GRADE III LAMBHOLM SOUTH TAMPA BAY DERBY ATTRACTS 12 3-YEAR-OLDS

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is set to seek his sixth victory in the Grade III, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on Saturday in the 43rd edition of the 3-year-old showcase at Tampa Bay Downs.

Pletcher, who last won the race in 2017 with Tapwrit, has entered two horses in the mile-and-a-sixteenth “Road to the Kentucky Derby” prep race: Tapit Trice, a gray colt owned by Whisper Hill Farm and Gainesway Stable, and Shesterkin, a dark bay trained by Robert V. LaPenta.

Tapit Trice and Shesterkin are part of a 12-horse field for the mile-and-a-sixteenth Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, which is the 11th race on a 12-race card. The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby should go off around 5:15 p.m. Post time for Saturday’s first race is 11:55 a.m.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is one of five stakes worth a combined $1-million in purse money Saturday. Also on tap are the 25th running of the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes, for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf course; the 40th edition of the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies going a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; the 32nd running of the Grade III, $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, for horses 4-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track; and the 17th running of the $75,000 Columbia Stakes, for 3-year-olds racing a mile on the turf.

The five stakes races comprise an additional 50-cent Pick 5 wagering opportunity on the 7th-through-11th races..

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby awards 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner and 20, 15, 10 and 5 to the next four finishers.

Tapit Trice, who drew the No. 6 post position for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, and Shesterkin, who drew the No. 9 post, finished 1-2 in an allowance/optional claiming race on Feb. 4 at Gulfstream Park, with Tapit Trice drawing off for an 8-length victory from his stablemate. Both horses worked out Saturday at Pletcher’s Palm Beach Downs base in Delray Beach, with Tapit Trice breezing 4 furlongs in 49.34 seconds and Shesterkin being timed in a more leisurely 51.68.

Luis Saez again will ride Tapit Trice, while Edgard Zayas has been named on Shesterkin.

Here is the field for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby in post position order, with horse, trainer and jockey listed:

1. Lord Miles, Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., Paco Lopez; 2. Classic Car Wash, Mark Casse, Emisael Jaramillo; 3. Classic Legacy, Bill Mott, Irad Ortiz, Jr.; 4. Groveland, Eoin Harty, Daniel Centeno; 5. Mikey Bananas, Tim Hamm, Pablo Morales; 6. Tapit Trice, Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez; 7. Freedom Road, Gregg Sacco, Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.; 8. Dreaming of Kona, Aldana spieth, Scott Spieth; 9. Shesterkin, Todd Pletcher, Edgard Zayas; 10. Champions Dream, Mark Casse, Antonio Gallardo; 11. Zydeceaux, Ramon Minguet, Samuel Marin; 12. Prairie Hawk, Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., Samy Camacho

Pletcher’s dominance in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby – no other trainer has won it more than twice – is matched in the Hillsborough by Chad Brown, whose five victories in the race include last year’s edition with (now)-5-year-old Bleecker Street.

Brown, whose record in major turf races is unparalleled in recent years, has entered three horses in this year’s Hillsborough, his contingent headed by Irish-bred 5-year-old mare Shantisara. She is 5-for-12 lifetime with four seconds, including a victory in the Grade I Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Dixiana in 2021, with career earnings of more than $972,000.

Shantisara is owned by Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables and LaPenta. The top two finishers from the Grade III Endeavour Stakes, trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III’s Surprisingly and Pletcher’s Scotish Star, are set to return. Whether Brown’s depth becomes a factor may depend on the efforts of his two other entries: French-bred Rougir, owned by Peter M. Brant and Michael B. Tabor, and German-bred Kalifornia Queen, owned by Dubb, Madaket Stables, First Row Partners and Michael J. Caruso.

.Here is the field for the Hillsborough Stakes in post position order, with horse, trainer and jockey listed:

1. Kalifornia Queen, Chad Brown, Edgard Zayas; 2. Surprisingly, Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III, Paco Lopez; 3. Temple City Terror, Brendan Walsh, Antonio Gallardo; 4. Rougir, Chad Brown, Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.; 5. Gam’s Mission, Cherie DeVaux, Julien Leparoux; 6. Shantisara, Chad Brown, Irad Ortiz, Jr.; 7. Scotish Star, Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez

Brown will bid for his third consecutive triumph in the Florida Oaks with the Klaravich Stables-owned Free Look, who will be making her 3-year-old debut against 11 expected rivals. She was 1-for-4 as a juvenile, with an impressive second-place finish in the Grade II Miss Grillo Stakes on Oct. 1 at Belmont At The Big A and a competitive fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 4 at Keeneland. Irad Ortiz, Jr., has the riding assignment on Free Look.

Brown won the Florida Oaks in 2022 with Dolce Zel and in 2021 with Domain Expertise, as well as in 2014 with Testa Rossi. He is tied for most victories by a trainer in the race with Bill Mott and Neil J. Howard.

Here is the field for the Florida Oaks in post position order, with horse, trainer and jockey listed:

1. Mission of Joy, H. Graham Motion, Antonio Gallardo; 2. Allamericanbeauty, Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III, Edgard Zayas; 3. Alpha Bella, Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez; 4. Faccia Bella, Kerri Raven, Jesus Castanon; 5. Dreaming of Snow, Gerald Bennett, Samy Camacho; 6. Navy Goat, Arnaud Delacour, Daniel Centeno; 7. Stephanie’s Charm, Jose Jimenez, Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.; 8. Juniper’s Moon, Tony Dutrow, Paco Lopez; 9. Mohawk Trail, Kelsey Danner, Pablo Morales; 10. Free Look, Chad Brown, Irad Ortiz, Jr.; 11. Grace Darling, Brian Lynch, Julien Leparoux; 12. Ticker Tape Home, Mark Casse, Emisael Jaramillo; (alternates) 13. Love Foreverafter, Jorge Delgado, Chantal Sutherland; 14. Embrace Me, Tom Albertrani, Jose Batista

Tampa Bay Downs followers with good memories will recall 4-year-old Fort Larned using his victory in the 2012 Challenger Stakes as a building block toward a victory in the fall in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Subsequent Challenger victories by Stanford (with a still-standing track record of 1:41.75 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth) in 2017 and War Story in 2018 reaffirmed the Challenger’s standing as a race the trainers of top handicap horses are likely to look at in planning their horses’ campaigns.

This year’s field includes Classic Causeway, who won both the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes and (then)-Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby here last year before trying the turf and capturing the Grade I Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational.

Here is the field for the Michelob Ultra Challenger in post position order, with horse, trainer and jockey listed:

1. Trademark, Victoria Oliver, Martin Garcia; 2. Skippylongstocking, Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., Irad Ortiz, Jr.; 3. Mighty Heart, Patrick County, Jr., Kevah Nicholls; 4. Classic Causeway, Ken McPeek, Julien Leparoux; 5. Surly Furious, Glenn Wismer, Ronnie Allen, Jr.; 6. The Reds, Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., Edgard Zayas; 7. Tax, Danny Gargan, Paco Lopez; 8. Business Model, Brendan Walsh, Luis Saez; 9. Brooklyn Strong, Victor Barboza, Jr., Samy Camacho

Since returning to the Oldsmar stakes schedule as a a 1-mile turf event, the Columbia Stakes (formerly known as the Chris Thomas Turf Classic) has proven to be an attractive way for 3-year-old turf horses to get things started each year..

Two horses who used that opportunity to full effect were the Brown-trained 2019 winner Digital Age, who developed into a multiple-graded stakes winner with career earnings of more than $1.26-million, and 2021 winner Winfromwithin, who set the course record of 1:33.23 in his Columbia triumph and finished second here on Feb. 4 in the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes on the turf.

Here is the field for the Columbia in post position order, with horse, trainer and jockey listed:

1. Freedom Trail, John P. Terranova, II, Irad Ortiz, Jr.; 2. Sendero, Todd Pletcher, Edgard Zayas; 3. A Western Yarn, Arnaud Delacour, Daniel Centeno; 4. Naga’s Boy, Robert G. Smith, Jose Ferrer; 5. Lights of Broadway, Mark Casse, Emisael Jaramillo; 6. Summer Bee, Mike Dini, Samuel Marin; 7. Worthington, Mike Maker, Paco Lopez; 8. Smoke Lightening, Ron G. Potts, Antonio Gallardo; 9. Mo Stash, Victoria Oliver, Luis Saez; 10. Talk of the Nation, Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III, Samy Camacho

Around the oval. Marcos Meneses and Antonio Gallardo each rode two winners today. Meneses captured the second race on War Cross, a 6-year-old gelding owned by Pirate Racing and trained by Christos Gatis. Meneses added the sixth with Let’s Be Honest, a 6-year-old Florida-bred mare owned by Veb Racing Stable Corp. and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr.

Let’s Be Honest was claimed from the race for $10,000 by trainer Juan Arriagada for himself and new co-owner M. Robert Bosso.

Gallardo won the seventh and eighth races back-to-back. He scored in the seventh on the turf on Aziza, a 6-year-old mare owned by Holly Hill Stables and trained by Michelle Hemingway. Gallardo added the eighth on Frosty O Toole, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly owned and trained by Mike Dini.

Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:20 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs 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.