TAMP BAY: FEELING MISCHIEF ‘110 PERCENT ON GO;’ MOTT HAS PASCO FAVORITE

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Michael Campbell thinks his 3-year-old filly Feeling Mischief has the ability to bring him to a lot of special places.

But at this stage of her development – she is an April 28 foal, meaning her actual birthday is three-plus months away – Campbell knows he needs to temper his enthusiasm and play things one race at a time.

“She is 110 percent on go, but it’s challenging with these horses,” said Campbell, whose youthful charge is the likely wagering favorite for Saturday’s $125,000, 7-furlong Sandpiper Stakes for sophomore fillies at Tampa Bay Downs. “They are very fragile and very valuable, and you have to wait to see from one day to the next if they’re ready to run. But to the best of my knowledge, she is 110 percent.”

Feeling Mischief, a daughter of superstar sire Into Mischief, will attempt to duplicate her performance of Dec. 5 in the 6-furlong Sandpiper Stakes, in which she set a stakes record of 1:09.76. The runner-up in that race, Gulf Coast (who is not entered Saturday), returned to action Jan. 1 at Gulfstream Park, winning the Cash Run Stakes.

Jesus Castanon will ride Feeling Mischief for Campbell and owner Mellon Patch, Inc.

“I’m confident (in Feeling Mischief) because of her physical maturity and the efficiency of her stride,” Campbell said. “To set a stakes record in the (43rd) edition of a race, that puts her in a special league. I don’t know if I’ve ever had a horse with the amount of perfection she has,” added Campbell, who began training in 1976.

The 37th running of the Gasparilla, scheduled as the sixth race, is one of three stakes on the 11-race Skyway Festival Day card. First post time is 12:05 p.m. The other stakes are the $125,000, 7-furlong Pasco for 3-year-old colts and geldings, slated as the seventh race, and the $50,000, mile-and-a-sixteenth Wayward Lass Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward, which is the ninth race.

Feeling Mischief has been established as the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Gasparilla, with Florida-bred Big Rings second choice at 5-2 in the seven-horse field. The Carlos David-trainee, who last raced Sept. 26, finishing third in the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire My Dear Girl Stakes, will be ridden by Samy Camacho.

Trainer Peter Walder’s Florida-bred Adios Trippi is another well-regarded entrant, having run third in the Cash Run at Gulfstream. Adios Trippi will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo.

Campbell may have spoken for the majority of trainers with 3-year-olds in the Gasparilla and Pasco: “This race is a stepping stone. We’re utilizing this race to see how she performs and how she gallops out. Look, we’re all here for a reason – the weather is good, the track is great and we want to find out if they’re good enough mentally and physically to compete at an even higher level.”

One horse who has already butted heads in graded-stakes competition is the Pasco Stakes morning-line favorite Nova Rags, trained by Hall of Fame member Bill Mott for breeder-owner Michael Shanley. After breaking his maiden on Oct. 10 at Belmont, Nova Rags finished fourth out of seven on Nov. 8 in the Grade III, 1-mile Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct.

Seven rivals are expected to challenge the colt, who will be ridden by Camacho.

The second choice on the morning line for the 23rd running of the Pasco at 9-2 is Florida-bred gelding The Distractor, who is owned in partnership by J S Stables and Kathleen O’Connell and trained by O’Connell. Hector Diaz, Jr., will ride The Distractor, who finished third on Nov. 14 on a sloppy track in the Juvenile Sprint Stakes at Gulfstream Park West.

O’Connell also trains Jacks or Better Farm’s Florida-bred homebred colt, Little Demon, who is 5-1 on the morning line. Gallardo will be the jockey.

A field of nine is expected to face the starter in the 37th Wayward Lass, with 5-year-old mare Lucky Stride the 2-1 morning-line favorite. Lightly raced, Lucky Stride is 8-for-15 with four seconds in her career and finished second in the Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes on Nov. 28 at Laurel in her most recent start. Gallardo is the jockey for trainer Michael Trombetta.

Hall of Fame trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III has entered 5-year-old On the Town, who will be ridden by Diaz. The Kinsman Farm-bred mare finished third in the Thirty Eight Go Go after winning her two previous starts.

Tampa Bay Downs owner-trainer Juan Arriagada appears to have a contender in 4-year-old filly Estilo Talentoso, who returns to competition for the first time since her victory on Aug. 20 in the Escena Stakes at Gulfstream. She has finished first or second in eight of her nine starts. Jose Batista is the jockey.

Centeno is Jockey of the Month. Daniel Centeno had already won a race on Jeha this season when the duo entered the starting gate as the 7-10 favorite for Wednesday’s third race.

Once the outside horse entered the gate, with the starter poised to spring the latch, Jeha reared in the No. 2 stall, as if he had designs on hurdling the metal barrier. Centeno, caught in no-man’s land, used his exceptional balance to stay mounted during the incident.

“He was really ready, and I think he tried to break before anyone else. Then, when the last horse was loaded and he heard the noise, he tried to go over the door. It surprised me because when I rode him before, he didn’t do anything wrong,” Centeno said the next day.

“It’s one of those things that happen in horse racing. … I just went with him because I wasn’t expecting him to do something like that. We came back in one piece and nothing bad happened.”

Jeha started slowly, as he had in his previous three starts, then ran with purpose to finish second, a half-length behind the winner Osprey. The pre-start episode may have cost Jeha the race, but it is not uncommon to the sport, where riders are often subject to the whims of their four-legged partners.

A week-and-a-half earlier, Centeno basked in one of those moments that make the danger seem, at least to jockeys themselves, minimal. He earned career victory No. 3,000 in North America on Lucy’s Town, a 7-year-old mare trained by Jose H. Delgado, in the Fillies and Mares Division of the Tampa Turf Test.

Centeno was joined in the winner’s circle afterward by his 12-year-old daughter, Jazmyn, and his girlfriend, Brooke Sillaman.

The milestone triumph was part of an extended hot streak that continued the next day, when Centeno rode three winners. The six-time Tampa Bay Downs riding champion won seven of his next 28 races after No. 3,000, with five seconds and five thirds, nailing down his selection as the Salt Rock Tavern Jockey of the Month.

Centeno, who is in third place in the track standings with 20 victories, won on 16 of his 70 mounts during the judging period.

The 49-year-old product of Caracas, Venezuela didn’t do anything special to celebrate his big victory on Jan. 2. He seemed just as thrilled later that day when Roger Gutierrez, a boxer trained by Enrique Centeno, his father, won the WBA super featherweight title in Dallas.

“It was a really big day, and I felt blessed to make 3,000 and have my father win his fight. But I have to keep working hard – keep doing my job every day and try to win as many races as I can,” he said.

Centeno rarely falters in that regard. He is No. 1 all-time at Tampa Bay Downs with 1,384 victories and 50 stakes triumphs. He has won eight graded stakes in his career, including the Tampa Bay Derby twice: on Musket Man in 2009 and Ring Weekend in 2014. He also won last year’s Grade III Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes here on Jehozacat and the Grade II George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan at Pimlico on Miss Marissa.

This season, Centeno finds himself part of a colony that includes not only such top jockeys as Antonio Gallardo and Samy Camacho, but several recent additions to the room who are making an impact. He appears, and sounds, unfazed. “I feel young, too. This has always been a real good colony with great competition, and we’re riding better horses (since his arrival here 16 meetings ago). I just need to stay confident and do my job.”

Around the oval. Edgemont Road and Zenden put on a show in the sixth race, the Pelican Prep, dueling through the stretch before Edgemont Road stuck his head in front at the wire. The 5-year-old gelding, who was third in the Lafayette Stakes presented by Keeneland Select on Nov. 7, is owned by William K. Werner and Team V and trained by Eddie Kenneally. Antonio Gallardo was the jockey.

Edgemont Road’s time for the 6 furlongs was 1:09.29, .62 seconds off the track record. The $100,000 Pelican Stakes is Feb. 13.

Also today, 5-year-old mare Sethamee Street won the fifth race, the Lightning City Prep for older fillies and mares sprinting 5 furlongs on the turf course. Sethamee Street is owned by Jerry Weiss and trained by Baltazar Galvan, who also trains race runner-up Miss Deplorable. Keiber Coa rode Sethamee Street.

The $100,000 Lightning City Stakes is Feb. 20.

Gallardo also won the seventh race on the turf on Dillon Rocks, a 5-year-old horse owned by Paradise Farms Corp., and trained by Michael Maker.

Samy Camacho and Manny Jimenez also rode two winners today. Camacho captured the third race with Tapsasional, a 3-year-old Florida-bred colt owned by Arno River Racing and Winning Stables and trained by Gerald Bennett. Camacho took the ninth and final race on the turf on Beautiful Tiz, a 3-year-old filly owned by Hugo Bracho and Dormellito Stud and trained by Antonio Machado.

Jimenez won on 4-year-old Florida-bred filly Probably Grace in the first race for owner Marcelo Pioquinto and trainer Alnaz Ali. Jimenez added the eighth race with Dreaming of Paris, a 4-year-old filly owned by Alifyfe Racing and trained by Michael Stidham.

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.