, which honors excellence in Thoroughbred racing.
Morplay Racing’s Shisospicy (Mitole – Mischief Galore, by Into Mischief) is a finalist for three divisional honors: champion 3-Year-Old Filly, Female Sprinter, and Female Turf. The daughter of Mitole won three graded stakes in 2025 with the highlight coming when she became the first 3-year-old filly to win the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar. Trained by Jose D’Angelo, Shisospicy was offered at the 2024 OBS April Sale by Hartley/DeRenzo Thoroughbreds where she was an RNA after breezing in :9 3/5.
Fellow OBS April grad Nysos (Nyquist – Zetta Z, by Bernardini) is also up for multiple honors as a finalist for Older Dirt Male and Male Sprinter. Trained by Bob Baffert for owner Baoma Corp and lessees Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith and Michael B. Tabor, Nysos earned four graded stakes victories in 2025 including the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar. He was purchased for $550,000 out of the Best A Luck Farm consignment by Donato Lanni, agent for owner Baoma Corp, at the 2023 OBS April Sale after breezing in :9 4/5. Swinbank Stables, Medallion Racing, Joey Platts, and Mark Stanton’s Cy Fair (Not This Time-Remarqued, by Arch), a graduate of the 2025 OBS April Sale, is a finalist for champion 2-Year-Old Filly on the strength of her victory in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar. Cy Fair became the second filly to win the race, joining Twilight Gleaming (IRE) in 2021. The daughter of Not This Time was purchased by Swinbank for $185,000 at this year’s OBS April Sale out of the Niall Brennan Stables consignment after breezing in :9 4/5. Leon King Stable Corp. and Julia and Michael Iavarone’s Bentornato (Valiant Minister-Her Special Way, by Put It Back), is a finalist for champion Male Sprinter after scoring a 2 ¼-length victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. He is a two-time OBS graduate, having been sold by Stuart Morris at the 2022 October Yearling Sale and then purchased by Champion Equine for $170,000 out of the Golden Rock Thoroughbreds consignment at the 2023 March Sale after breezing in :20 4/5. Zedan Racing Stables’ Brant (Gun Runner-Tynan, by Liam’s Map), who set an all-time OBS record when he sold for $3 million at the 2025 March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training, is a finalist for champion 2-Year-Old Male following a three-race campaign that saw him earn a victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity before finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Brant was consigned to the OBS March Sale by Eddie Woods and lit up the board in record-setting fashion after breezing in :9 3/5, the fastest time of any horse in the March catalogue. The Eclipse Awards are voted upon by the NTRA, represented by member racetrack racing officials and Equibase field personnel, NTWAB, and Daily Racing Form, and are produced by the NTRA.
Winners in each category are determined by who receives the most first-place votes and will be announced at the 55th Annual Eclipse Awards ceremony to be held on Thursday, Jan. 22, at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida beginning at 7:30 p.m.
OLDSMAR - Sunday racing is set for its 2025-26 season debut today with a nine-race card beginning at 12:32 p.m. Course conditions permitting, there are three turf races on tap – the fifth, seventh and ninth – all at a distance of 1 mile.
Sunday racing was first conducted at Tampa Bay Downs on Dec. 7, 1986. It arrived a little more than a year after the Florida State Supreme Court had overturned a lower court ruling that would have allowed Sunday racing, upsetting fans eager for more entertainment options on the weekend.
The Supreme Court justices had ruled that a Sunday ban on gambling on horse racing was constitutional because it limited the opportunity for “mischief” and encouraged people to spend their leisure time in “more healthy recreational pursuits” and had a legitimate purpose: protecting the public “health, safety, morals or general welfare.”
Many in the crowd of 5,893 those 39 seasons ago viewed things differently, and Sunday racing has remained an Oldsmar oval staple, introducing a new fan demographic appreciative of the grandeur and thrills of Thoroughbred racing.
Tampa Bay Downs will race each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the duration of the meet except for Easter Sunday, April 5, when the track will be closed. Beginning Sunday, Jan. 25, the track will hold a series of “Mouse’s Kids & Family Days” on various Sundays in the Backyard Picnic Area, with pony rides, bounce houses, games and special activities, a food truck and visits from the track mascot, Mouse the Miniature Horse. Sounds like a lot of fun – the good, old-fashioned family kind that draws entertainment lovers from all walks of life.
Juan Carlos Avila saddled three winners Saturday, extending his lead in the trainer race to 16-11 from Juan Arriagada. Avila won the third race with Midnight Onyx, a 6-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Establo Heluce and ridden by Samy Camacho. Avila added the fourth race with Homer Jones, a 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Nigale Racing Group and ridden by Cipriano Gil.
With rain falling, Avila’s 4-year-old Florida-bred colt Gianluca Be Lucky played “catch-me-if-you-can,” going gate-to-wire in the ninth race under jockey Daniel Centeno. The speedster is owned by Julian De Mora, Jr.
Camacho scored again in the fifth race on the turf aboard heavy favorite French Mistress, a 4-year-old filly owned by Martine Head and trained by Miguel Clement. That conditioner has been red-hot at the Oldsmar oval, with five victories and a second from his last seven Tampa Bay Downs starters – closer to perfect than it might appear, considering his entrants Willpowered and Duty finished 1-2 in Friday’s seventh race.
Crump remembered for chasing her dream.
The Tampa Bay Downs community and racing fans across the country were saddened to learn of the passing Thursday of jockey Diane Crump, who made history in 1969 at Hialeah Park by becoming the first woman to ride in a parimutuel race and again the following year as the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. She was 77.
While most of the reports of her career focused on those two groundbreaking feats, Crump was a highly visible presence at the outset of her career at the track then known as Florida Downs. Her father, Walter Crump, owned a marina in Oldsmar, and horse-crazy Diane got a job at Lake Magdalene Farm in Tampa while attending Chamberlain High School.
Crump set her sights on a career as a jockey despite facing widespread resistance in an era when many male jockeys believed women had no place on the racetrack, an opinion shared by a large segment of the betting population. Among a group that included fellow pioneers such as Kathy Kusner, Penny Ann Early, Barbara Jo Rubin, Patti Barton, Mary Bacon and Robyn Smith, Crump became the first to compete in a race, finishing 10th on Bridle ’n Bit at Hialeah Park on Feb. 7, 1969.
On March 1, 1969 at Florida Downs, Crump was first across the finish line on Bridle ’n Bit, entering the winner’s circle for what appeared to be her first career triumph (Barbara Jo Rubin had won a race at Charles Town the previous week to become the first female jockey to score a victory). But Crump’s win was reversed by the Florida State Racing Commission because of a rule that prohibited a horse claimed at Hialeah from running elsewhere before the conclusion of the south Florida track’s meeting.
The 20-year-old Crump would have to wait almost three more weeks before earning her first official victory on Tou Ritzi – but at Gulfstream Park, not Florida Downs. A year later, Crump rode a horse named Fathom in the Kentucky Derby, finishing 15th in the race won by Tampa Bay Downs jockey Mike Manganello on Dust Commander.
Crump rode 228 winners from 1976 onward, according to Equibase statistics, and also saddled 14 winners as a trainer. She rode her final race at Tampa Bay Downs in 1998, a few weeks before turning 50, finishing second on the aptly-named Glory Days, a 3-year-old filly she also trained. Crump – who attended the inaugural “Jockeys and Jeans” fundraiser on March 29, 2014 at Tampa Bay Downs to raise money for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund – always handled the intense glare from the media and public with grace and composure.
“I never felt like a pioneer or trailblazer,” she told writer Liane Crossley in 2019. “I just wanted to live my dream and I most certainly did.”And, in the process, helped make it possible for countless other young women athletes to pursue theirs.
HALLANDALE BEACH - C2 Racing Stable, La Milagrosa Stable and Gary Barber’s White Abarrio, who captured the 2025 Pegasus World Cup Invitational, is prominent among the list of invitees for the 10th running of the $3 million stakes scheduled for Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park.
The Pegasus World Cup Invitational, a 1 1/8-mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up, will headline a program with 10 stakes, seven graded, including the $1 million, Gr. I Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational and the $500,000, Gr. II Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational.
Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained White Abarrio, the winner of the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream in 2022 and the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita, rolled to a 6 ¼-length victory in the 2025 Pegasus World Cup. The son of Race Day, who has earned $7.1 million, has not raced since finishing fourth in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Saratoga on Aug. 31. Joseph-trained Skippylongstocking, who captured the Gr. III Harlan’s Holiday on Dec. 20, is also on the Pegasus World Cup invitation list. Daniel Alonso’s son of Exaggerator has earned $3.775 million in purses. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is represented on the invitation list by Goal Oriented, who won Sunday’s Gr. I Malibu at Santa Anita. The son of Not This Time is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Stonestreet Stables and partners. Baffert has saddled an unprecedented three winners of the Pegasus World Cup. The Hall of Fame trainer visited the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle with Juddmonte’s Arrogate, who won the inaugural 2017 running by 4 ¾ lengths; HRH Prince Faisal bin Khaled’s Mucho Gusto, who scored by 4 ½ lengths in 2020; and SF Racing and partners’ National Treasure, who held on win by a neck in 2024. Trainer Brad Cox, who saddled Knicks Go for a 2 ¼-length front-running victory in the 2021 Pegasus World Cup, is represented by Tappan Street, Disco Time and Bishops Bay on the invitation list for the 2026 renewal. WinStar Farm, CHC Inc., Cold Press Racing and Qatar Racing’s Tappan Street captured the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby last March at Gulfstream. The son of Into Mischief, who had been sidelined since his Florida Derby triumph, returned with an optional claiming allowance victory at Gulfstream Dec. 19. Disco Time, a Juddmonte homebred son of Not This Time, is undefeated in five career starts, including the Gr. III Lecomte at Fair Grounds last January. Sidelined following the Lecomte for eight months, Disco Time came back to win the St. Louis Derby at Fairmont Park and the Dwyer at Aqueduct. KAS Stables’ Bishops Bay, a son of Uncle Mo who has won nine of 13 career starts, is coming off victories in the Gr. III Forty Niner (G3) and the Gr. II Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. Hall of Fame Trainer Todd Pletcher, who saddled Life Is Good for a 3 ¼-length triumph over a defending Knicks Go in the 2022 Pegasus World Cup, is represented on the 2026 Pegasus World Cup invitation list by St. Elias Stable’s Captain Cook. The son of Practical Joke is coming off back-to-back runner-up finishes in the Gr. I H. Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga and the Gr. III Perryville at Keeneland. Sharif Mohammad Alhariri and Lucky Seven Stable’s Rattle N Roll, a Gr. I stakes-winner with $3.6 million in earnings, is invited to seek his eighth graded stakes victory in the Pegasus World Cup. The battle-tested son of Connect is trained by Kenny McPeek. Terry L. Stephen’s Chunk of Gold, a 2025 Kentucky Derby starter coming off a close-up third in the Gr. II Clark at Churchill Downs, represents trainer Ethan West on the 2026 Pegasus World Cup invitational list. The son of Preservationist earned his way into the Kentucky Derby with runner-up finishes in the Gr. II Risen Star and Gr. II Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. Chunk of Gold captured the Gr. III West Virginia Derby at Mountaineer Park in August. Godolphin’s Poster, who came up a head short after a stretch-long battle with Skippylongstocking in the Harlan’s Holiday, represents Eoin Harty on the Pegasus World Cup invitation list. The son of Munnings captured the Gr. II Remsen at the 1 1/8-mile distance to complete a 2-year-old campaign. He was knocked off the 2004 Kentucky Derby trail by injury but came back strong from an eight-month layoff to win a Churchill Downs allowance prior to turning in a sharp performance in the Harlan’s Holiday. Hronis Racing’s Full Serrano, the 2024 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner at Del Mar, is also prominent on the list of invitees for the Pegasus World Cup. The John Sadler-trained gelding is coming off a fifth-place finish in the 2025 Breeders’ Cup Mile following a very rough trip. Set-Hut’s Touchuponastar, a graded stakes-winner with $1.6 million in earnings, is invited to seek his 20th career victory in the Pegasus World Cup. Set-Hut LLC is co-owned and managed by former NFL quarterback Jake Delhomme, whose brother, Jeff, trains the Louisiana-bred gelding.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Graded stakes-winners from the barns of trainers by Mark Casse, Graham Motion, Roger Attfield, Miguel Clement, Chad Brown, and Kevin Attard are part of a group of 19 fillies and mares invited to participate in the fifth running of the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2) Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park.
The $500,000 event, at 1 1/16-mile on the turf, is part of the 10th anniversary of Pegasus World Cup Day that will offer 10 stakes worth $5.55 million in purses. The 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), the richest dirt race in the U.S. for older horses outside of the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), and the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1), a 1 1/8-mile stakes for 4-year-olds on the turf, are among seven graded stakes on the program. The four previous winners of the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf continued to excel, with three of the four winning Grade 1 races. Inaugural winner Regal Glory won the Jenny Wiley (G1) and Matriarch (G1), 2023 winner Queen Goddess was Grade 1 stakes placed, 2024 winner Didia won the New York Stakes (G1), while last year’s winner Be Your Best won the Gamely (G1). And One More Time is one of three Casse-trained invitees. The daughter of Omaha Beach won last year’s Natalma (G1) at Woodbine before returning from a year off and winning an allowance optional claimer at Woodbine in September and finishing second at Gulfstream Dec. 13 in the Tropical Park Oaks. Also invited from the Casse barn is Candy Quest and Classic Q. Classic Q was third in the Mrs. Revere (G2) at Churchill Downs in November and second in the Lake George (G3) at Saratoga and Valley View (G2) at Keeneland earlier in the year. Candy Quest won the Colleen (G3) at Woodbine in July and was second in the Dueling Grounds Oaks (G2) at Kentucky Downs in September and fifth in the Queen Elizabeth II (G1) in October at Keeneland. Breath Away earned her way into the Pegasus Filly & Mare by winning the ‘Win & In’ Dance Smartly (G2) at Woodbine Oct. 4. The mare has since finished second in the Goldikova (G3) and fourth in the Matriarch (G1), both contested at Del Mar. Clement trains for Qatar Racing. Ready for Shirl, third in the Dance Smartly, has also earned an invitation. The Attfield-trained mare won the Canadian (G2) in July before finishing third in the E.P. Taylor (G1), both at Woodbine. Caitlinhergrtness, trained by Attard, had a successful campaign in 2025 winning the Ontario Matron (G2) and My Charmer at Turfway Park. The daughter of Omaha Beach was fifth in the E.P. Taylor (G1) and second in the Dance Smartly (G2) and Bessarabian (G3). Destino d’Oro, who defeated And One More Time in the Tropical Park Oaks, has been invited. Trained by Brad Cox, Destino d’Oro won the Pucker Up (G3) at Ellis Park over the summer. Crevalle d’Oro enters the race off a victory in the Suwannee River here Dec. 20. The Jose D’Angelo trained daughter of Constitution was fourth in the Goldikova in November. Gulfstream’s leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. could saddle two in Movin’ On Up and In Our Time. Movin’ On Up finished second Dec. 20 in the Suwannee River while finishing third earlier in the year in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2) and Mint Julep (G3), both at Churchill Downs. In Our Time, a daughter of Not This Time who comes off a pair of second place finishes in the Franklin (G2) at Keeneland and Matriarch. She finished third in last year’s Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf. Trainer Chad Brown, who won the inaugural Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf with Regal Glory, has two invitees in Whiskey Decision and Oversubscribed. Whiskey Decision won the Eatontown Stakes (G3) at Monmouth in June and most recently the Athenia at Aqueduct. Oversubscribed was second in November in the Pebbles (G3) at Aqueduct and second over the summer in the Lake George at Saratoga. Heredia, a daughter of Dark Angel trained by Graham Motion, won the Yellow Ribbon (G2) at Del Mar over the summer before finishing sixth in the First Lady (G1) at Keeneland and fifth in the Matriarch at Del Mar. Motion’s Warming, winner of the Autumn Miss (G3), also earned an invitation. Medoro, trained by Peter Eurton, would arrive from California where she finished second in the John Mabee (G2), third in the Goldikova and sixth in the Matriarch. Awesome Czech comes from the barn of trainer Horacio De Paz. Awesome Czech won the Yaddo at Saratoga and Ticonderoga at Aqueduct. Other fillies and mares invited include Ramsey Pond, third in the Tropical Park Oaks, Cardinal winner Proctor Street, and Noble Damsel winner Aussie Girl.
Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman’s Usha (Tiz the Law- Animal Appeal, by Leroidesanimaux) uncorked a powerful performance under jockey Juan Hernandez to prevail in her Gr. 1 debut in the $300,000 La Brea Stakes on opening day at Santa Anita Park, leading the slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week. Usha raced in mid-pack down the backstretch, split horses near the quarter pole and then drew off in the stretch to romp by 5 ¼ lengths for trainer Bob Baffert, becoming the first Gr. 1 winner for her sire, Tiz the Law. “Usha showed up today,” Baffert said. “She came back here and that worked well. We expected this when I shipped her to Kentucky, and didn't win a race, but today she showed up.”
Usha was purchased by her owners for $600,000 at the 2024 OBS April Sale from the On Point Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :9 4/5. The opening day card at Santa Anita also saw Nysos (Nyquist – Zetta Z, by Bernardini) edge stablemate and fellow Gr. 1 winner Nevada Beach by a head in the Gr. II, $200,000 Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on dirt. Both are trained by Baffert. The victory added to a banner year for Nysos, who prevailed in last month’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar and now has won seven of eight career starts with $1,238,500 in earnings. He was purchased for $550,000 out of the Best A Luck Farm consignment by Donato Lanni, agent for owner Baoma Corp, at the 2023 OBS April Sale after breezing in :9 4/5. Also listed on the owner’s line for Nysos as lessee’s are Susan Magnier, Derrick Smith, and Michael B. Tabor.
Also on the Santa Anita card, Kretz Racing’s veteran gelding Cabo Spirit (Pioneerof the Nile-Fancy Day (IRE), by Shamardal) earned the sixth stakes win of his career when rolling to a front-running victory in the Gr. III, $100,000 San Gabriel Stakes.
Trained by George Papaprodromou, Cabo Spirit has earned five wins at the graded level and improved his career bankroll to $1,356,836. Cabo Spirit was consigned to the 2021 OBS April Sale by Eddie Woods, Agent, and purchased for $575,000 by Gayle Van Leer, Agent, after breezing in :20 4/5. At Aqueduct, Tristar Farm’s Doc Sullivan (Solomini-Queen Frostine, by Giant’s Causeway) earned a determined win over fellow OBS grad Quick to Accuse in the $125,000 Alex M. Robb Stakes for New York-breds.
Trained by John Ortiz, the 4-year-old son of Solomini won the rubber match with multiple stakes-winner and fellow OBS grad Bank Frenzy, who finished third. Doc Sullivan has now won 3-of-5 matchups between him and Bank Frenzy, including last out in the seven-furlong NYSSS Thunder Rumble.
Doc Sullivan was a $59,000 purchase by Glen Lostritto from the consignment of Omar Ramirez Bloodstock at the 2023 OBS June Sale after breezing in :21 1/5.
At Oaklawn Park, West Point Thoroughbreds’ Counting Stars (Honor A.P.- Paynterbynumbers, by Paynter) wheeled back on short rest to score an eye-catching victory in the $150,000 Year’s End Stakes.
Trained by dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, Counting Stars was running back in 13 days after earning a four-length win in the $135,000 Astral Spa Stakes at six furlongs. She was purchased by her owners at the 2025 OBS April Sale for $150,000 from the Wildheart Thoroughbreds consignment after breezing in :10 flat.
OLDSMAR - The majority of bettors who came to Tampa Bay Downs yesterday to focus on the mandatory Ultimate 6 jackpot payout saw their hopes evaporate in the fourth race (the first race of the wager) when Noble Annie, the second-longest shot in the 10-horse field at 34-1, defeated 11-5 favorite Mistrial Wind by a nose in the 1-mile turf event.
Those dreams out of the way, it is hoped investors got over their disappointment quickly enough to enjoy the latest in a series of picture-postcard afternoons that have postponed any signs of winter’s chill until at least next week.
Others who used Noble Annie might not have paid as much attention to the weather. Things settled down for Ultimate 6 bettors sticking more closely to the form, with two of the remaining five races won by a betting favorite – Elusive d’Oro, who won the fifth race at odds of 9-5, and Real Savvy, who won the ninth at even-money – and two others by the second choice.
Ultimately, 14 “survivors” selected the 2-1-1-5-4-4 combination on their tickets, earning $14,026 apiece.
A pair of longshot winners made the early Pick-5 wager highly profitable for four bettors, including one on-track, who correctly nailed the 6/2/2/2/1, 7 combination to collect $27,564 each. The key longshots on the ticket were 5-year-old gelding St. Louie Louie, who paid $52 to win in the second race, and the aforementioned 2-year-old filly Noble Annie, who returned $71.20 for her victory in the fourth.
Noble Annie was the only horse claimed from the race, with trainer Carlos Narvaez paying $16,000 for the juvenile lass for new owner Ladycaroly Stable. In the featured seventh race, a 1-mile conditional allowance/optional claiming race on the turf, Britain’s Kitten, a 7-2 shot, overcame some bumping at the start to secure good position on the inside, then responded to jockey Israel Rodriguez’s urgings to post a head victory from betting favorite Tok Tok in a time of 1:35.24 for the distance.
It was the first start in more than two years for Britain’s Kitten, a 6-year-old gelding who is owned by Bella Mia Stables and trained by Kevin Rice. The conditioner also won today’s third race with Kuku, a 3-year-old filly competing under his Rice Racing banner and ridden by Rosario Montanez.
Leading jockey Samuel Marin won the final two races on Litigant and Real Savvy, surviving a claim of foul by Samy Camacho aboard runner-up Persisten in the finale. Around the oval. The Oldsmar oval’s highly anticipated Calendar Giveaway Day is Friday. The gates will open at 11 a.m. The 2026 calendars, which celebrate the 100th anniversary season of Tampa Bay Downs, are free of charge (with paid admission) to the first 5,000 fans through the turnstiles. Friday’s nine-race card begins at 12:35 p.m. The first race is a $56,500, 6 ½-furlong allowance/optional claiming event, with trainer Gerald Bennett’s 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding Chrome Ghost the 6-5 morning-line favorite. Samy Camacho has the riding assignment. Saturday’s program features the opening legs of the popular Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series, with both the fifth race for fillies and mares 3-years-old-and-upward and the seventh race for males 3-and-up being contested at a distance of 1 mile on the grass course. Full fields of 10 are expected for both races.
The feature Saturday is the ninth, a $55,000, mile-and-a-sixteenth maiden special weight event on the turf for 2-year-old fillies. With two entries apiece from trainers Chad Brown and H. Graham Motion, the race should be a corker. Post time for Saturday’s first race is 12:35 p.m.
As previously reported, Sunday racing at Tampa Bay Downs will begin on Jan. 4. Starting next week, there will be racing on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule, with Thursday cards on Feb. 5 and Feb. 12 added to make up for the originally scheduled Sunday programs on Dec. 21 and Dec. 28.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Robert Cotran’s Rezasrolex collected his eighth straight victory Friday at Gulfstream Park with a front-running performance in Race 5, a five-furlong optional claiming allowance on turf. The 4-year-old son of multiple Gr. II winner Bucchero entered the race off seven consecutive victories over Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta surface. “Today was the turf test. He’s by Bucchero. He’s a stallion I love. I knew he’d turf. He’d run one time [on turf] at Belterra with a 40 Beyer. It’s apples and oranges,” trainer Joe Orseno said. “The horse is doing great. He’s keeping himself together. I stop when it’s time to stop on him. I’ve given him time off before. He’ s doing great.”
Rezasrolex ($4.60), a Florida-bred gelding who was claimed for $18,000 by his current connections out of his Gulfstream debut in December of 2023, went right to the front under Edgard Zayas and held off a late drive from favored Poseidon’s Law by a neck in the non-winners-of-one optional claiming allowance. “We’re going to have to figure out his next step. Now he’s a two-other-than. There’s some stakes coming up,” Orseno said. “He’s just a neat horse and we’re keeping him happy.” Since being claimed out of a winning Gulfstream debut for trainer Bill Morey in his third career race, Rezasrolex has won 10 of 13 for Cotran and Orseno.
OLDSMAR - A pair of familiar names are off to quick starts in the training ranks this season.
Tom Proctor, who trains for Ocala's Glen Hill Farm, sent out his fourth winner from seven starters in Wednesday’s sixth race on the turf as 4-5 favorite Wrigleyville posted a front-running, 3 ¼-length victory over Expecting a Winner. Wrigleyville, a 4-year-old daughter of Into Mischief out of Glen Hill’s multiple-Gr. I winner Marketing Mix, toured the 1-mile distance in 1:37.58. She was ridden by leading jockey Samuel Marin.
Proctor, the son of the late training great Willard Proctor, has saddled more than 1,400 winners. He is perhaps best known as the conditioner of Glen Hills' One Dreamer, upset winner of the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.
J. David Braddy, a two-time leading trainer at Tampa Bay Downs in 1983-84 and 1986-87 (tied with Norm Wismer), is 4-for-6 with one second after Rancho Vista’s runner-up effort to Unicycle in Wednesday’s seventh race, a 7-furlong claiming event. Rancho Vista was claimed from the outing, as was Braddy’s two-time winner Long Gone Sally on Dec. 12. Each of Braddy’s winners was owned by Joel W. Sainer. Braddy is closing in on 1,100 career victories.
Marin and Ademar Santos each rode two winners on the card. In addition to his victory on Wrigleyville, Marin captured the eighth race aboard Blaze of Color, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by JC Racing Stable and trained by Jose M. Castro.
Santos won the fourth and fifth races back-to-back. He scored in the fourth on Pando, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Happy Tenth Stable and trained by Tony Wilson. Pando was claimed from the victory for $5,000 by owner-trainer Ron G. Potts.
Santos won the fifth with Battle Warrior, a 3-year-old gelding owned by Mellon Patch Inc., and trained by Michael Campbell.
OLDSMAR - Tampa Bay Downs has tweaked its 2025-26 racing calendar, while maintaining a 90-day schedule.
Sunday racing, originally scheduled to begin Dec. 21, will get underway Jan. 4. The “lost” dates (Dec. 21 and 28) will be made up on Thursday, Feb. 5 and Thursday, Feb. 12.
Tampa Bay Downs currently races on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. With the exception of Christmas, Dec. 25, when the track will be closed in its entirety, Tampa Bay Downs is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.
Friday, Dec. 26 is Calendar Day, with the first 5,000 patrons through the gates receiving the 2026 edition free of charge (with paid admission). The theme is the track’s centennial celebration, and a sneak peek reveals the calendar is an artistic triumph, with pictures from the track’s beginning years blending into more recent yet similar photographs. Gates will open at 11 a.m.
Racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:20 p.m.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Steve Landers Racing’s Destino d’Oro, benefitting from a brief freshening and some class relief after three straight graded stakes attempts, dueled with favored Gr. 1 winner And One More Time through the stretch before edging clear late for a hard-fought head victory in the $125,000 Tropical Park Oaks at Gulfstream Park. The 31st running of the Tropical Park Oaks for 3-year-old fillies shared top billing with the 50th renewal of the $125,000 Tropical Park Derby for 3-year-olds, each going 1 1/16 miles on the grass. Ridden by Edgard Zayas for trainer Brad Cox, Destino d’Oro ($9.60) covered a firm turf course in 1:40.02 to earn her fourth win from seven career starts and second in a stakes following the Aug. 3, Gr. III Pucker Up at Ellis Park, her most recent victory. Destino d’Oro was unhurried early settled near the back of a 12-horse field as 60-1 shot Miss Mary Nell was hustled to the lead from her outside post and was in front through a quarter-mile in :23.34 seconds and a half in :46.60, with Souper Zonda chasing two wide in second and It Ain’t Two saving ground along the rail. When And One More Time and Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano began to make their move from mid-pack rounding the far turn on the outside, Zayas gave Destino d’Oro her cue and tipped her to the center of the track. He was able to find room straightening for home and set his sights on And One More Time, who had forged a short lead, and the two favorites hooked up for a drive to the wire. “I thought it was an ideal trip and what it looked like she would get based off the form. It looked like there was speed in there, and there was,” Cox said. “Edgard was able to let her break well, kind fo let her find her way through the first turn and she settled well for him. It looked like going into the turn he kind of had his eyeball on the favorite and was able to get by late in the stretch.” And One More Time, who drifted out noticeably in deep stretch, was 1 ¾ lengths ahead of Ramsey Pond in third. Previously undefeated stakes-winner Souper Zonda, Souper Williwaw, Brown Sugar, Supa Speed, Miss Mary Nell, Smart Union, Nosleeptilbrooklyn, Mischief in Motion and It Ain’t Two completed the order of finish.
“She ran huge. I was trying today to be not that far behind and not give her too much to do. My plan was to follow [And One More Time] the whole way and it worked out perfect,” Zayas said. “[And One More Time] at the end kind of like came out a little bit and bumped into me, but it didn’t bother her to win the race.” Destino D’Oro graduated in her debut last August at Kentucky Downs and was third, beaten a head, in the Gr. II Jessamine at Keeneland before going to the sidelines and missing the Breeders’ Cup. The Bolt d’Oro filly returned off the layoff in mid-August with a last-to-first rally over older horses at Churchill Downs to set up her run in the Pucker Up. From there she ran sixth in the Gr. III Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs and eighth in the Gr. I Queen Elizabeth II Cup on Oct. 11 at Keeneland. “We think she’s got a world of talent. She showed that last year as a 2-year-old with two really good starts,” Cox said. “We were pointing to the Breeders’ Cup and we had a setback. Her two runs off the layoff were really, really impressive and then we kind of hit a brick wall.
“It was a little bit of not a clean trip at Kentucky Downs and just maybe not doing as well as we needed her to do to go into the Keeneland race. She wasn’t doing bad, just maybe not as sharp as she normally is. She ran a flat race,” he added. “We brought her down to Payson [Park] after the Keeneland meet and she’s done very well since. I think she showed that today.”
OLDSMAR - Tampa Bay Downs has imposed a quarantine on Barns 25 and 26 after a horse was confirmed to have the neurological form of EHV-1 (Equine Herpesvirus Type 1), a contagious virus that causes Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy, a neurological disease.
The horse was sent to the University of Florida on Monday.
No other horse on the grounds has tested positive or shown signs of having the virus. Tampa Bay Downs is taking numerous precautions for the immediate future, including not allowing any horses from the two barns to compete through Dec. 27.
Workers at both barns must log in and out and wear protective footwear and clothing while they are working. All horses on the grounds must have their temperatures taken twice daily, and temperature logs are required to be kept for each horse. Beginning on Friday, a 24-hour health certificate will be required for any horse entering the barn area.
The track is also adopting a temporary training schedule to help ensure each horse’s health and safety. The main track will open at 5:30 a.m., with a break for maintenance from 8-8:30. The track will then close at 9:15 and reopen immediately afterward for horses in Barns 25 and 26, closing at 10:30 a.m.
“Our main concern, as always, is the health and safety of our horse population,” said Vice President and General Manager Peter Berube. “All necessary precautions are being undertaken to prevent the spread of the virus.”
Tampa Bay Downs has also announced there will be no live racing on Dec. 21 or Dec. 28, with the first Sunday of the meet now scheduled for Jan. 4. The track has added live racing on Thursday, Feb. 5 and Thursday, Feb. 1.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Forces will bring an unblemished record into Saturday’s $125,000 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream Park with little fanfare.
“He’s one of those kind of horses that blends into the crowd,” trainer Michael Trombetta said. “He just does his job and when he races, he gives it his best.”
Souper Forces will seek his fourth victory in as many career starts in the 50th running of the Tropical Park Derby, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-olds that will co-headline Saturday’s 11-race program with the $125,000 Tropical Park Oaks, a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies.
The homebred son of Laoban has won his three races at three different racetracks. After breaking his maiden in his debut over Presque Isle Downs’ synthetic surface at six furlongs with a late rally on Aug. 5, he stretched out to a mile on turf to capture an entry-level allowance with an off-the-pace performance at Colonial Downs a month later. In his stakes debut in the Nov. 1 Showing Up at Gulfstream Park, he surged from well off the pace at the top of the stretch to register an 18-1 upset victory in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes.
“The only thing I can say about this guy is: everything I’ve asked him to do, he’s done very, very well,” Trombetta said. “He’s been a very pleasant surprise.”
Souper Forces, who drew the far-outside post position in a field of 12 and an also-eligible, is rated at 8-1. Trombetta, who saddled Live Oak Plantation’s Souper Blessing for a 12-1 upset victory in the 2023 Tropical Park Derby, has awarded the return mount aboard Souper Forces to Cipriano Gil.
Arindel’s Tank will make a highly anticipated return to Gulfstream, where he won back-to-back races before shipping to Saratoga for his last three starts. The son of Adios Charlie followed up a victory in the Sophomore Turf Stakes at Tampa Bay with forwardly placed turf victories in the English Channel and Not Surprising during Gulfstream’s Royal Palm Meet.
The homebred colt was shipped to Saratoga, where he set the pace in the Aug. 4 Belmont Derby before finishing fourth, beaten by just 1 ½ lengths. He followed up with off-the-board finishes in the Hall of Fame and Saranac without displaying his usual early speed. “He was going really good, but in the last race, he broke really bad for Jaramillo. He can rate, but he needs to be close. He needs to break,” trainer Carlos David said. “Those were really tough races against open company. I figured I’d give him a break and bring him back for this meet.”
Emisael Jaramillo, who was also aboard for Tank’s English Channel and Not Surprising wins, has the return mount on the Florida-bred colt, who is 8-1 on the morning line and who will break from the gate one stall inside Souper Forces.
Late-developing Chapman’s Peak is favored on the morning line at 5-2 after finishing second in the Nov. 22 Commonwealth Turf at Churchill Downs, where he dueled from the start of the 1 1 1/6-mile stakes for 3-year-olds only to come up just a head short of winning.
The Brad Cox-trained Godolphin homebred had won his two prior starts, graduating at Kentucky Downs in his fourth career start before winning a Keeneland allowance with a front-running performance. Tyler Gaffalione is scheduled to ride Chapman’s Peak for the first time Saturday.
Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz Dashing is rated second on the morning line at 7-2. The son of 2020 Florida Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Tiz the Law is coming off a victory in the 1 1/8-mile Hill Prince (G3) at Aqueduct. Trainer Barclay Tagg has given the return mount aboard Tiz Dashing to Hall of Famer Javier Castellano.
Dominic Dilalla’s Church and State, a multiple-stakes winner at Woodbine, will take on Tiz Dashing again after finishing third in the Hill Prince, beaten by 1 ¾ lengths. Micah Husbands is slated to ride the Steve Owens-trained son of Caravaggio for the first time.
Calumet Farm’s Candytown, rated at 8-1 on the morning line along with Church and State, Souper Forces and Tank, enters the Tropical Park Derby off a troubled fourth-place finish in the Showing Up, in which he encountered traffic before rallying to finish fourth, beaten just over a length. Edgard Zayas, who was aboard the son of Speightstown for a turf allowance victory at Saratoga as well as fourth-place finishes in the Gio Ponti at Aqueduct and the Showing Up, has the return mount on the Calumet homebred who is trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher.
Kevin Doyle’s Layabout (10-1), who came up a half-length short of holding off Souper Forces after building a two-length lead in the Showing Up; Adele Dilschneider and Claiborne Farm’s Simulate (12-1), who has made his last three starts in graded company at Colonial Downs, Kentucky Downs and Keeneland; and James Conner’s Day and Age (20-1), who was a troubled seventh in the Showing Up after capturing a Churchill Downs allowance: are also entered in a highly competitive Tropical Park Derby.
“I don’t know where he fits in there,” said Day and Age’s Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. “It’s a great race. He ran great in Kentucky. He didn’t have a great trip in his last start. He needs to have a great trip. It’s a strong field, so the trip can make the race.”
Dastur Racing’s Thundering, (20-1), Lawson Racing Stables’ Roar of the Beast (20-1), and Eduardo Soto’s Discreet Dancer (30-1), round out the field. Joseph Allen’s McRavin (20-1) is also-eligible.
OLDSMAR - Samy Camacho was a forgotten man for the first three weeks of the Tampa Bay Downs meet – which makes perfect sense, since he has been riding at Gulfstream Park.
Returning to the racetrack where he has enjoyed much of his success, Camacho rode one winner from seven mounts Wednesday with two seconds in a belated beginning to his Oldsmar oval campaign after serving the remainder of a suspension that had carried over from the 2024-25 season.
His victory came in the fifth race, a mile-and-40-yard maiden claiming event that was taken off the turf, aboard 2-year-old Florida-bred filly Parlaypauline, owned by Julian De Mora Jr., and trained by Juan Carlos Avila. (Parlaypauline was claimed from the victory for $32,000 by trainer Jose A. Gallegos for new owner Amaty Racing Stables).
“It’s very exciting to be back. This is the place I race, and I’m truly happy to be back here riding,” said Camacho, a five-time Tampa Bay Downs champion. “I’ll go home with my family and be happy tonight, and I’ll go back to work in the morning with my agent (Mike Moran) and a smile.”
Camacho, a 37-year-old product of Caracas, Venezuela, has ridden 1,550 winners in North America. He rode a couple of winners at Gulfstream Park while his suspension played out. Moran is also the agent for Samuel Marin, who ended Camacho’s streak of four consecutive titles last season. Marin is off to a fast start with 15 winners and there are numerous jockeys currently between him and Camacho, who plans to stay laser-focused in an effort to gradually close the gap. “I’m working very hard to do my best and win races,” Camacho said. “I’m going to try to win the title again, but I know it will be tough. The competition is going to be good all season, but I believe a lot in myself and I have a lot of business moving forward. “I just pray to God to stay healthy.”
Parlaypauline’s victory was one of two for the owner-trainer combination of De Mora and Avila, who also won the seventh race with Chacarera, ridden by apprentice Noel Herman.
Around the oval - Cipriano Gil rode two winners Wednesday. He captured the fourth race aboard Peace Cloud, a 2-year-old gelding owned by Patricia Pavlish and trained by Tim Hamm. Peace Cloud was claimed from the race for $8,000 by trainer Gregg Sacco for new owner Elliot Mavorah. Gil added the ninth and final race with Icelander, a 4-year-old colt owned by Ladycaroly Stable and trained by Carlos Narvaez.
OLDSMAR - Chris Fountoukis was about 90 minutes from Tampa Bay Downs Saturday morning when his new truck broke down, forcing him to call a tow truck and summon an Uber driver to take him back home to Miami. It wasn’t long before his day turned into seashells, balloons and rainbows.
Fountoukis, a retired contractor, watched on his cell phone as his 2-year-old colt Solitude Dude demolished five opponents in the 40th running of the $125,000 Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, contested as the second race. Under jockey Edgard Zayas, Solitude Dude defeated runner-up Max Capacity by 8 lengths in a time of 1:09.07 for 6 furlongs, breaking the stakes record of 1:09.13 set last year by Donut God.
The Tampa Bay Downs track record is 1:08.67, set by It’s Me Mom in 2012. Solitude Dude paid $2.20 to win.
The Inaugural was one of two stakes races on a 10-race card consisting of nine races for 2-year-olds. In the co-feature, the 48th edition of the $125,000 Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Sneaky Good rallied from off the pace under jockey Antonio Gallardo, collaring Evolution at the sixteenth pole and withstanding a late charge from Blazing Brat to win by 2 ¾ lengths. Evolution held on for third, a head in front of My Miss Mo. Sneaky Good paid $4.80 to win as the betting favorite.
As impressive as Sneaky Good looked, the day’s headlines were reserved for Solitude Dude. “He’s awesome. I’m all excited,” said Fountoukis, who purchased Solitude Dude through trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., for $300,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June Sale. “Saffie loves this horse. He thinks he has a good future.”
Joseph isn’t the only one holding that opinion after the son of Yaupon-After the Party, by Into Mischief, improved to 2-for-2 in his career. Both Joseph, who watched the race from back home in south Florida, and Zayas began the day with guarded optimism that was realized about as well as could be hoped for.
“He had a very encouraging workout (Nov. 28, 4 furlongs in :46.75 seconds at Palm Meadows Training Center), but he was facing winners for the first time today,” said Joseph, who also trains the third-place finisher, Langvad. “He moved a little early into a fast pace, but he still quickened away when (Zayas) asked him. I think he has a lot of ability and hopefully he will continue to build on it.”
Joseph said he will consider the Jan. 10 Pasco Stakes at 7 furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs for Solitude Dude’s next start (and first as a 3-year-old), so there is sufficient time for the connections to savor this race (and get Fountoukis up and running again).
Solitude Dude’s flirtation with the track record “tells a lot about what kind of horse he is,” Joseph said. “He has a lot of gears. That he can go into a fast pace and quicken like he did, we’re grateful to have him. He relaxes very well. His mind is probably his best attribute.”
Indeed, Solitude Dude appeared to be unfazed as Super Kick broke to a 2-length lead, running the opening quarter-mile in "21.68 seconds. The half went in :44.31, but it didn’t seem to tax Solitude Dude.
“He’s an amazing horse, a very nice horse,” said Zayas, who was aboard him for the first time. “I’m very excited to see how he runs in the future. It looks like he has a lot of ability. He broke good and I could tell he was a classy horse. He sat second and was on cruise control the whole time until I asked him about the 3/8 pole.
“Once he got momentum, he opened up a couple of lengths and I let him go all the way to the wire. (The time) was without even using the whip on him. He probably would have broken the track record, but we’re not looking at that. We’re just saving it for the bigger races.”
A brief rainstorm began about five minutes before post time for the Sandpiper, but had let up by the time the race went off. Sneaky Good, who is owned by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Brad Cox, asserted her superiority late to improve to 2-for-2.
Less than an hour earlier, Cox won the Gr. II Cigar Mile at Aqueduct with 5-year-old horse Bishops Bay.
Sneaky Good’s time of 1:10.70 was 1.35 seconds off Dorth Vader’s 2022 stakes record. “I had a lot of confidence in her, and the race set up perfect,” Gallardo said of the daughter of Into Mischief-Gale, by Tonalist. “There was a lot of speed, and I think the outside (No. 9) post position helped because she had enough speed to be close but she didn’t have to go to the lead.
“I pushed the button a little early because the track has been playing fast, but not as much for this race because of the rain. I asked her with my mouth,” he said, making a smooching noise, “and she gave me a little kick, so I knew I had a lot of horse left.”
Around the oval - Leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin rode three winners for the second consecutive day. He captured the first race on Teddy Bear, a 2-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Robert Cotran and trained by Joseph Orseno. Marin and Orseno doubled up in the fifth race with Hades, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran. Marin then won the seventh with Lightscape, a 2-year-old filly owned by Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Two-time defending leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr., fellow Eclipse Award winner Tyler Gaffalione and British champion David Egan will make their first appearances of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet when the country’s premier winter stand resumes with a nine-race program today. First race post time is 12:20 p.m. Ortiz, fresh off topping the Churchill Downs fall meet standings, is named in four races today and seven on Friday to begin the quest for his record-extending seventh Championship Meet title, having broken the mark set by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, who won five in a row from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016. Ortiz also surpassed Castellano’s single-season standard with 140 wins in 2020-2021. A 33-year-old native of Puerto Rico and five-time Eclipse Award winner (2018-20, 2022-23), Ortiz ranked first with 109 wins and $6.6 million in purse earnings last winter at Gulfstream with 12 stakes wins led by White Abarrio in the Ghostzapper (G3) and $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and Mindframe in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2).
Gaffalione, born and raised in Davie, Fla., is named in three races today and Friday and six on Saturday including Summer Cause for trainer Miguel Clement in the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Handicap scheduled for two miles on the grass.
Last winter the 31-year-old Gaffalione, the champion apprentice of 2015, was second at the Championship Meet with 74 wins and third with nearly $4.2 million in purse earnings whose stakes wins were highlighted by Spirit of St Louis in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1). Based in England, where he was the champion apprentice of 2017, Egan was born in Kildare, Ireland and returns for the third straight winter. He is named in five races today, four races Friday and five on Saturday including stakes-placed I Know I Know in the Jerkens for 3-year-olds and up.
Egan, 26, won 18 races and $707,450 in purses from 149 mounts at the 2024-2025 Championship Meet before returning for the British season. The winner of several major international Group 1 races including the Saudi Cup, Dubai Sheema Classic, Irish St. Leger and the St. Leger in England, he is a contract rider for Kia Joorabchian’s AMO Racing through 2028. Soon to arrive at Gulfstream are Hall of Famer John Velazquez, North America’s all-time leader with more than $513 million in purses earnings, and Corey Lanerie, a lifetime winner of 5,150 races. Jockey Rajiv Maragh sits one win shy of 2,000 for his career. He is named in two races today, five on Friday and six on Saturday.
OLDSMAR - Two-year-olds of both sexes will vie for the spotlight Saturday as Tampa Bay Downs launches its 2025-26 stakes schedule with the 40th running of the $125,000 Inaugural Stakes for males and the 48th edition of the $125,000 Sandpiper Stakes for fillies.
All but one of Saturday’s 10 races are for 2-year-olds, who like all Thoroughbreds will become a year older on Jan. 1 for record-keeping purposes. Both the Inaugural and the Sandpiper will be run at the sprint distance of 6 furlongs. Post time for the first race is 12:30 p.m. The Inaugural is the second race and the Sandpiper is the ninth race
The Inaugural has drawn a field of seven. Much interest surrounds Solitude Dude, whose lone career start on Nov. 1 in a maiden special weight race at Gulfstream Park resulted in a 9 ½-length victory in a time of 1:16.40 for 6 ½ furlongs. The Kentucky-bred colt is owned by Chris Fountoukis and trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
Edgard Zayas, who was the leading jockey at Gulfstream’s recently concluded fall meet, has been named to ride Solitude Dude, who breaks from the outside No. 7 post.
Handicappers are expected to take a close look at Joseph’s other Inaugural entry, Langvad, who broke his maiden in his second career start on Nov. 8 at Gulfstream in a 7-furlong maiden special weight and will start from the No. 2 post. Leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Samuel Marin has been named to ride the Florida-bred colt for Joseph and owners Steven Friedfertig and Shining Stables.
Thunder Chuck, who breaks from the No. 3 post, is another Inaugural entry expected to merit serious consideration among bettors. Six-time Tampa Bay Downs riding champion Daniel Centeno will be aboard the gelding for owner Lea Farms and trainer Jorge Delgado. The son of outstanding sire Good Magic finished second in his most recent start, the Juvenile Sprint Stakes on Nov. 22 at Gulfstream.
Super Kick is another with solid credentials, including a maiden victory on Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs in 1:10.39 for 6 furlongs. Jesus Castanon will be aboard from the No. 4 post for owner Calumet Farm and trainer Eoin Harty.
The Sandpiper has attracted 10 fillies, including two from the barn of Joseph. His duo includes My Miss Mo, who broke her maiden on Nov. 9 at Gulfstream by 12 lengths in 1:24.39 for 7 furlongs. Zayas will ride the Florida-bred daughter of Uncle Mo, who will break from the No. 5 post. She is owned by Averill Racing, Mathis Stable and Tristan De Meric.
Joseph’s other entrant is the maiden filly Tahlequah, who will start from the No. 3 post under Micah Husbands.
Sneaky Good, who drew the No. 10 post position and will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo, has run only once, but it was a performance that turned some heads. She broke her maiden on Oct. 5 at Keeneland, winning a 6-furlong sprint by 4 ¾ lengths. Sneaky Good is owned by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Brad Cox.
Summer Winner, who drew the No. 2 post position, was a perfect 3-for-3 at Canterbury Park during the summer, including a victory on Sept. 6 in the Northern Lights Debutante Stakes. Bred and owned by Peter D. Mattson and Tim Padilla, and trained by Padilla, Summer Winner will be ridden by Alonso Quinonez.
Four-time leading Tampa Bay Downs trainer Kathleen O’Connell, who won back-to-back runnings of the Sandpiper Stakes with Lindsey Lane and Shananie’s Beat in 1993 and 1994, has entered Gerrards Cross, who will start from the No. 7 post under Sonny Leon.
Bred in Florida by her owner, James M. Chicklo, Gerrards Cross is 2-for-2 and won the Colleen Stakes on the turf at Monmouth Park on July 27 in her last start.
The No. 4 filly is Techstar, a maiden trained by Orlando Rose and owned by Von A Stables who has two seconds and a third to her credit and could be the pacesetter
Around the oval: Leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin scored his 400th career victory in yesterday's sixth race aboard Poiema, a 6-year-old Florida-bred mare by Florida's second-leading sire, Neolithic, owned by JC Racing Stable and trained by Jose M. Castro. Poiema defeated the betting favorite, U Lite Up My Life, by 6 ½ lengths.
Spendthrift Farm’s Further Ado (Gun Runner- Sky Dreamer, by Sky Mesa) drew away late to win the Gr. II, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs by 1 ¾ lengths and lead the slate of stakes-winning OBS grads for the week. Further Ado verified his 20-length, two-turn maiden win 50 days ago at Keeneland. He earned $242,470 and collected 10 points as part of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series, which offered points on a scale of 10-5-3-2-1 to the top five finishers. “This was a really good test for him,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He won very impressively last time. Today he had to show a different dimension and really dig down late to get by. It’s very important to get a horse like this started early on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Hopefully he can bring us right back here in the spring.” Further Ado was purchased by Spendthrift at the 2025 OBS April Sale for $550,000 from the Six K's Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :21 1/5. At Churchill Downs, Moonlight (Audible- Sundown, by Tapit) rallied past 6-5 pacesetting favorite Dragoon Guard in deep stretch to win the second running of the $249,835 Cherokee Mile by 1 ½ lengths. Moonlight, a 4-year-old son of Audible, earned his first stakes win and third win in five starts at Churchill Downs for trainer Chris Block and owner Kiki Courtelis’ Town and Country Racing. Moonlight was purchased at the 2023 OBS April Sale by his owners for $285,000 from the Eddie Woods consignment after breezing in :21.
At Zia Park, Lookinforbargains (Practical Joke-Mixed Up Kid, by Lemon Drop Kid) won the $100,000 Zia Park Distaff Stakes in her second stakes attempt. Owned by Paul Jenson and trained by Todd Fincher, Lookinforbargains was purchased by H & R Bloodstock for $85,000 at the 2022 OBS April Sale from the Scanlon Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :10. The Nov. 25 Zia Park card also saw Bryon Seymore’s A Thousand Miles (Thousand Words – Swiss Army Wife, by Colonel John) take the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks for trainer Bart G. Hone. The daughter of Thousand Words was purchased for $27,000 by Dennis O’Neill out of the Pick View consignment at the 2024 OBS March sale after breezing in :10 3/5.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Gulfstream Park’s mandatory payout of the 20-cent Rainbow 6 had 98 winning tickets, each worth $13,268. There was $1,393,379 of new money bet into the Rainbow 6, and a carryover of $184,136. The winning sequence was:
Race 6: Prevent ($8.40)
Race 7: Itsallcomintogetha $5.40
Race 8: Diamonds N Thrills Race 9: Biz Biz Buzz $8 Race 10: Strategic Risk $14.60 Race 11: Bulldoze $12.20 Prevent Wins Sabal Palm: Approximately 30 minutes after going gate-to-wire to win the $300,000 My Dear Girl with Mythical, jockey Emisael Jaramillo ran it right back aboard Prevent in the $100,000 Sabal Palm.
Breaking on top in the seven-horse field, Jaramillo guided BC Racing LLC’s Prevent past fractions of :24.95, :48.62 and 1:11.79 before covering the mile and 70-yard Tapeta course in 1:38.92 to prevail over favorite Private Thoughts by a half length. Brawn was third.
A son of Neolithic who BC Racing’s Brian Cohen bought at the 2022 OBS Winter Mixed Sale for $15,000, Prevent has earned more than $400,000 while winning six of 13 races across Tapeta. The second and third-place finishers are also by Pleasant Acres Stallions' Neolithic. “He tries so hard and he’s getting the lead no matter what, he’s so competitive,” Cohen said. “If he can get his lead he will be super tough. If someone wants to contest, he’s not going to give up the lead. And when he gets his setup on Tapeta he’s super, super tough.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - John Oxley’s Strategic Risk took advantage of a dream trip under Hall of Famer Javier Castellano to capture Saturday’s $300,000 In Reality at Gulfstream Park, breaking though with a performance Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse always thought he had in him. Strategic Risk ($14.60), who won at first asking at Gulfstream Park by 8 ¼ lengths before disappointing in his next three starts, appreciated every inch of the 1 1/16-mile third and final leg of the Florida Sire Stakes, scoring by nine lengths in the race for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida-bred stallions. The son of Noble Bird settled well off the pace set by Roger That Dana and closely attended by 6-5 favorite Khozalite and Trelawny past fractions of :23.54 and :47.98 seconds for the first half-mile. As Roger That Dana and Khozalite hooked up on the turn into the homestretch for the stretch run, Strategic Risk hit his stride with a menacing run a few lengths back before sweeping to the lead at the top of the stretch and drawing clear. “He was very relaxed early in the race. I knew when I asked him, he was going to explode. I was waiting for the best opportunity to ask him, and he did it. He did an amazing job. He handled everything very well,” Castellano said. Strategic Risk followed up his winning debut at five furlongs with a distant fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Sanford (G3) and a sixth-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile With Anticipation (G2) on turf at Saratoga. He returned to South Florida to finish an even third in the Oct. 18 Affirmed, the seven-furlong second leg of the Florida Sire Stakes series won by Khozalite. “We thought early on he was a really good horse. He broke his maiden. I thought he was about 80 percent at that time. We took him to New York and he just didn’t do great there. He didn’t train that great. He worked on the grass and I tried him on the grass. I brought him home and gave him a little break in Ocala,” Casse said by phone from his Ocala farm. “I said, ‘You know what? He’s trained well enough, I think I’ll try him in the [Sire] Stakes,’ the last one. He ran OK. I told Mr. Oxley, ‘I think this horse is better than he ran.’ He trained well into this race. Mr. Oxley asked me how I thought he’d run, and I said, ‘I think he’ll run really well.’ I didn’t know he’d win the way he won, but it was nice.”
Casse was hardly surprised that Oxley’s homebred colt made great strides forward while stretching out two turns on dirt for the first time. “I trained his dad. I trained his mom, too, but I don’t think she ever ran. She was by Afleet Alex. His dad held a track record at Pimlico. He won the Pimlico Special at a mile and 3/16ths. He was a multiple Grade 1 winner for Mr. Oxley,” Casse said. “There’s no reason this horse shouldn’t run all day.” Brad Cox-trained The Town, who entered the In Reality off a late-closing second in his Oct. 24 debut at Keeneland, recovered from a disastrous start to finish second. Roger That Dana held on to finish third, 1 ¼ lengths back. Casse has no specific next-out plans for Strategic Risk, who ran the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:44.85. “This was impressive. We don’t have a lot of options after this, so we’ll try some open company,” he said. “The only think I can tell you for sure, it will be around two turns.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - It didn’t come the way her connections intended, but in the end it didn’t matter.
Arindel’s Gr. III-winning homebred, Mythical, making her two-turn debut, shook off early pace pressure from Love Like Lucy and had enough left to withstand a late run by 30-1 longshot Dare Greatly for a popular 2 ½-length victory in Saturday’s $300,000 My Dear Girl at Gulfstream Park.
The My Dear Girl for fillies and $300,000 In Reality, each going 1 1/16 miles, concluded the 44th edition of the $1.2 million Florida Sire Stakes series for 2-year-olds by accredited Florida stallions.
It was the fifth win from six starts and fourth in a stakes for 1-9 favorite Mythical ($2.20), who bounced back from her first career loss to register a resounding victory in the second leg of the series, the Oct. 18 Susan’s Girl, her first time facing state-breds when she was able to rate early before closing with aplomb.
The My Dear Girl unfolded differently, with Mythical breaking sharply and going straight to the lead pressed by Love Like Lucy through a quarter-mile in :22.81 seconds while under a snug hold from regular rider Emisael Jaramillo.
“I didn’t want to be in front. I think her best race was the previous race when she was relaxed and closed. That’s kind of what I wanted to see today,” winning trainer Jorge Delgado said. “She had too much pressure from the beginning and she was getting a little tired, but she was the best horse.
“I think if she got through a little bit easier in the first quarter, she would have closed a little stronger. But that’s part of racing,” he added. “I knew she was the class of the race and I knew she was the best filly in the race. Something would have to happen really bad for her to lose.”
Jaramillo was able to slow things down and go a half-mile in a still snappy 46.58 seconds, as Love Like Lucy began to wilt from the effort. Meanwhile, Dare Greatly was revving up on the far outside under Rajiv Maragh to get into contention midway around the far turn. “I think she was so keen at the start, 22 and change, he was trying to settle her and it looks like he did,” Arindel’s Brian Cohen said. “They almost got 24 that second quarter. I don’t think that’s what she wants to do, but she was the class and was able to do it today.”
Mythical remained firmly in control once straightened for home and the outcome was never in doubt, completing the distance in 1:45.39 over a fast main track. Dare Greatly was 15 ¼ lengths ahead of Win Bet Only, followed by Love Like Lucy, Bayou Brigid and Lady Chance.
Jaramillo has been up for all of Mythical’s starts, including her 4 ½-furlong graduation April 17 at Gulfstream, a win over boys in the 5 ½-furlong Tremont and fillies in the 6 ½-furlong Adirondack (G3) at Saratoga, and Susan’s Girl. Her five wins have come by 26 combined lengths. “We had two plans,” Jaramillo said. “The first was if another filly took the lead, we would run from behind her. But she had a very good jump, so I went with Plan B which was to take the lead from the beginning. It was a bit difficult because she was going so fast into the first turn. I was trying to slow her down a bit, but she has such speed. That was a tough part of the race.”
Mythical will be pointed to make her 2026 debut in the $150,000 Forward Gal (G3) sprinting seven furlongs Jan. 31. It is the first stakes for 3-year-old fillies on the dirt at the Championship Meet, followed by the $200,000 Davona Dale (G2) going one mile Feb. 28 and the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) at 1 1/16 miles March 28.
“I’m going to talk to Brian and to his dad and see what the best direction is with the filly and go from there,” Delgado said. “I do believe she can go two turns. She’s a filly that’s still learning. Like any horse when they have the good trip, they run better. I don’t think she had the best trip.
“When they have pressure from the beginning, not too many horses can run 22 and 46 and finish,” he added. “Two years ago, Bentornato, who was a special horse, he ran two turns here and he got beat. These things can happen when you have 2-year-olds going for the first time two turns. I’m just grateful that she passed the wire first and came back healthy.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - After declaring a dead-heat for first in the $100,000 Pulpit, the stewards at Gulfstream Park proclaimed Centurion Thoroughbreds Club’s Glorious Boy the sole winner of the Friday’s stakes for 2-year-olds.
Before finishing on even terms with Bronze Bullet at the wire, the Carlos Martin-trained Glorious Boy ($19.20) bumped with the 2-1 favorite, who was found responsible for the contact nearing the completion of the mile-and-70-yard feature on Tapeta and placed second.
“I objected because there was some contact that I felt impeded my horse. In the moment, it was so close I wasn’t sure if I won, so I made sure I claimed foul,” Glorious Boy’s jockey Rajiv Maragh said.
Shipmate set the pace in the Pulpit, originally scheduled to be renewed at 7 ½ furlongs on turf, pressed by A Million Dreams and Behold the King past fractions of 23.40 and 47.57 seconds for the first half-mile. Bronze Bullet, who rated kindly in fourth for jockey Emisael Jaramillo, made a four-wide sweep on the turn into the homestretch to take the lead turning for home. Meanwhile, Glorious Boy put in his run to loom as the sole threat to Bronze Bullet, who drifted out in mid-stretch before dropping down toward the inside rail. Glorious Boy had shifted to the inside to make his stretch run and was put in tight quarters by the favorite nearing the wire. “I wasn’t sure about the DQ because it seemed like there was some incidental contact both ways,” winning trainer Carlos Martin said. “But Stacy Prior, trainer Joe Orseno’s assistant who helped us with the horse – Joe and her have been great the whole time we’ve been here, about 10 days – she said to watch it again because the second time our horse’s [behind] kind of went out from underneath him, maybe just enough. A tie is great, but it’s better to have the win.” Three Diamonds Farm’s Bronze Bullet had run on Tapeta in his two starts, breaking his maiden at five-furlongs first time out before finishing second in a 5 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance.
“It was a tough call,” Bronze Bullet’s trainer Jose D’Angelo said. “I think he was tired. They are babies going two turns for the first time.” Glorious Boy was coming off a second-place finish in the six-furlong Awad Stakes on turf at Aqueduct after breaking his maiden in his third start. “He’s a nice horse. Anytime you stretch them out…we were talking about it a couple days ago and were a little bit leery. Is he just going to be a good closing sprinter, or is he going to stretch out?” Martin said. “My uncle, Greg, did a great job buying this horse as a yearling. The owners are new in the business so it’s exciting. To get the horse to relax and settle [helps] and now you can go turf and Tapeta. There’s a good series of races here. Initially I was thinking I was going to give him a break but if he runs good, I may have to rethink that. Maybe now I’m going to rethink it.” Glorious Boy, as well as Bronze Bullet, ran the mile and 70-yard distance in 1:40.74. “This horse ran a really great race today. We were expecting a top performance. This hit the point or exceeded the expectations,” Maragh said. “To win the Pulpit Stakes – there’s never been a bad horse that’s won this race. He seems like he still has room to improve and mature.” Friday’s Pulpit score moved Maragh within two victories of the 2000-win milestone. “I’m chipping away, and I have some really good mounts this weekend, so I’m really sweating it,” Maragh said.
A Million Dreams finished third, 3 ½ lengths behind the dead-heated Glorious Boy and Bronze Bullet.
HALLANDALE BEACH - As good as Arindel homebred Mythical has been through her first season of racing – three stakes wins, one over the boys, one in a Gr. III and the best Beyer Speed Figure of any 2-year-old filly in 2025 – her connections are even more excited about what is still in front of her. Mythical will take another step toward reaching that potential when she tries two turns for the first time while looking to keep her perfect local record intact in Saturday’s $300,000 My Dear Girl at Gulfstream Park. The My Dear Girl for fillies, and the $300,000 In Reality, each going 1 1/16 miles, co-headline an 11-race program that concludes the 44th edition of the $1.2 million Florida Sire Stakes series for 2-year-olds by accredited Florida stallions. Trained by Jorge Delgado, Mythical indicated her ability early on and translated that into her April 17 unveiling at Gulfstream, where she romped by 8 ½ lengths in front-running fashion sprinting 4 ½ furlongs in :51.37 seconds.
“Amazingly, she’s been one of those horses that from the first time you saw her she showed you how good she is,” Delgado said. “She’s been showing signs of getting better, which is very exciting. She’s been good so far, but it looks like she can get really good.” Mythical spent the summer with Delgado’s northern string at Monmouth Park and raced three times at Saratoga, beating males by 3 ½ lengths in the 5 ½-furlong Tremont on Belmont Stakes weekend and earning a 93 Beyer. Back against fillies for the 6 ½-furlong, Gr. III Adirondack four weeks later, she cruised by 3 ¼ lengths, leading again from gate to wire. Stretched out to seven furlongs for the Gr. I Spinaway, Mythical dueled for the lead but faded to be fifth behind two-time Gr. 1 winner Tommy Jo. Delgado brought her back to Gulfstream for the FSS Susan’s Girl, also at seven-eighths, which marked her first time facing fellow state-breds.
“She had a little bit of class relief last time,” Delgado said. “She had a very busy summer in Saratoga. She won against the boys, then she won the graded-stakes and then she ran in the Grade 1. She needed some time to come back and do less.” Under regular rider Emisael Jaramillo, up for each of her races, Mythical showed a new dimension by settling off the pace early before taking command after a half-mile and powering home a 12 ¾-length winner as the 2-5 favorite. “She was ready for the race, and she loves this track,” Delgado said. “She’s been doing better and better every day. We’re excited to see how she does around two turns and what we can do with her from there.” Mythical has breezed three times since the Susan’s Girl, most recently going four furlongs in :49.46 seconds Nov. 22. Jaramillo returns to ride from Post 3 at topweight of 122 pounds, two to four pounds more than her rivals. “We have confidence that she’ll be fine,” Delgado said of the two-turn test. “Every gallop and every race she’s been showing that she should have no problem doing that, but it’s not until the races when you really find out.” While not looking past the My Dear Girl, Arindel and Delgado would like to see Mythical show enough to keep her on track to what they hope is a start in the Kentucky Oaks next spring. During Gulfstream’s 2025-2026 Championship Meet, the Jan. 31, Gr. III Forward Gal, Feb. 28, Gr. II Davona Dale and March 28, Gr. II Gulfstream Park Oaks all award points toward the Kentucky Oaks.
“Hopefully we can go to the Oaks. I think that’s a goal we have in the back of our minds,” Delgado said. “We want to find a race where we can get some points here, but we are focusing on this race first.” Delgado said Mythical has a special nickname around the barn, one inspired by the filly that won the 2024 Oaks – one of her seven career Gr. 1 victories – en route to Horse of the Year honors. “We are calling her the little Thorpedo Anna,” Delgado said. “We’ll see. She’s a very talented horse but she also has a very good mind and I think that’s what matters in the end.” MyRacehorse, Thoroughbred Acquisition Group and Miller Racing’s Love Like Lucy is the only horse in the field to have run in the previous two legs of the FSS filly series, finishing third to multiple stakes-winner and English Group 2-placed Lennilu in the six-furlong Desert Vixe and a distant second behind Mythical in the Susan’s Girl. Love Like Lucy’s debut victory came over a pair of next-out winners – twice stakes-placed Vita Mia and William Law Jr. homebred Lady Chance, runner-up in the Juvenile Fillies Sprint and who returns in the My Dear Girl. Bayou Brigid, owned by Sea Warrior Stables and trainer Heather Smullen, is entered to make her dirt debut after four races on turf and one on Gulfstream’s all-weather Tapeta course. She is the only horse with two-turn experience – graduating on Aug. 8 going a mile and 70 yards on the synthetic, finishing sixth in the 1 1/16-mile P. G. Johnson on Aug. 27 at Saratoga and running third in the one-mile Our Dear Peggy on Oct. 25 at Gulfstream. Completing the field are Mary Lightner-owned and trained Dare Greatly, fourth in the Susan’s Girl, and Robert Cotran’s maiden Win Bet Only.
OLDSMAR - The Tampa Bay Downs stakes schedule kicks off Saturday, Dec. 6 with the 40th running of the $125,000 Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-olds and the 48th edition of the $125,000 Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. Both races will be contested at a distance of 6 furlongs on the main track.
The Inaugural drew 29 nominations – 27 colts and geldings, plus a ridgling and a filly – while the Sandpiper drew 30 nominations. The Inaugural is a prep race for the 7-furlong Pasco Stakes on Jan. 10 for newly-turned 3-year-olds, while the Sandpiper is a prep for the 7-furlong Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Jan. 10.
Among the nominees for the Inaugural is Kentucky-bred colt Hammond, whose two victories include the Juvenile Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Hammond is trained by Saffie A. Joseph Jr., who will determine whether two weeks is sufficient time between starts for the son of Charlatan. Joseph has nominated three other horses for the Inaugural: Langvad, a maiden winner on Nov. 8 at Gulfstream; Solitude Dude, whose lone start on Nov. 1 at Gulfstream produced a 9 ½-length victory; and stakes-placed Strategic Reserve.
Trainer Brian Lynch, who won last year’s Inaugural with Donut God, has nominated two colts. Both are owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing, the owners of Donut God and last season’s Gr. III Tampa Bay Derby winner Owen Almighty. The Lynch nominees for the Inaugural are Mob, who captured his career debut on Sunday at Churchill Downs, and Roger That Dana, an easy winner in his debut on Oct. 25 at Gulfstream.
Top trainer Brad Cox has two Inaugural nominees. His colt Commandment broke his maiden on Nov. 1 at Churchill in his second start, while his other nominee, Zun Day, broke his maiden on Nov. 5 in Louisville.
Tampa Bay Downs’s leading trainer the last two years, Kathleen O’Connell, won back-to-back runnings of the Sandpiper Stakes with Lindsey Lane and Shananie’s Beat in 1993 and 1994, and has nominated breeder-owner James Chicklo’s filly Gerrards Cross to this year’s race. The Florida-bred is 2-for-2 and won the Colleen Stakes on the turf at Monmouth Park on July 27 in her last start.
Joseph is represented by five Sandpiper nominees. That quintet includes Tessellate, who won the Nov. 15 Juvenile Fillies Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream by 13 lengths, and My Miss Mo, who broke her maiden by 12 lengths on Nov. 9 at Gulfstream.
Lynch, who won last year’s Sandpiper with Mrs Worldwide for Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing, has nominated two fillies: Flying Dutchmen’s Slay the Day, who broke her maiden on Nov. 16 at Churchill, and owner William K. Werner’s maiden Betty’s Pearl.
Cox has nominated three, including two-time winner On Time Girl, second in her last start on Oct. 24 at Keeneland in the Dean Dorton Myrtlewood Stakes.
Around the oval.
Long known for his success with 2-year-olds, trainer Wesley Ward sent out Augustin Stables’ gelding Distinct to win the fifth race on the turf by 3 ½ lengths from Giulio Cesare. Pablo Morales rode the winner, who completed the 1-mile distance on the firm course in his first career start in 1:37.25. Distinct was claimed from the race for $16,000 by trainer Jose A. Gallegos for his new owner, Amaty Racing Stables.
Morales also won the seventh race on the turf on 4-year-old gelding Chicago Theatre. The Glen Hill Farm homebred is trained by Tom Proctor.
Another impressive performance was turned in by 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding El Chispazo in the second race on the main track. Owned and trained by Juan Arriagada, he won by 13 lengths under jockey Ademar Santos in a time of 1:39.47 for the mile-and-40-yard distance, 1.33 seconds off the track record.
Tampa Bay Downs is closed in its entirety today. Racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:45 p.m. The fifth, seventh and ninth races are slated to take place on the turf.
HALLANDALE BEACH - On the cusp of his annual sojourn to Gulfstream Park for its prestigious Championship Meet and approaching a 30th year of riding professionally in the United States, Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano has no shortage of sources for inspiration. There’s the looming milestone of 6,000 career wins, now less than 100 away; the never-ending search for a promising newly turned 3-year-old and the prestige of competing with the best collection of riders assembled at a winter race meet. Then, there’s family. Brady, his only son and the youngest of Castellano’s three children with wife, Abby, is starting to recognize dad’s cool job and how much he has accomplished in the game. And for the first time, the Venezuela native has partnered since early this month with his brother-in-law, Kevin Meyocks, to work as his agent. “It’s exciting, because Kevin always tried to help me in the winter in South Florida the last two or three years,” Castellano said. “My son, he’s 13 and getting to the age where he’s starting to pay attention. He’ll say, ‘Daddy, what horses are you riding?’ He wants to see me at the high level, and it motivates me more when your children and your family look up to you and they’re excited when you win races. “I still have that fire, that motivation to win races, especially at Gulfstream. It’s the Championship Meet with all the best jockeys. All the top riders in the country end up in South Florida. It’s the best feeling in the world when you’re competing with them. Where better to be in the wintertime than South Florida and Gulfstream Park? All jockeys dream of wanting to compete there at that level,” he added. “I just turned 48 and I’m not ready to retire. The biggest advantage of our sport is as long as you can do it, you can continue. I’m very fortunate to be in great condition. I feel good and I’ve been training good to be ready for the races.” Castellano will be on hand Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, for the opening of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet, his earliest arrival since being in the midst of five consecutive leading rider titles from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016. Irad Ortiz Jr., who broke Castellano’s single-season record with 140 wins in 2020-2021, surpassed his overall record by leading the jockey standings for a sixth time last winter and will be favored to add a seventh.
The opening day program has Castellano named in five of eight races for five different trainers including Brad Cox-trained debut winner Amberglen in the $100,000 Wait a While for 2-year-old fillies scheduled at 7 ½ furlongs on the turf. “We decided to go the first weekend and start from the beginning,” Castellano said. “The last few years I stayed in New York and then [went] later on, spend Christmas with my family. But the kids are getting older, they are having activities at school and we decided I might as well go early and start getting momentum, start getting business and looking for the right horses.” The year-round partnership has seen Castellano off to a strong start with Meyocks, who also has the jockey’s book in New York. Their first weekend together they won the Nov. 8 Hill Prince (G3) for Sackatoga Stable and trainer Barclay Tagg with Tiz Dashing, Castellano’s seventh graded-stakes triumph this year. The following weekend, he won the Key Cents on George Weaver-trained She’s Country and was third in the Notebook aboard Funny Factor. Meyocks also represents Emisael Jaramillo at Gulfstream. The opportunity to add Castellano came about when the agent’s other local rider, Cipriano Gil, relocated to Tampa Bay Downs for the winter. In late summer Meyocks picked up the book for Kentucky-based Francisco Arietta, who is returning to make his title defense at Oaklawn Park. “Everything has started falling in the right direction, and who better than Kevin. He lives in Florida and he knows a lot of people and he’s a great guy. Not just because he’s my brother-in-law; everybody likes Kevin. He likes joking around with people. He’s got a big sense of humor,” Castellano said. “I know how he works. He has a lot of connections, he knows a lot of people and we’re looking forward to it.” Castellano averaged 114 wins during his time atop the Championship Meet standings with a then-record high of 132 in 2013-2014. Except for his first winter of 2004 and 2020-2021, when injuries and the coronavirus pandemic limited him to just 66 starts, Castellano has topped $1 million in purse earnings. Last winter, he had 25 wins and a meet bankroll of $1.35 million. Fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey (2000-03) and Castellano (2013-16) are the only jockeys to win the Eclipse Award as champion jockey four consecutive years. A total of 21 riders have won 6,000 or more races; Castellano sits at 5,910 and counting. His career earnings of more than $413 million are second only to another active Hall of Famer, soon-to-be 54-year-old John Velazquez, who also calls the Championship Meet his winter home. “I love my job,” Castellano said. “It seems to me every stage in your life is a challenge. When you are in the beginning of your career, you work hard because you’ve got to make your name to get to that high level of competition. You want to be there. Then when you’re at the high level, you have to work double because you want to maintain your place. You have to be demanding and work hard. “I’m past the first stage and I’m past the second stage. I won four Eclipse Awards, almost five. I won the Kentucky Derby, two Preakness, the Belmont Stakes, 12 Breeders’ Cup races and seven Travers, which is unbelievable. I’m still competing at the high level and the high competition with the best jockeys in the country” he added. “I feel like it’s not ending. No way. I think I have five years ahead. That’s my goal. I feel great. I’m looking forward to the opportunities. I’m still hungry.” Winner of the 2006 and 2017 Preakness (G1), Castellano completed his personal Triple Crown in 2023 with wins in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont (G1) respectively aboard Mage and Arcangelo, two horses he rode during the winter that helped reestablish Castellano after some lean years. Mage was fourth with Castellano in the Fountain of Youth (G2), two starts prior to the Derby, and he was aboard Arcangelo for four straight wins starting with his Gulfstream graduation and continuing with the Peter Pan (G3) and Travers (G1). “A couple years ago I can’t believe I won the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes. Those two horses I found in South Florida at Gulfstream Park,” Castellano said. “I rode Mage over there and then Arcangelo, I broke his maiden. I ended up winning two Triple Crown races the same year. It’s amazing.” Gulfstream’s series of stakes for 3-year-olds starts with the Mucho Macho Man Jan. 3 and continues with the Holy Bull (G3) Jan. 31 and Fountain of Youth Feb. 28 leading up to the Florida Derby (G1) March 28. The Florida Derby has produced 47 starters that have gone on to win a remarkable 63 Triple Crown races – 26 in the Kentucky Derby, 19 in the Preakness and 18 in the Belmont.
“I look forward to riding the young horses of the new generation. That’s what keeps you excited and motivated, looking for the nice 3-year-olds in January,” he added. “The Holy Bull, the Fountain of Youth, the Florida Derby – that’s more motivation [for] me to continue and have success at the high level."
Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed (Tiz the Law-Sweetbaby, by Candy Ride (ARG)) showed her class in her stakes debut, entering the stretch and drawing away for a 4 1/2-length victory in the Gr. 2, $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes at Aqueduct to lead another slate of stakes-winning OBS graduates for the week.
Fully Subscribed, who won her local debut in October 2024, used her late-closing speed, drawing away from Kentucky Oaks (G1) runner-up Drexel Hill in what was a tight field of contenders. “I think she’s a horse with a bright future,” trainer Chad Brown told NYRA publicity. “She’s a horse we’ve always thought a lot of.” Fully Subscribed was purchased at the 2024 OBS April Sale by her owner for $300,000 from the Caliente Thoroughbreds consignment after breezing in :10 flat. At Woodbine, True North Stable and Bloom Racing Stable’s (Jeffrey Bloom) Dresden Row (Lord Nelson-Elle Special, by Giant’s Causeway), Canada’s champion 3-year-old male, powered to the lead midway down the lane to win the $150,000 Autumn Stakes (G3). Trained by Lorne Richards, the 4-year-old colt earned his first stakes success in the Durham Cup (G3) in September of 2024 and, one race later, he took the Ontario Derby (G3). Consigned by Little Farm Equine, Dresden Row was a $70,000 purchase by True North Stable at the 2023 OBS April Sale after breezing in : 21 2/5. The Woodbine card also saw Sultana (Always Dreaming- Private Offering, by Pulpit) get up in the final jumps to take top prize in the $150,00 Maple Leaf Stakes (G3). Trained by Kevin Attard for Lou Donato, Theodore Manziaris, Paul Borrelli and Lanni Bloodstock, the 4-year-old daughter of Always Dreaming was contesting her first stakes affair. She was a $50,000 purchase by Harbour 60 Club at the 2023 OBS June Sale from the New Hope consignment after breezing in :21. At Aqueduct, Gold Square’s Throckmorton (Caracaro- Whatarocket, by Goldencents) made a successful stakes debut by wiring the $150,000 Awad Stakes. Trained by Jose D’Angelo, the son of Caracaro was trying turf for the first time and continued a run of winning form for D’Angelo, who captured last week’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Sprint with OBS grad Bentornato and Turf Sprint (G1) with fellow OBS grad Shisospicy at Del Mar. Throckmorton was a $250,000 purchase at the 2025 OBS April Sale by Chad Summers, agent, from the Global Thoroughbreds consignment after breezing in :20 3/5. At Laurel Park, Michael Golden’s Golden Lion Racing’s Complexity Jane (Complexity –Bestinthebusiness, by Ghostzapper) broke well from her far outside post position en route to victory in the $100,000 Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes. Trained by Brittany Russell, Complexity Jane was purchased by Sycamore Hall Thoroughbreds for $170,000 at the 2024 OBS March Sale from the Scanlon Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :10 1/5. At Aqueduct, Klaravich Stables’ Deep Learning (Cairo Prince- Dovima, by Union Rags) sat a patient trip before pouncing in the lane to score the victory in the Listed $150,000 Chelsey Flower Stakes. Trained by Chad Brown, Deep Learning was purchased by her owner for $325,000 at the 2025 OBS April Sale from the Eddie Woods consignment after breezing in :20 4/5.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Peachtree Stable homebred Spirit Doll, dominant in her grass debut last month, is among seven last-out winners and one of three entries from four-time defending Championship Meet leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. in the $100,000 Wait a While on Thursday’s opening day program at Gulfstream Park. The eight-race Thanksgiving Day holiday program has a special post time of 11:15 a.m. For 2-year-old fillies on Gulfstream’s newly refreshed turf course, the 7 ½-furlong Wait a While going two turns is the first of 68 stakes, 27 graded, worth $15.2 million in purses during an 84-day Championship Meet that runs through March 29. Spirit Doll, by Tiz the Law, graduated in debut sprinting six furlongs Aug. 7 at Saratoga, where she next endured a troubled trip finishing sixth in the seven-furlong Spinaway (G1). Joseph brought her back to Florida, stretched her out to a mile and put her on the turf for the Oct. 25 Our Dear Peggy, where she came from off the pace to win by 6 ¼ widening lengths. “I ran her back quick in the Spinaway but I actually thought she was going to be competitive in that and she didn’t run. I think it was just too quick after the first race,” Joseph said. “She was very impressive the other day and I feel she goes in there, in my opinion, a deserving favorite. Spirit Doll drew Post 7 with jockey Edgard Zayas at topweight of 122 pounds and is rated the 5-2 second choice on the morning line. “She has grass pedigree from the dam [Pakhet] and the Tiz the Laws have run on the grass,” Joseph said. “You’re just kind of hoping she takes to the grass but you never envision that kind of performance, especially the way she quickened. I thought it was very, very impressive so the future is very bright for her.” Averill Racing’s R Slew of Cash (12-1) already owns a win at the course and distance, graduating by 1 ¼ lengths on the same card as Spirit Doll’s stakes victory. She pressed the early pace in her one-mile unveiling before fading to eighth Sept. 4 at Kentucky Downs. "I thought at Kentucky Downs she ran a good race. She looked like she was going to run good and she got tired,” Joseph said. “Last time she tracked and she quickened nicely. It’s the right race for her. I think the distance is ideal, but she’ll have to show she’s good enough. She’s going to need to improve to be competitive but I think she is eligible to improve.” Micah Husbands, up for the maiden win, rides back from Post 3. C2 Racing Stable, BAG Racing Stables, Barry Fowler, Charles Deters and Mark Taylor’s Day to Day (12-1) is winless in three tries since joining Joseph over the summer with one grass start, beaten 5 ½ lengths when eighth in the 1 1/16-mile Miss Grillo (G2) Oct. 4 at Aqueduct. Fourth in the Spinaway, she has Edwin Gonzlaez named to ride from Post 8. “Her grass race wasn’t that bad in the Miss Grillo. She broke well and then kind of lost position and ended up out wide and kind of ran even,” Joseph said. “We’re going to decide closer to the race if we’re going to run.” The 2-1 program favorite for the Wait a While is Woodslane Farm homebred Sister Troienne (Post 5), the Brian Lynch trainee that joins Spirit Doll and French import Special Wood as two-time winners in the field. Sister Troienne, by Munnings, has won back-to-back starts since being moved to the turf by eight combined lengths, the latter around two turns, and will have the services of regular Kentucky-based rider dual Derby-winning jockey Mario Gutierrez. Brody Racing’s Devilish Grin (20-1) is another horse with stakes experience, having run third in the Aug. 27 P.G. Johnson at Saratoga third time out before graduating in an Oct. 4 maiden optional claimer at Aqueduct, both going 1 1/16 miles. JSM Equine’s Haute Diva (10-1) has three seconds from five starts with a lone win coming at one mile Sept. 27 on the Gulfstream turf. Both Amberglen and Slippers step up to stakes company off impressive debut victories. Stonestreet Stables’ Irish-bred Amberglen (Post 1, 8-1) overcame somewhat of a slow start to rally for a three-quarter-length triumph Oct. 23 going one mile on the Keeneland turf for trainer Brad Cox. Following the race she was sent to South Florida where she shows three breezes at Payson Park.
DJ Stable’s Slippers (Post 4, 9-2) fetched $225,000 as a yearling last fall and didn’t launch her career for more than a year, rallying for a popular three-length maiden special weight triumph sprinting five furlongs Oct. 18 on the Gulfstream turf. “She had always shown talent,” DJ’s Jon Green said. “She was a little slower developing than the rest of the group. Thankfully, the way [Hall of Fame trainer] Mark Casse has his farm set up, they can go in tranches so she didn’t have to get rushed or get ahead of where she was mentally. But once she put it together at the farm, it took her the matter of a month or two before she really started showing it on the racetrack. “So, going into that first race we were pretty confident,” he added. “Mark is a two-time Hall of Famer. He doesn’t do too much to get a horse ready first time out because as he likes to say, he’s training a horse for its career not its maiden win. Whenever we win first time out it is kind of a pleasant surprise, but we were pretty confident that she had talent going into that first race.” Slippers has breezed twice over the all-weather Tapeta course since her race, and will have Miguel Vasquez back in the irons. “We’re going against winners and winners that have run two turns, so it’s a little different scenario than her first asking,” Green said, “but she’s also had that first experience, she’s a little more mature, and we don’t have to ship her anywhere. For all intents and purposes the majority of the field is in the same boat as we are … a-other-than allowance types running for black-type on opening day.” Casse also entered Lighthouse Racing’s Backgammon (Post 9, 30-1), a front-running maiden winner going one mile Oct. 18 at Keeneland in her fifth start. Completing the field are Special Wood (Post 10, 20-1), making her North American debut after winning two of three starts in her native France; and the also-eligible Girvana (Post 11, 30-1).
OLDSMAR - Based on the first two days of the 2025-26 Tampa Bay Downs meet, Samuel Marin isn’t going to have a whole lot of spare time this season between races.
Last season’s leading jockey, who won two races from eight mounts on Wednesday’s Opening Day card, competed in all nine races today, winning four. With six victories the first two days, he’s off to the kind of start his agent Mike Moran hoped for.
“He’s in the zone. He’s riding awesome, and it seems like he’s just out in the right spots on the track and gives every horse he’s on a chance to win,” Moran said after the 24-year-old Venezuela product rode four winners today. “His timing is good and it just seems like he’s having fun out there. “You can just tell he has so much confidence,” Moran added. “And he wants to ride all of the (races). Hey, he’s young. I’m 65 and I’m tired watching him, but he’s doing awesome. We just have to keep him healthy and get him pretty decent horses, and he does the rest.”
Over the first two days of the meet, which resumes Wednesday, Marin has ridden in 17 of the 18 races. The only race he sat out was the second on Opening Day, when his mount Answer the Call was scratched after failing to draw into the field from the also-eligible list. Marin will travel to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach on Sunday morning to ride six races and is named on seven horses back in Oldsmar on Wednesday.
“Hopefully my agent keeps me real busy,” Marin said. “I love riding, I’m fit and I want to ride a lot more races. Today was a great day. I thank God for everything, and I’m grateful for all the support I’m getting from everyone here.”
After finishing second in today’s first race, Marin won the second on favorite Top Pocket Pick, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly who paid $5.20 to win. He then won the fourth, fifth and sixth races in succession. He captured the fourth on 8-year-old gelding Bear Creek, who paid $11.80; the fifth race on the turf on 3-year-old filly Curlaine, who paid $6.20; and the sixth on Long Gone Sally, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly who paid $7.40.
Marin’s streak was snapped in the seventh race on the turf when he finished second on 2-year-old filly Mappy, who was passed late by trainer Mark Casse’s juvenile lass Greatest, ridden by Pablo Morales.
Marin will be back to try to continue his winning ways Wednesday. “It’s always good to ride good horses,” Marin said. “This is an amazing beginning to the meet, and I just say thank you to everyone who has been involved.”
Register for “10 Days of Festivus.”
The “10 Days of Festivus Challenge” Handicapping Contest begins Friday, Dec. 5, and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 24. There is no charge to enter, but players must register by 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 to be eligible. The winner receives a $1,000 cash prize and the runner-up earns $500.
Each day, players are required to select one of two designated CHALLENGE RACES, with results determined from a mythical $2 win-place-show wager on their pick. Players begin with a free lifeline and have an opportunity throughout the contest to purchase five more. Players lose a lifeline if their choice does not finish first, second or third, or if they fail to make a selection on a contest day.
A full set of rules is available at www.festivuschallenge.com , which is also the place to register.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Gulfstream Park’s fall Sunshine Meet will lower the curtain this weekend with Edgard Zayas looking to reclaim his spot atop the jockey standings and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. chasing a remarkable 14th consecutive track title. Closing weekend kicks off today with a nine-race program starting at 12:20 p.m. Eleven races are on tap for Saturday, including the $75,000 Juvenile Sprint for 2-year-olds on the main track and the $70,000 Chasie Artie overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up on Tapeta, with 11 more on Sunday. Joseph holds a 30-26 lead over Jose D’Angelo in the race for leading trainer with entries in 12 races over the weekend to D’Angelo’s 13. Joseph, a 38-year-old native of Barbados, has won 13 straight meet titles at Gulfstream including last four Championship Meets, the country’s premier winter racing destination that gets under way Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27. Zayas tops the rider standings with 40 wins, closely chased by Miguel Vasquez (38) and Emisael Jaramillo (34). Zayas is named in 26 races on the weekend including the entire Saturday program, while Vasquez is named in 22 and Jaramillo in 20. A finalist for the 2013 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice, Zayas, 32, has been a year-round force in South Florida since his arrival from Puerto Rico. He owns nine riding titles at Gulfstream including the Sunshine Meet in 2021 and 2023 as well as the 2024 and 2025 Royal Palm Meet.
Joseph has both Strategic Reserve and Hammond entered in the Juvenile Sprint, with Zayas named on the latter. Vasquez is set to ride Thunder Chuck for trainer Jorge Delgado with Jaramillo on Camigol for Antonio Sano. Neither leading trainer entered a horse in the Chasie Artie. Zayas will ride And Uwish for trainer Joe Orseno, Vasquez is named on Full Disclosure for Mohamed Jehaludi, and Jaramillo has the call on Roar Ready for Victor Barboza Jr. Jockey Rajiv Maragh enters closing weekend with 1,997 career victories. He is named in three races Saturday and five races Sunday. Jose Castro’s JC Racing Stable leads the Sunshine Meet owner standings with eight wins, two more than Michael Yates’ Shadybrook Farm. Castro has entries in four races over the weekend, while Yates has none. Bruno Schickedanz, Arindel, D. J. Stable and In Front Racing Stables have four wins apiece. Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $150,000 The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is estimated at $150,000 when the Sunshine Meet resumes today with a nine-race program to kick off closing weekend. First race post time is 12:20 p.m. The multi-race wager has gone unsolved for six racing days following multiple mandatory payouts of $7,316 on Nov. 2.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Winless in seven starts this year that included three tries on turf and a trip to the Middle East, Michael and Jules Iavarone’s Steal Sunshine swept past fellow multiple stakes winner Lure Him In in mid-stretch and edged clear by a length in the $70,000 Finallymadeit overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.
Ridden by Edgard Zayas for trainer Bobby Dibona, 6-year-old Steal Sunshine ($4.40) completed 1 1/16 miles over a fast main track in 1:44.59 for his fourth career stakes win and eighth overall, pushing his purse earnings over $800,000 in 32 starts.
“It’s great to get him back in the winner’s circle,” Dibona said. “I got a chance to prepare him for this like I have since day one. I know my horse, and he was ready today.”
Steal Sunshine ran sixth in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and second in defense of his 2024 victory in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) to open this year before finishing fourth in the Godolphin Mile (G2) at Meydan Racecourse. After more than two months away he returned in mid-June to be second behind Beach Gold in an optional claimer on the Gulfstream turf, then was back home after an unsuccessful trip to Kentucky Downs for the Mint Millions (G3).
“We got faked out a little bit because he ran big on the turf coming back from Dubai. The horse that beat me a neck went on to win a Grade 2. He probably was better that day, so we thought we found a new home,” Dibona said. “We went to Kentucky and that’s a tough place. Things came a little unwound.” Steal Sunshine got shuffled back breaking from Post 4 and Zayas shifted to the rail on the first turn, tracking in fifth as 21-1 longshot Swashbuckle and Lure Him In battled up front through a quarter-mile in 23.50 seconds and a half in 47.17. Zayas tipped outside to launch their rally midway around the far turn and Steal Sunshine responded, moving up on even terms with Lure Him In at the head of the lane before surging past.
Lure Him In held second, a length on front of Lightning Tones, followed by Awesome Train, Swashbuckle, Single Dot Yaht and Virginia City.
“I got bumped out of there. I wanted to be a little closer,” Zayas said. “I kind of used him a little on the first turn and not leave him too much to do. He got in a perfect spot. The longer distance is good for him. He loves the two turns.”
Florida homebred Finallymadeit won 16 of 47 starts and more than $1 million in purse earnings from 2006-09. Among his victories were 12 stakes including the 2008 Fred Hooper Handicap (G3) and 2009 Memorial Day Handicap (G3) and Skip Away (G3). Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $150,000
The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is expected to grow to an estimated $150,000 when racing resumes Friday. The multi-race wager went unsolved Sunday the sixth racing day following a mandatory payout. Notes: Jockey Joe Bravo doubled Sunday aboard Justin Smiles ($9.60) in Race 2 and Racing Driver ($8.60) in Race 7 … Jockey Rajiv Maragh picked up career win No. 1,997 with Flying Liam ($4.80) in Race 4 … Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. strengthened his hold on first place in the Sunshine Meet standings with Drama ($2.60) in Race 3 and Mystical Belle ($6.40) in Race 8, giving him a 30-26 advantage over Jose D’Angelo with three racing days remaining … Mystical Belle pushed Edgard Zayas past Miguel Vasquez in the jockey standings, 39-38. Zayas made it a two-win cushion with Steal Sunshine in the $70,000 Finallymadeit overnight handicap.
HALLANDALE BEACH - Don’t call it a comeback. Rajiv Maragh stepped away from racing a few years ago knowing he was leaving some unfinished business – such as riding his 2000th winner. After making a successful foray into the world of business, the highly accomplished 40-year-old jockey picked up where he left off a year ago at Gulfstream Park. “I didn’t technically retire. I stepped away from horseracing to pursue other ventures – to diversify myself outside of horseracing,” said Maragh, who is just four wins away from No. 2000. “My career surpassed my wildest imagination – a career that I’m very grateful for. Since I was a youth, I was devoted only to horseracing, nothing outside of horseracing. It came to a point when I was getting close to my 40s. I wanted to go outside of horseracing.” Maragh built Road Jockey, a food delivery service, from the ground up in his native Jamaica, and only returned to riding when his business venture was fully established. “I committed two years to building Road Jockey and learning business. I had to completely knock off horseracing. I had to really disconnect. That way I could be fully focused,” he said. “It was bittersweet because I was winning a lot of races. It was a tough decision to make to step away from something that was going so well. But I always felt that that was the time to do it. I can’t wait too late. I can always come back to it.” Unfortunately, Road Jockey, which had signed on 5000 customers and 30,000 partner merchants, is not currently operating due to the devastation Hurricane Melissa left behind after ravaging Jamaica late last month. “My family is on the east coast (of Jamaica), most of my family and friends, so they were fortunate not to get the blunt force of it,” said Maragh, noting some partners and friends in Montego Bay, where Road Jockey was operating before a direct hit from the hurricane, were not as fortunate. “Right now, the focus is on the people there that were affected by the hurricane. The business is secondary at this point. It would be selfish to even think about that. “ TV Analysis Work ‘Started Tickling My Brain’ Maragh had no immediate plans to return to race-riding when he vacationed in Saratoga with his family a few years ago. “I love Saratoga. I always want to be there. I hadn’t been there in a couple of years. I decided to go and visit with my family. During that time, I went on for one segment of the NYRA show on Fox. The producers liked how I performed,” Maragh said. “They said, ‘Hey, look, there’s an opportunity to do some stuff.’ At that time, riding wasn’t on my radar at all. I didn’t have the riding juices going. Horseracing was still an obsession of mine. That’s why I went there, but it wasn’t for riding." “Doing the show for a year, it started tickling my brain. When I was riding, I wasn’t able to assess my riding. I think there were some holes I could have filled if I was able to step away and see it from a third person. That’s what the TV gave me,” he added. “I was able to watch the jockeys, the greatest jockeys in the world. It really hit me: I had a stellar career. I had a lot of opportunities. I felt like if I came back to riding, I would be the best version of myself. I wanted to explore that.” When he decided the time was right to continue his riding career, Maragh opted to stay close to home, his wife Angelina, son Luka, 5, and daughter Lilah, 1, instead of returning to the New York circuit on which he experienced so many career highlights. “I feel like I’m the best version of myself as a jockey. I might not be in the limelight like when I was winning a lot of races at the top circuit. But this version of me is the optimal version,” he said. “I continue to work and try to plug in any holes. I’m so much better at assessing my mistakes, so it’s easier to correct them. My self-assessment is way better now than it was when I was winning the most races of my life.” After riding nine winners during the 2024-2025 Championship Meet, Maragh rode 38 winners during the Royal Palm Meet and has added 10 more winners during the current Sunshine Meet after notching a double last Saturday. Maragh reacquainted himself with the Gulfstream Park winner’s circle Dec. 5 on his eighth mount back, Dundie, a horse trained by his father Collin. “When I won my first race after this break, it was a collage of emotions that hit me after the race. The journey – the ups and downs…,” Maragh said. “We don’t have a career. We have a lifestyle,” he added. “That lifestyle is challenging. You make sacrifices to live that lifestyle. It’s rewarding and validating when you get the win.”
Maragh recorded his first career win at Tampa Bay Downs Feb. 1, 2004 aboard Pricedale Kid, who captured a seven-furlong $7500 claiming race by 6 ¾ lengths.
“I remember my first win like it was yesterday. It was on my ninth mount. I was in Tampa and I wasn’t the jockey listed to ride. In the morning, the rider who was supposed to ride didn’t show up. He was an apprentice, so I asked, ‘Please, let me ride this horse.’ He was a ripe candidate,” Maragh recalled. “Sure enough, I got the opportunity to ride him for Jesus Chavez, the trainer, and won my first race on him. Two weeks later, I won my second race on him. So, my first two wins were on Pricedale Kid.”
Maragh would go on to ride many bigger names in many bigger races during his career. Main Sequence ‘The Most Phenomenal Horse’
Maragh has won 25 Grade 1 stakes, including Main Sequence’s 2014 triumphs in the United Nations, Sword Dancer and Joe Hirsch Turf Classic during the Graham Motion trainee’s Eclipse Award-winning season.
“Main Sequence was one of the most phenomenal horses I’ve ever ridden or seen run,” Maragh said. “He had an amazing turn of foot. The first time riding him he won a Grade 1. It was surreal. It was his first time in America. Graham Motion was always high on the horse’s ability.
“I won three big races in a row leading up to the Breeders’ Cup and I broke my arm and ended up missing out on the Breeders’ Cup. That was a tough moment for me,” Maragh added. “But they somehow made me feel like a part of it – Graham Motion, the owner, Flaxman, and even Johnny V [Velazquez], who picked up the mount.” Maragh reunited with Main Sequence directly following his victory in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1) at Santa Anita with Hall of Famer John Velazquez aboard, winning the 2015 Mac Diarmida (G2) at Gulfstream Park.
No graded stakes-winner is closer to his heart, however, than Lilah, after whom he and his wife named their daughter.
“She’s named after my first graded stakes-winner when I was an apprentice,” Maragh said. “My wife and I have been together for 20 years. We had just met when I was an apprentice and was riding Lilah. We said that if we had a daughter, we’d call her ‘Lilah.’” Hobeau Farm’s Lilah, who was trained by the late Hall of Famer Allen Jerkens, won the 2005 Hurricane Bertie by three lengths. Nine years later, Maragh would return to the Gulfstream winner’s circle following the Hurricane Bertie aboard Groupie Doll, who closed out her brilliant career with a seven-length victory. Maragh also rode the modestly bred daughter of Bowman’s Band for back-to-back victories in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) at Santa Anita in 2012 and 2013 that earned the Buff Bradley-trained mare back-to-back Eclipse Awards as Champion Female Sprinter. She sold at auction for $3 million following her second Breeders’ Cup win. “The story with her was amazing. It was a true underdog story – a homebred from unsuccessful lineage; Buff Bradley, not the biggest mainstream trainer at the time; and myself, a kid from Jamaica trying to make it in the big game,” Maragh said.
Before riding Groupie Doll to back-to-back Filly & Mare Sprint wins, Maragh broke through at the 2011 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs aboard Caleb’s Posse in the Dirt Mile (G1).
“My first Breeders’ Cup win on Caleb’s Posse was actually a relief because I had put so much pressure on myself to win a Breeders’ Cup. I had some great opportunities before that and it never materialized. I had seconds and thirds,” Maragh said. “He just ran an unbelievable race. When I crossed the wire, it was relief.”
Maragh would like to return to Thoroughbred Racing’s biggest stage, but he is currently content to staying close to home and family while renewing his love for riding at Gulfstream Park. “I know what I want. I want to be the jockey riding the biggest races in the world, all of them. That’s my ultimate goal, but the challenge is what it takes to be there,” Maragh said. “Today, I’m not able to commit to that. That goal right now I can’t focus on. It’s not realistic.”
HALLANDALE BEACH - Magic Cap Stables, Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch, Castle Gate Farm, Kuehne Racing and John Reinhardt’s Tessellate, stakes-placed in each of her last two starts, will get another chance to break through when she returns as a leading contender in Saturday’s $75,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint at Gulfstream Park. The Juvenile Fillies Sprint, going 6 ½ furlongs on the main track, is the headliner on an 11-race program that begins at 12:20 p.m.
Bred in Florida by Castle Gate Farm and trained by Sunshine Meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr., Tessellate shortens up in distance after running third behind Willow Case in the one-mile Hallandale Beach, a race where she dueled for the lead nearing the stretch and wound up beaten 6 ¼ lengths.
In her prior start, the $170,000 yearling daughter of multiple Gr. 1 winner McKinzie came from off the pace to be second as the favorite in the six-furlong Sharp Susan, 3 ¼ lengths behind Willow Case in a race contested over a sloppy main track.
“Last time we stretched her out. We didn’t think she wanted to go that far, but we wanted to give it a try. The cutback should help her a lot,” Joseph said. “This is the logical spot. There wasn’t anything around so we stretched her out going a mile last time just to see what happened, but she wants to be a sprinter.”
A front-running debut winner against state-breds going five furlongs, Tessellate drew Post 2 of eight and will be ridden by Edgard Zayas. They are rated as the 5-2 second choice on the morning line.
“She’s fast, but she doesn’t need the lead. She can sit and make a run,” Joseph said. “I think she goes in there with a very good chance.”
Joseph also entered La Dolce Vita and Mystical Belle. After two unsuccessful tries on the turf, Peachtree Stable homebred La Dolce Vita graduated with a popular 1 ¾-length maiden special weight triumph Oct. 24 sprinting six furlongs on the main track. “She won well last time,” Joseph said. “She’s coming back obviously a little quick, but I think if she runs her race she should be a big factor.”
La Dolce Vita has been favored in each of her three races, running second in her debut going five furlongs at Gulfstream, beaten four lengths by subsequent Hollywood Beach runner-up The Princess Bro. Fourth in a one-mile maiden spot at Kentucky Downs, she is the Juvenile Fillies 2-1 program favorite from Post 1.
“She showed promise right away. When she got beat the first time we were a little surprised, but the horse that beat her turned out to be a nice horse,” Joseph said. “She ran big last time in her first time on the dirt. I’m still not convinced that she doesn’t want the grass, but for now we’ll stick to the dirt.”
Joseph indicated MyRacehorse, P T Racing, Clay Sides and John Reinhardt’s Mystical Belle (Post 5, 3-1), a good-looking maiden winner over the all-weather Tapeta course at Gulfstream, would likely scratch in favor of an optional claiming allowance for 2-year-olds on Sunday. In her two races, Mystical Belle was second behind her stablemate and subsequent Gr. I Frizette runner-up Rileytole and then a 1 ¼-length winner over next-out winner Flowko.
“She’s run well,” Joseph said. “She ran second first time out to a nice horse that ran second in a Grade 1, and then she won second time and beat a filly that came back to win, also.”
Oliver Gray’s Dakota’s Little Auror (Post 4, 15-1) is the other horse in the field with stakes experience, having run third in the Sharp Susan and fourth in the Hallandale Beach. She has lost three straight following a maiden triumph against Florida-breds sprinting 4 ½ furlongs. Make Your Wish, Lady Chance and Epigram all enter the Juvenile Fillies Sprint off victories. Amanda Hernandez Zorilla’s Make Your Wish (Post 6, 30-1), trained by Ramon Minguet, comes from the same connections that campaigned Willow Case before the filly was sold via digital auction for $340,000. After placing in each of her first three races, including a back-to-back runner-up finishes, William Law Jr.’s Florida homebred Lady Chance (Post 7, 20-1) graduated by 2 ½ lengths against state-bred company.
Epigram (Post 8, 3-1), owned and trained by Jose Castro, will be making her stakes debut off one race, an eye-catching 9 ¾-length open maiden special weight triumph Aug. 15 sprinting five furlongs on Gulfstream’s main track. “She’s doing good. She had a good race last time, exactly like we hoped. We hope that she can run the same race. She’s a good horse, very talented,” owner-trainer Jose Castro said. “We hope she can win again. She’s in good condition, she’s training good, she’s working good, she came out of the race good. She’s very, very happy.”
Castro, who purchased Epigram for $38,000 in April as a 2-year-old in training, said the gap between starts was by design. Her multimillionaire sire, Code of Honor, was a Grade 1 winner whose first of four graded stakes triumphs came in the 2019 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream. “She is very fast. She has a nice pedigree. When we bought her at the auction, the first time we saw her at the barn we were looking for the good confirmation. That’s the reason we chose her,” Castro said. “She’s still a baby so we have to try to just go little by little with her. We try to get her ready for this moment and right now she’s ready to run again.” Completing the field is Sultan Racing’s Nour (Post 3, 10-1), who ran second in an optional claimer at Gulfstream but finished ahead of both Willow Case (third) and Dakota’s Lil Auror (fifth).
The 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding Mad House left Tampa Bay Downs last spring with an 0-for-4 record, filling his trainer David VanWinkle with uncertainty about what came next.
VanWinkle, who began training thoroughbreds in 1989, knew Mad House had potential. The well-bred son of Vekoma out of the Munnings daughter Stifled Heiress finished second in his career debut on Jan. 8 sprinting 6 furlongs to John Hancock, the Brad Cox-trained colt who won the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes in his next start.
But after that promising debut, Mad House turned in a trio of perplexing performances, including an uninspired fourth on March 30 in the 7-furlong Florida Cup Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore Stakes. As he prepared to take Mad House to Canterbury Park in Minnesota for the late spring and early summer, VanWinkle probably felt like a game-show contestant holding 100 keys, only one of which unlocks the door to an elusive victory and continued success.
“We had tried to stretch him out in distance at Tampa, and I don’t think that was his cup of tea,” VanWinkle said. “He was always sound and didn’t have any setbacks, but he was a little bit high-strung and it took him time to figure things out. It took him a while to put everything together mentally.”
If you’re a serious horse racing fan, you already know Mad House has developed into one of the sport’s leading Cinderella stories of 2025. Owned by South Dakota resident James Thares, Mad House has won four races in a row since breaking his maiden on June 29 at Canterbury, including the Gr. II, $400,000 Gallant Bob Stakes on Sept. 20 at Parx Racing in Pennsylvania.
The front-running victory, in which the 23-1 shot sped six furlongs in 1:08.77, earned Mad House a spot in Saturday's $2 million, six-furlong Cygames BC Sprint at Del Mar.
Luis Saez will ride Mad House, who drew the No. 13 post in the 14-horse field. The race is the sixth on the card, with a scheduled post time of 1:21 p.m. Pacific Time (4:21 for Tampa Bay Downs simulcast viewers).
Tampa Bay Downs will simulcast all of the Breeders’ Cup races Friday and Saturday, with Friday’s Del Mar action starting at 11:35 a.m. Pacific Time and Saturday’s races getting underway at 10:05 a.m. Pacific Time.
Mad House flew to southern California on Thursday from south Florida, where he worked a sharp 4 furlongs last week in 47.10 seconds. VanWinkle arrived on Saturday, jogging the horse about a mile on Sunday and galloping him a mile-and-a-half Monday and Tuesday.
“He is fit and feeling good. He has adapted well to being out here,” said VanWinkle, who will return to Oldsmar for the upcoming Tampa Bay Downs meet when he descends from the clouds. The 63-year-old conditioner, who hails from the small Nebraska town of Burchard (population roughly 120), has found preparing his first Breeders’ Cup entry an exhilarating experience. Being surrounded by celebrities from the racing world and beyond has taken some getting used to.
The Gallant Bob was the first graded-stakes victory of VanWinkle’s career, and all of a sudden he and his horse have graduated to racing’s biggest international stage.
“I’ve seen a few (A-list racing personalities) since I got here,” VanWinkle said, referring to the top practitioners in his profession. Bill Mott, Todd Pletcher, I saw them at the (post-position) draw. It is quite a good feeling to be here. It is something you never plan on – I didn’t.”
VanWinkle, who is a three-time leading trainer at Canterbury, will be joined at the event by his wife Pam and daughter Taylor, his assistant.
After serving notice that sprinting was his thing in his first career victory, an 11 ½-length romp in a 5 ½-furlong race, Mad House won a pair of 6-furlong allowance races at Canterbury in July and August, but his three-race winning streak up north didn’t hold much weight with Gallant Bob bettors.
VanWinkle admits he wasn’t sure what to expect. “He was stepping up against much tougher competition, and I’d have been happy to have him hit the board,” the trainer said. Despite early pressure from another longshot, eventual third-place finisher Fire Pit, Mad House was able to stay comfortable on the lead under jockey Paco Lopez through taxing opening fractions of :21.58 seconds for the quarter-mile and :43.94 for the half.
Mad House drew off late to defeat runner-up Gateskeeper, an 83-1 shot, by 2 ¾ lengths. The quality of the performance, and the winner’s share of $217,500, made the decision to try the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint relatively easy. “When he won a couple at Canterbury, his heart got built up and we could tell he was liking his job. You could say he is peaking at the right time,” Van Winkle said of Mad House, who was bred by Jean White, Wavertree Farm and SGV Thoroughbreds.
“He’ll be going up against a lot of older, more seasoned horses, but he has developed well so hopefully that won’t be an issue. Paco said he wasn’t pushing hard on him early (in the Gallant Bob) and that he knew he had horse left late if he needed it, so that was encouraging.”
In Saez, another of the sport’s most accomplished jockeys, VanWinkle believes the No. 13 post will not be an obstacle to performing his best. “With his running style, he is probably better off out there than down on the inside if something were to happen,” VanWinkle said.
Mad House’s morning-line odds are 30-1. The prerace favorite at 5-2 in last year’s Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint runner-up, 4-year-old Florida-bred Bentornato (last year’s Gallant Bob winner). Bentornato is trained by another Tampa Bay Downs conditioner, Jose Francisco D’Angelo, and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.
Two Sprint entrants besides Mad House have competed at Tampa Bay Downs. One, 4-year-old colt Patriot Spirit, won the 2023 Inaugural Stakes and was unplaced as a 3-year-old in the Gr. III Sam F. Davis Stakes. Patriot Spirit is trained by Michael Campbell and will be ridden by Javier Castellano.
The other is trainer Wesley Ward’s 6-year-old gelding Nakatomi, who finished third here in the 2024 Pelican Stakes. He will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.
Trainer Mark Casse’s 3-year-old filly Nitrogen, the winner of this year’s Gr. III Florida Oaks on the turf at Tampa Bay Downs, and trainer George Weaver’s 5-year-old Florida-bred mare Dorth Vader, the 2022 Sandpiper Stakes winner, will compete in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Jose Ortiz will ride Nitrogen and John Velazquez will be aboard Dorth Vader.
Trainer Chad Brown’s second and third-place finishers in this year’s Gr. III Tampa Bay Derby are also Breeders’ Cup competitors. Chancer McPatrick, the Tampa Bay Derby runner-up, will be ridden by Jose Ortiz in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Brown’s gelding Hill Road, third in the Tampa Bay Derby, competes in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf under David Egan.