GRADE II, $400,000 LAMBHOLM SOUTH TAMPA BAY DERBY DRAWS 43 NOMINATIONS

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Grade I Breeders’ Cup winner Fire At Will, Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Candy Man Rocket and highly regarded Greatest Honour are among a stellar collection of 43 3-year-old colts and geldings nominated for the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 6 at Tampa Bay Downs.

The 41st running of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is the centerpiece of an outstanding Festival Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South card offering $1-million in stakes purse money, with four graded stakes and one listed stakes on tap.

Run on the main track at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth, the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race, with the first four finishers earning 50, 20, 10 and 5 points toward qualifying for the May 1 Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby has produced two Kentucky Derby winners: 2007 Tampa Bay Derby winner Street Sense and 2010 Tampa Bay Derby third-place finisher Super Saver.

Fire at Will, owned by Three Diamonds Farm and trained by Michael Maker, hasn’t raced since his victory on Nov. 6 in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf presented by Coolmore America at Keeneland. He is ranked among the top 2021 Triple Crown candidates, along with Essential Quality, Life Is Good and Greatest Honour.

Candy Man Rocket vaulted up the contender list with his impressive victory in the Sam F. Davis here on Feb. 6. He is owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations and trained by Bill Mott, who has won the Tampa Bay Derby twice.

Mott has also nominated breeder-owner Michael Shanley’s colt Nova Rags, who won the Pasco Stakes here on Jan. 16 before finishing second to Candy Man Rocket in the Sam F. Davis.

Greatest Honour, who is trained by Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III, received excellent reviews for his dominant victory on Jan. 30 in the Grade III Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream. The colt is owned by Courtlandt Farms.

Among other Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby nominations of note are trainer Doug O’Neill’s colt Hot Rod Charlie, second in November in the TVG Breeders’ Cup Juvenile presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance; trainer Victoria Oliver’s Hidden Stash, third in the Sam F. Davis; Grade II winner Brooklyn Strong, a gelding trained by Daniel Velazquez; multiple graded-stakes placed colt Proxy, trained by Michael Stidham; and trainer Mark Casse’s colt Gretzky the Great, who won the Grade I Summer Stakes in September at Woodbine.

Here are the links to the nominations and their past performances for the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20210306-559609

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210306-559609

Nominations have also been released for the four other stakes on the March 6 program. The 23rd edition of the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes, for older fillies and mares at a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf, has attracted 30 nominations, including the Chad Brown-trained 4-year-old filly Counterparty Risk, who won the Grade III Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes here on Feb. 6, as well as the second and third-place finishers from the Feb. 6 race, trainer Bill Mott’s 4-year-old New York Girl and trainer Michelle Nihei’s 5-year-old Margaret’s Joy.

Here are the links to the nominations and their past performances for the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20210306-559595

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210306-559595

The 38th running of the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf, has attracted 39 nominations. Included is Spanish Loveaffair, who prompted the pace last November in the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf before fading to sixth, five lengths behind winner Aunt Pearl.

First run on the turf course in 2011, the Florida Oaks has produced two winners of the Kentucky Oaks: Secret Status in 2000 and Luv Me Luv Me Not in 1992. Both won the Florida Oaks before their triumphs at Churchill Downs.

Here are the links to the nominations and their past performances for the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20210306-566054

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210306-566054

A total of 21 older horses have been nominated for the 30th running of the Grade III, $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, run at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track. That group includes Grade I winner Math Wizard, a 5-year-old horse from the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., and multiple graded-stakes winner Tax, trainer Danny Gargan’s 5-year-old gelding who finished fourth in the 2019 Belmont Stakes.

Here are the links to the nominations and their past performances for the Grade III, $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20210306-566045

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210306-566045

The only ungraded stakes on the Festival Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South program, the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf, appears headed in that direction. This will be the 15th running of the Columbia, with a winners list since the stakes was restored to the Tampa Bay Downs schedule in 2017 including subsequent Grade I winner Digital Age (2019) and subsequent Grade III winner Sonic Boom (2017).

Among the notables among the 42 nominees are Grade III-winning Florida-bred colt Chess’s Dream, trained by Michael Maker, and the Todd Pletcher-trained Never Surprised, who finished a willing second to Chess’s Dream in the Kitten’s Joy Stakes on Jan. 30 at Gulfstream.

Here are the links to the nominations and their past performances for the $75,000 Columbia Stakes:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20210306-566032

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20210306-566032

Back to the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, which drew seven nominations from Pletcher, the most of any trainer. He has won the race a record five times: with Tapwrit (2017), Destin (2016), Carpe Diem (2015), Verrazano (2013) and Limehouse (2004). Included among his 2021 nominees are Grade II-placed colt Known Agenda, fifth in the Sam F. Davis, and Grade III-placed Prime Factor.

Trainers Dale Romans and Saffie Joseph, Jr., have each nominated five 3-year-olds. Romans’s nominees include Grade II-placed Smiley Sobotka, who disappointed in the Sam F. Davis in his first 3-year-old start, and Grade III winner Sittin On Go.

Joseph’s nominees are headed by Drain the Clock, whose only setback in five career starts came on Nov. 30 in the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs when an iron broke and he lost his jockey. Drain the Clock won his most recent start, the Grade III, 7-furlong Swale Stakes at Gulfstream, by 6 ¼ lengths.

Two stakes on Wednesday’s card. Imprimis and The Goddess Lyssa, Florida-breds who each won stakes races in their previous start, are the morning-line favorites in Wednesday’s Turf Sprint Showcase Day stakes races.

Imprimis, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Breeze Easy, LLC and trained by Joseph Orseno, has been established as the 8-5 choice for the $100,000, 5-furlong Turf Dash Stakes, which will be contested as the seventh race. He won the $75,000 Janus Stakes on Jan. 1 at Gulfstream Park, speeding 5 furlongs on the grass in 54.82 seconds.

The son of Broken Vow will break from the No. 2 post under jockey Antonio Gallardo. Imprimis is 9-for-17 lifetime, his top victory coming in the Grade II Shakertown Stakes in April of 2019 at Keeneland.

There are 11 horses entered in the Turf Dash, with My Boy Lenny a “main track only” entrant in the event wet grounds force the race to be moved to the main track. That is an unlikely prospect, given that two races were run today on the turf and the weather forecast for the next couple of days shows scant chance of rain.

Second choice for the Turf Dash at 3-1 is trainer Mark Casse’s 4-year-old colt Turned Aside, a supplemental entry who won the Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship on Nov. 28. Jose Ferrer will be the jockey.

Both Imprimis and Turned Aside will carry top weight of 124 pounds.

The 4-year-old filly The Goddess Lyssa heads an overflow field for the $100,000, 5-furlong Lightning City Stakes for older fillies and mares, which is Wednesday’s ninth race. There were 14 horses entered, with 12 permitted to run.

Daniel Centeno will ride The Goddess Lyssa after teaming with her here for a victory on Feb. 13 in the $50,000, 6-furlong Minaret Stakes. The Goddess Lyssa, who is 5-for-7, will be making her first start on grass. She has been assigned co-top weight of 120 pounds.

“She came out of the last race good and she is eating everything in her feed tub, so as long as the grass isn’t too soft, we’ll give her a shot,” said leading Tampa Bay Downs trainer Gerald Bennett, who conditions The Goddess Lyssa for owner Team Equistaff. “The money is good, we don’t have to ship and it’s at a short distance. She’s got the speed and tries every time, and I would be surprised if she doesn’t handle the grass.”

The Goddess Lyssa will break from the No. 4 post. Second choice at 4-1 is trainer Edward Plesa, Jr.’s Florida-bred 5-year-old mare Miss Auramet, who will be ridden by Roberto Alvarado, Jr.

Originally scheduled to be run Saturday, both races were postponed twice because of wet grounds.

On today’s card, jockey Antonio Gallardo teamed with trainer Darien Rodriguez to win the 3rd and 4th races. They won rhe third with Soul Reflection, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Acclaimed Racing Stable. Gallardo and Rodriguez added the fourth race with Joe Conoscienti’s 5-year-old gelding Tiz Approved.

Jose Ferrer also rode two winners. He piloted Glory Roll to her third consecutive victory in the first race for owner Carole Star Stables and trainer Jose H. Delgado. The 5-year-old Florida-bred mare was claimed from the race for $6,250 by new owner-trainer Ron G. Potts.

Ferrer added the sixth race aboard Tony Small, a 5-year-old gelding owned by Ridenjac Racing and trained by Dennis Ward.

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.