PEGASUS WORLD CUP TO BE SIMULCAST HERE; $40K PICK-5 CARRYOVER FRIDAY

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – In addition to staging its own 10-race card Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs will simulcast the entire card from Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, highlighted by the $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational.

Knicks Go and Independence Hall, both of whom competed at Tampa Bay Downs as 3-year-olds, are among the main contenders in the 12-horse Pegasus World Cup Invitational, which will be run at a distance of a mile-and-an-eighth on Gulfstream’s main dirt track. Knicks Go, now 5, finished fifth in the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes in 2019, while now-4-year-old Independence Hall was second in last year’s Sam F. Davis.

Knicks Go, who is owned by Korea Racing Authority and trained by Brad Cox, will be ridden by Joel Rosario. He is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, having posted a decisive score on Nov. 7 in the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland.

The Pegasus World Cup Invitational is the 12th and final race on a card beginning at 11:40 a.m.

Other graded stakes on the Gulfstream Park card Saturday are the Grade I, $1-million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational; the Grade II, $200,000 Inside Information Stakes; the Grade III, $150,000 W. L. McKnight Stakes; the Grade III, $125,000 Fred W. Hooper Stakes; the Grade III, $125,000 Marshua’s River Stakes; and the Grade III, $125,000 La Prevoyante Stakes.

Tickets for Festival Preview Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South on sale online. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Tampa Bay Downs is limiting general-admission attendance for Festival Preview Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South on Saturday, Feb. 6 to 2,500 spectators. Tickets, which are $10 each, are being sold online at www.tampabaydowns.com ; click Festival Preview Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South on the upper right-hand corner of the home page, then click Tickets, and proceed accordingly.

Online ticket sales are proceeding briskly. Horsemen, box-seat holders and season-ticket holders do not need to purchase tickets, but will need to present their passes at the gate to gain admittance.

Four stakes races, including three graded events, are on tap, headlined by the Grade III, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-old Triple Crown candidates at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track. Also scheduled are the Grade III, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; the Grade III, $175,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes for fillies and mares 4-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; and the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-40-yards on the main track.

Tampa Bay Downs appreciates the understanding and cooperation of all its fans in adhering to these guidelines. Depending on how quickly online sales proceed, tickets may be offered for sale at the track at a date to be announced.

Around the oval. Nobody hit today’s late Pick-5, meaning there is a carryover pool of $40,270.77 heading into Friday’s late Pick-5. The 50-cent wager, which will begin with Friday’s sixth race, requires bettors to select the winners of each of the final five races on the card.

Samy Camacho rode two winners today to move into a tie atop the track jockey standings with Antonio Gallardo with 40 victories apiece. Camacho won the second race on Madame Moon, a 4-year-old filly owned by Veb Racing Stable Corp. and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr. Camacho added the eighth race on the turf aboard 3-year-old colt The Right Stuff, owned by Stonestreet Stables and trained by Christophe Clement.

Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a 10-race card beginning at 12:15 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.