SKYWAY FESTIVAL DAY STAKES DRAW 66 NOMINATIONS; CENTENO WINS 3

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Three-year-old Thoroughbreds of both sexes will seek to transform potential into performance on Jan. 16 when Tampa Bay Downs presents the 23rd running of the $125,000 Pasco Stakes for colts and geldings and the 37th edition of the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes for fillies. Both races will be contested at a distance of 7 furlongs.

The Jan. 16 Skyway Festival Day card also includes the 37th running of the $50,000 Wayward Lass Stakes, a mile-and-a-sixteenth race for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward.

The three races have drawn a combined 66 nominations. The Gasparilla drew 24 nominations, including the top three finishers in the Sandpiper Stakes here on Dec. 5: Feeling Mischief, trained by Michael Campbell; Gulf Coast, trained by Rodolphe Brisset; and Little Nesso, from the barn of Mauricio Fuentes.

Two colts trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Nova Rags and Highway Bound, are among 22 sophomore males nominated to the Pasco. Nova Rags, bred and owned by Michael Shanley, broke his maiden in his career debut on Oct. 10 at Belmont, then finished fourth in the Grade III Nashua Stakes on Nov. 8 at Aqueduct.

Highway Bound, a homebred racing for Godolphin, LLC, is 1-for-3, his victory coming in an $80,000 maiden special weight race on Oct. 30 on a sloppy track at Belmont.

Top Oldsmar trainers Michael Stidham and Kathleen O’Connell also nominated two apiece to the Pasco. Stidham’s nominees are the Newtown Anner Stud Farm-owned Manor House, a colt who broke his maiden in his career debut on Dec. 12 at Laurel by 12 ¼ lengths, and the Godolphin homebred Tate, who also broke his maiden at first asking on Aug. 26 at Delaware but is winless since.

O’Connell trains the Jacks or Better Farm-bred and owned Florida-bred colt Little Demon and The Distractor, a stakes-placed Florida-bred gelding she owns in partnership with J S Stables. Click on the link below for past performance data for the Pasco Stakes nominees:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210116-567054

Another Hall of Fame trainer, Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III, has nominated the well-bred (Empire Maker-Full Tap, by Tapit) filly Cafe Society, owned by Allen Stable, to the Gasparilla. She is stakes-placed and finished fourth in the Grade II Demoiselle on Dec. 5 at Aqueduct.

Another intriguing Gasparilla nominee is Charge It All, 2-for-3 for trainer Tim Hamm and owners Blazing Meadows Farm and Three Chimneys Farm, including a 6 1/2-furlong allowance/optional claiming victory here on Dec. 20.

Click on the link below for past performance data for the Gasparilla Stakes nominees:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210116-567058

The 20 Wayward Lass nominees include several with outstanding graded-stakes form, headed by the multiple-Grade III winner Letruska, a 5-year-old mare bred and owned by St. George Stables and trained by Fausto Gutierrez. Letruska began her career with six consecutive victories at Hipodromo De Las Americas in Mexico City and is 11-for-15 lifetime.

Oldsmar trainer Arnaud Delacour has nominated 5-year-old mare Eres Tu, who has won three in a row, most recently the Grade III Allaire DuPont Stakes on Dec. 26 at Laurel.

Other impressive nominees include Hopeful Growth, a 4-year-old filly owned by St. Elias Stables and trained by Anthony Margotta, Jr., who won last year’s Grade III Monmouth Oaks and was sixth in the Kentucky Oaks, and 6-year-old Queen Nekia, owned by Ken Copenhaver and trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr.

Click on the link below for past performance data for the Wayward Lass Stakes nominees:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210116-567057

Around the oval. A day after earning career victory No. 3,000 in North America, jockey Daniel Centeno rode three winners. He was aboard 6-year-old Florida-bred mare Lady Breanna in the first race for breeder-owner J J Brevan Stable and trainer Gerald Bennett. Centeno added the sixth race on Fire Marshall Bill, a 4-year-old gelding bred and owned by Thoroughbred Racing Nation and trained by Tim Glyshaw.

Centeno also won the ninth race on the turf on Lexophilia, a 4-year-old filly owned by Team Valor International and trained by Arnaud Delacour.

Trainer Jose H. Delgado sent out two winners. Delgado won the fourth race with Honesta, a 4-year-old filly owned by Carole Star Stables and ridden by Tomas Mejia. The conditioner added the 10th and final race with Brice, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Monster Racing Stables and ridden by Antonio Gallardo.

Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:42 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs currently races on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule. 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.

Centeno, father experience day to remember. Centeno wasn’t the only member of his family to achieve a measure of glory Saturday.

His father, boxing trainer Enrique Centeno, was in the corner for Roger Gutierrez’s upset victory against Rene Alvarado in the World Boxing Association super-featherweight title fight in Dallas. The elder Centeno was a boxer before becoming a trainer.

Gutierrez (25-3-1) knocked Alvarado down three times en route to earning a unanimous 12-round decision.

High Rollers Handicapping Contest is Saturday. The third annual High Rollers Handicapping Contest, which features a potential first-place prize of $20,000, will be held Saturday.

Participants may bankroll up to two entries. Players must put up a $1,000 stake per entry to compete, with $500 serving as the player’s wagering bankroll and $500 going to the prize pool. Any dollar amount remaining in a player’s bankroll at the conclusion of the contest goes directly to them, meaning all of the prize money is returned to the entrants.

Wagers will be limited to win, place and/or show, with each player required to bet $100 on five separate races on the card. Anyone wagering on less or more than five races will be disqualified. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top five finishers, with $20,000 to the winner, or 50 percent of the prize pool if there are fewer than 100 entrants; $8,000/20 percent to the second-place finisher; $6,000/15 percent to third; $4,000/10 percent to fourth; and $2,000/5 percent to fifth.

Only races at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday will be included in the contest, and players must wager at the contest site. The first and second-place finishers will also claim a seat in either of the next two National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championships in Las Vegas (this year’s event is currently scheduled Aug. 27-29 at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino).

Players can enter the High Rollers Handicapping Contest online at www.tampabaydowns.com . The entry deadline is noon on Saturday. Players should plan on meeting in the VIP Room before noon for final instructions. For additional details, call (813) 855-4401, extension 1368.