THEY’RE NOT NECESSARILY GETTING OLDER, BUT HOPEFULLY ON THE IMPROVE

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – While the actual birthdates of each horse competing in North America are listed in the racing program, all horses are considered to age a year on Jan. 1 for the purpose of record-keeping.

Thus, on Friday, Tampa Bay Downs’s Thoroughbred population will move to a different set of conditions as 2-year-old racing comes to a halt for the duration of the 2020-2021 meeting, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Many of the better current 2-year-olds on the grounds, as well as a number of talented ship-ins, will mark their newfound status as sophomores by nominating to the $125,000 Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds and the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Both 7-furlong races are scheduled on the Jan. 16 Skyway Festival Day card.

Also being contested that day is the $50,000 Wayward Lass Stakes at a mile-and-a-sixteenth for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward (which, obviously, includes fillies currently 3).

Nominations to all three stakes close on Saturday.

So, regardless of whether you were born today, in May or in August, if you feel a year older when you wake up New Year’s Day, take solace knowing you have four-legged company.

Oldsmar trainers achieve graded success. Eoin Harty and Arnaud Delacour sent out winners of graded stakes Saturday, with Harty’s victory coming at the Grade I level.

The Dublin, Ireland product was at Santa Anita in southern California to saddle Godolphin-bred and owned 3-year-old filly Fair Maiden for her come-from-behind score in the Grade I, $300,000 La Brea Stakes. Ricardo Gonzalez rode Fair Maiden, who finished 2 ¼ lengths ahead of runner-up Golden Principal from the barn of Bob Baffert.

Fair Maiden paid $43.20 to win after completing the 7-furlong distance in 1:22.69. The La Brea was Harty’s first Grade I victory since the 2010 Shoemaker Mile Stakes with Victor’s Cry.

Fair Maiden’s third dam, Secret Status, won the 2000 Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs en route to capturing that year’s Kentucky Oaks.

At Laurel Park in Maryland, Delacour won the Grade III, $150,000 Allaire DuPont Stakes with 4-year-old filly Eres Tu, a homebred racing for her owners, Edward A. Seltzer and Beverly S. Anderson. Jevian Toledo rode Eres Tu, who posted a 1-length victory from runner-up Wicked Awesome.

Delacour, who hails from Lisieux, France, has won three graded stakes races in 2020, including the Grade I Belmont Oaks Invitational with 3-year-old filly Magic Attitude.

Around the oval. Leading jockey Samy Camacho, Tomas Mejia and Antonio Gallardo each rode two winners today. Camacho won the first race on Ain’t Wasting Time, a 3-year-old colt owned by Gentry Farms and trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. Camacho added the sixth with Sacramento Q, a 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Winning Stables and trained by top Oldsmar conditioner Gerald Bennett.

Sacramento Q was claimed from the race for $5,000 by trainer Darien Rodriguez for new owner Gumpster Stable.

Mejia visited the winner’s circle after the fourth race on Union Appreciation, a 3-year-old gelding owned by Colebrook Farms and trained by Michael W. Wright. In the eighth race, the Cody’s Original Roadhouse Race of the Week on the turf, Mejia pilot 3-year-old colt Atone to a dead-heat finish with 5-year-old Florida-bred horse Lord Barna.

Atone races for his breeder, Godolphin, LLC, and is trained by Eoin Harty. Lord Barna is owned by DiBello Racing and trained by Kathleen O’Connell.

Daniel Centeno rode Lord Barna, earning his 2,996th victory in North America.

Gallardo won the seventh race on the turf on Bacano, a 3-year-old gelding owned by Drawing Away Stable and trained by Antonio Sano. Gallardo won the ninth and final race with Lakota Princess, a 5-year-old mare owned by Shadow Cross Farms and trained by Jon Arnett.

Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:42 p.m. The track 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.