WILLY BOI, R ADIOS JERSEY TOP STAKES; CENTENO, MARTINEZ WOOLF FINALISTS

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Two $100,000 stakes races for registered Florida-breds sired by a registered Florida stallion highlight Saturday’s Thoroughbred racing card. Post time for the first race is 12:27 p.m.

Following the 10th and final race Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs will hold its annual “Corgi Races After the Races” event, a tribute to the popular canines who have been trained by their owners to compete.

The 7-furlong Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Marion County Florida Sire Stakes, for colts and geldings 3-years-old-and-upward, will be contested as the ninth race. The field is headed by 4-year-old gelding Willy Boi, who is making his first start since running in the Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

Owned by Lea Farms and trained by Jorge Delgado, Willy Boi will be ridden by Chantal Sutherland. Willy Boi won the Grade III Smile Sprint Invitational Stakes in July at Gulfstream, followed by a third-place finish in the Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga.

Top challengers in the eight-horse field include 5-year-old Shivaree, the race’s defending champion, trained by Ralph Nicks; 3-year-old colt Cattin, who won the Inaugural Stakes here last December, also conditioned by Nicks; and owner-trainer David Fawkes’s Noble Drama.

The 7-furlong Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes, for fillies and mares 3-and-upward, is slated as the sixth race, with six horses entered.

The field is headed by Averill Racing, ATM Racing and Jayson R. Werth’s 4-year-old R Adios Jersey, who won last year’s edition of the race by 11 lengths. She was also victorious in her only other start at Tampa Bay Downs, winning the Florida Cup Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies in March of 2021. R Adios Jersey is trained by Gerald Bennett and will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo.

Among those seeking to spring an upset will be Restofthestory, a 4-year-old filly trained by Edward Pleasa, Jr., and trainer Elizabeth Dobles’s 5-year-old mare Don’t Get Khozy, whose career earnings exceed $440,000.

Centeno among George Woolf Award nominees. Six-time leading Oldsmar jockey Daniel Centeno is among five finalists for the 74th George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, which goes to a jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct on and off the racetrack. The winner is determined by a vote of jockeys nationwide.

The other finalists are past Tampa Bay Downs leading jockeys Willie Martinez and Terry “T. D.” Houghton, along with Edwin Maldonado and Javier Castellano.

“(Centeno) is a stand-up guy and a family-oriented person who has always carried himself with class,” said Heriberto Rivera, Jr., a Jockeys’ Guild Regional Manager who nominated Centeno, Martinez and Houghton. “He is always there to help the younger jockeys in the room with advice or anything else they need.”

“I feel happy and blessed to be a finalist,” Centeno, a Jockeys’ Guild representative at both Tampa Bay Downs and Delaware Park, said before today’s racing action. “The George Woolf Award is very special to the jockeys. It never crossed my mind that I would one day be nominated.”

Centeno, a 50-year-old Venezuela product, has 3,206 North American victories.

The 51-year-old Martinez, whose career victory mark of 3,606 includes the 2012 Xpressbet Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Trinniberg, was nominated in part for his advocacy of jockey rights, speaking out on concerns such as health insurance and the scale of weights in various jurisdictions.

“I feel like I have to be a voice, especially for the riders who don’t speak (English),” said Martinez, who was born in Santurce, Puerto Rico. “I’ve been able to step up the plate and help out with some of those issues.”

Like Centeno, Martinez – who rode at Presque Isle Downs earlier this year – was humbled by his nomination. “It’s great to be recognized this way by your fellow riders. It means everything,” said Martinez, who is getting married Sunday. “I already feel like I won, no matter what happens.”

The winner will be announced in February by Santa Anita Park. A jockey can only win the award once. Tampa Bay Downs jockey Jose Ferrer was the 2018 George Woolf Memorial Jockey award winner.

Around the oval. Jockey Raul Mena was transported to a hospital for observation after falling from his mount, Hurry Up Dear, in the ninth race on the turf. Mena was unseated after Hurry Up Dear bumped a rival and stumbled on the turn for home. Mena was complaining of leg pain after the incident. Hurry Up Dear stayed upright after the stumble, finished the race and returned to the barn area apparently unscathed.

Trainer Pablo R. Torres sent out two winners today. He won the first with Thejigisup, a 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Prz & Sanz Stable and ridden by Jesus Suarez. Torres added the fourth race with Imtakinittothebank, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding also owned by Prz & Sanz Stable and ridden by Jeremy Alicea.

Leading jockey Samy Camacho rode two winners. He captured the second race on Cuz, a 4-year-old gelding owned and trained by Kathleen Guciardo. Camacho added the ninth and final race on the turf with Roundabout, a 3-year-old filly owned by Curragh Stables and trained by John P. Terranova, II.

Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:27 p.m. The track is open every day except Christmas, Dec. 25, 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.