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.”