TAMPA BAY: SMART AS ME ONE OF THOSE HORSES THAT KEEP THE DREAM PERCOLATING

By Mike Henry —-

SMART AS ME ONE OF THOSE HORSES THAT KEEP THE DREAM PERCOLATING

OLDSMAR, FL. – Tampa Bay Downs trainer Craig Smith drove about 3,100 miles from his farm near Calgary, Alberta (that’s western Canada, folks) in November to compete here for the first time since 2012.
“Hauling horses, you don’t always take the fastest route,” Smith said. “We usually ship to Kentucky and stay a few days to give them a chance to recover, so it took about four days to get to Tampa.”
That was OK with his (now)-4-year-old colt Smart as Me, who is used to playing the waiting game.
Smith, who competes at Century Mile Racetrack and Casino in Edmonton throughout the spring, summer and early fall, purchased the Kentucky-bred son of Malibu Moon-Siren Serenade, by Unbridled’s Song, for $6,000 at the 2021 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.
That’s not a misprint, although one might think so given the pedigree.
‘He had some issues, so we decided to give him last summer off and bring him here. We’ve been high on him the whole time we’ve had him and he’s gotten better and better,” Smith said.
And, in the process, Smart as Me has turned into one of the “feel-good” stories of the 2022-2023 meet.
After finishing fourth in his career debut on Nov. 4 at Century Mile, Smart as Me has turned the Oldsmar oval into his own personal playground. He has been first across the wire in four of his six local starts (he was disqualified and placed third on Jan. 20), breaking his maiden on Dec. 16 in a mile-and-40-yard race taken off the turf and winning his last two on the lawn. He was eligible to be claimed for $25,000 from his Feb. 26 victory, but probably won’t be again anytime soon as Smith looks for a suitable race to continue his ascent.
Owned by Smith’s Dialed In Racing Stable in partnership with Calgary resident Adrian Munro’s Highfield Investment Group, Smart as Me turned on the jets in the stretch of today’s fifth race, the Lambholm South Race of the Week, powering over the turf course under jockey Pablo Morales to a 2 ¾-length victory from Dark and Fitzy in the excellent time of 1:34.97 for the mile.
The allowance victory was achieved in Smart as Me’s customary style of coming from far behind. In each of his victories, he has been last or second-to-last in the early going.
Returning to Tampa Bay Downs has been a rewarding experience for the 39-year-old Smith, who has made enough claims to increase his stable size to 13. “This is a great place to develop horses,” Smith said. “I’ve always wanted to come back. It’s a good place to claim horses and the turf course is arguably the best in North America.”
And, every so often, it’s a place to dream big and realize those gasoline prices aren’t always as high as they look. Not with a horse such as Smart as Me.
Around the oval. Morales and Daniel Centeno each rode two winners today. In addition to Smart as Me, Morales won the first race on the turf on promising-looking 4-year-old filly Iko Iko, who broke her maiden in her third career start. The daughter of Kitten’s Joy out of the Smart Strike mare Sweet Strike is a homebred racing for owner Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor.
Centeno won the third and fourth races. He won the third on the turf on Cupids Dream, a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by LBR Racing Stable and trained by Richard Sillaman. Centeno added the fourth with It’s Fate, an 8-year-old gelding owned by Arthur O. Agostini and Henrik Lilius and trained by Robert A. Werneth.
Trainer Lynn Rarick won two races today. She won the seventh with Csilla, a 6-year-old Florida-bred mare owned by ABE Racing and Laney Simpson and ridden by apprentice Laureano Sosa. Rarick added the ninth with Aries Reigns, a 4-year-old Florida-bred colt owned by Jody Veitch and Robert Schweiger and ridden by Samuel Marin.
Thoroughbred racing continues Sunday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:18 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs is open every day except April 9, Easter Sunday, 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.

FLORIDA CUP DAY ON MARCH 26 WILL CONCLUDE 2022-2023 STAKES PROGRAM

OLDSMAR, FL. – The final stakes card of the 2022-2023 Tampa Bay Downs meet takes place on Sunday, March 26, with six $110,000 races for registered Florida-breds comprising the 20th edition of the Florida Cup.

First run in 2003, the Florida Cup was cancelled three years ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With the support of breeders, owners and trainers, the event has regained its position as a spring proving ground for state-bred dirt and turf horses sprinting and going a distance.

Entries for the event will be released Thursday.

The Florida Cup features three races exclusively for 3-year-olds, one for fillies and mares 3-years-old-and-upward and two for horses 4-and-upward. Three races apiece are scheduled on the main dirt track and the turf course.

Sophomores of both sexes will compete going 7 furlongs on the main track, with 3-year-old colts and geldings running in the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore and fillies racing in the Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies (fillies may run in the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore).

The other 3-year-old Florida Cup stakes is the Equistaff Sophomore Turf at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the grass for both sexes.

The Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf, also at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth, is for fillies and mares 3-and-upward. The other Florida Cup races are the mile-and-an-eighth Grey Goose Turf Classic, for horses 4-and-upward, and the NYRABETS Sprint for horses 4-and-upward going 6 furlongs.

Around the oval. Pablo Morales was forced off his mounts today after a freak accident in the starting gate before the first race. Morales, who was aboard 4-year-old filly Nicolino, suffered a compound fracture of his right pinkie when the horse to his outside, Azulene, reared in her stall and struck Morales’s hand on the way down. The jockey will undergo surgery to determine the full extent of the injury and could miss the remainder of the meet.

Morales is second in the Oldsmar jockey standings with 53 winners, 38 behind runaway leader Samy Camacho.

Trainer Kathleen O’Connell and jockey Antonio Gallardo combined for back-to-back victories today. They won the fifth race, the Cody’s Original Roadhouse Race of the Week on the turf, with Pleasant Valiant, a 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Campbell Stable. O’Connell and Gallardo added the sixth race with Ripley Effect, a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly bred and owned by Four Horsemen Racing Stable.

Manny Jimenez rode two winners. He captured the second race on the turf with Anthracite, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Robert Cotran and trained by Joseph F. Orseno. Jimenez added the ninth and final race with Omati, a 5-year-old horse owned and trained by Juan Arriagada.

That was one of two victories for Arriagada, who owns and trains Our Fantasy, a 6-year-old Florida-bred mare ridden to victory in the third race by Samuel Marin.

Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with an eight-race card beginning at 12:50 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs is open every day except April 9, Easter Sunday 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.