NEST LOOKS TO FINISH 2022 THE WAY SHE BEGAN IT IN SUNCOAST – VICTORIOUS

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – With the exception of a second-place finish to Secret Oath on May 6 in the Longines Kentucky Oaks, 3-year-old filly Nest has dominated members of her own sex since beginning 2022 with a 6-length victory on Feb. 12 in the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

On Saturday, trainer Todd Pletcher’s star will attempt to wrap up a dream campaign with a victory in the $2-million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff during the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Keeneland Race Course.

The Distaff, which is the ninth race on Saturday’s card, is one of 14 Breeders’ Cup races scheduled Friday and Saturday. The 39th edition of the Breeders’ Cup begins with “Future Stars Friday,” with all five Breeders’ Cup races featuring 2-year-olds.

The second day is “Super Saturday,” with nine Breeders’ Cup races capped by the $6-million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, featuring a highly anticipated showdown between undefeated 4-year-old Flightline and 4-year-old Life Is Good.

Tampa Bay Downs will simulcast all the action both days. Post time for Friday’s first race is 11:55 a.m., with the action Saturday from Keeneland starting at 10:30 a.m.

Nest, who will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., is the 9-5 morning-line favorite for the eight-horse Distaff, which is run at a distance of a mile-and-an-eighth. A victory would assure her of an Eclipse Award as Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and might garner her Horse of the Year consideration, especially if neither Flightline nor Life Is Good wins the Classic.

A Nest triumph could also result in Grade III status for the Suncoast, which became a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” qualifying race after 2017 runner-up Elate became the third Suncoast participant to win a Grade I race (that year’s Alabama), joining 2015 Suncoast winner Include Betty and 2016 winner Weep No More. The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s American Graded Stakes Committee meets after the Breeders’ Cup to assign, or take away, graded stakes status at all U.S. tracks.

Tampa Bay Downs currently holds seven graded stakes, headed by the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby for 3-year-olds scheduled March 11.

Despite boasting victories in three Grade I stakes this year and a second against males in the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, won by Mo Donegal, Nest’s task Saturday is immense. She is facing such 4-year-old standouts as Pletcher-trained stablemate Malathaat, last year’s Longines Kentucky Oaks winner; and multiple-Grade I winner Clairiere, along with fellow 3-year-old Secret Oath, who (as mentioned) beat her in the Longines Kentucky Oaks.

Nest is one of numerous Breeders’ Cup entries with a Tampa Bay Downs connection, either through competing at the Oldsmar oval or through being in the barn of a Tampa Bay Downs trainer.

Three Tampa Bay Downs-connected juveniles will be competing Friday. Trainer H. Graham Motion will send out G Laurie in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf and 2-year-old colt Nagirroc in the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Trainer John P. Terranova, II has entered You’re My Girl in the $2-million NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Motion has two horses entered in Saturday’s $4-million Longines Breeders’ Cup Turf: 5-year-old gelding Bye Bye Melvin and 5-year-old Highland Chief. Bye Bye Melvin broke his maiden at Tampa Bay Downs in his fourth start as a 2-year-old and added an allowance/optional claiming victory in his first 3-year-old effort before finishing 10th in the Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

Trainer Roger Attfield, a member of both the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, has entered two horses that raced at Tampa Bay Downs last season. His 5-year-old horse Shirl’s Speight – winner of the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes on Feb. 5 – is entered in the $2-million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile Presented by the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund. Two other horses with Tampa Bay Downs form are entered in the FanDuel Mile: trainer Mike Maker’s 7-year-old gelding King Cause, who won back-to-back starts here in 2020, and 5-year-old gelding Domestic Spending, who broke his maiden here for trainer Chad Brown as a 3-year-old in his first start.

Attfield’s 4-year-old filly Lady Speightspeare, who finished second here in the Grade III Endeavour and fourth in the Grade II Hillsborough, is entered in the $2-million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Also in that race, 4-year-old filly In Italian, a multiple-Grade I winner for Chad Brown, will attempt to reward bettors who loved her winning effort in a 1-mile turf allowance here back on Jan. 12, plus her other accomplishments.

Astute Tampa Bay Downs followers will pay keen attention to Saturday’s $1-million Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, in which trainer Bill Mott’s 4-year-old colt Cody’s Wish is expected to be one of the betting favorites. Cody’s Wish finished second by a neck to Scalding on March 12 in the Grade III Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes in his lone Tampa Bay Downs start.

Tampa Bay Downs trainer Jorge Delgado has entered Florida-bred 4-year-old gelding Willy Boi in the $2-million Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Willy Boi has raced twice at Tampa Bay Downs, finishing second in the 2021 Florida Cup Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore Stakes and winning a 6-furlong allowance/optional claiming race on April 8 in a time of 1:09.75. Chantal Sutherland is his rider.

Among the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint entries is 2020 Inaugural Stakes fifth-place finisher Arrest Me Red, a 4-year-old colt from the barn of trainer Wesley Ward. Also entered is Oldsmar trainer Jordan Blair’s 5-year-old gelding Oceanic, who has won twice from five starts at Tampa Bay Downs. Oceanic is on the also-eligible list and would need a scratch or two to get into the race.

If – as was certainly not the intention – all this information has caused readers a slight case of heartburn, let’s close the exercise by examining 3-year-old Florida-bred Hot Peppers in Saturday’s $1-million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. Although 5-for-9 lifetime, her only Oldsmar appearance on March 27 resulted in a seventh-place finish in the Florida Cup Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies Stakes.

Will she love Keeneland enough to challenge the best female sprinters? Time will tell.

Cover Photo: Nest; SV Photography