TAMPA BAY: NIC’S STYLE SETS STAKES RECORD IN CITY OF OCALA; BIG MARTINI WINS

By Mike Henry —-

NIC’S STYLE SETS STAKES RECORD IN CITY OF OCALA; BIG MARTINI WINS

OLDSMAR, FL. – After Nic’s Style ran second to top sprinter Ways and Means in the Grade II Gallant Bloom Stakes in New York on Sept. 29, trainer Bill Mott decided to tap on the brakes with his 4-year-old Florida-bred filly.

While Ways and Means headed west for the PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint, in which she finished fifth, Nic’s Style’s ambitions were scaled back. She won the $150,000 Pumpkin Pie Stakes on Nov. 3 at the Belmont At The Big A meet, earning her a trip to her home state for the winter.

When Mott suggested today’s $100,000 Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes for fillies and mares for her next start, owner Stephen Rousseau was all in.

“My philosophy is to try to run for the most money with the easiest competition,” Rousseau said after Nic’s Style’s authoritative 2 ½-length victory from R Disaster in stakes-record time of 1:21.84 for the 7-furlong distance. “This race didn’t come up as easy as I’d hoped, but she did the job anyway.”

Indeed, R Disaster showed no signs of quit after carrying the 5-horse field through early fractions of 22.38 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.87 for the half under jockey Pablo Morales, and the multiple-stakes winner Beth’s Dream loomed as a major threat nearing the top of the stretch.

But Junior Alvarado, the only jockey Nic’s Style has known in her six-race career, knew he was sitting on the winner when the important running started.

“I just sat right behind the pace early and she was traveling well, but I didn’t think she was giving me her best early,” Alvarado said. “I told myself ‘don’t panic’ and tried to get her fit underneath me. When we hit the 5/16-mile pole I knew what I had, and I was just waiting to see whether I’d go inside or outside (of R Disaster).

“At that point, it was just a matter of time.”

Nic’s Style, a daughter of Uncaptured-Sense When, by Street Sense, bred by D’Oyen Thoroughbreds LLC, closed along the rail in impressive fashion to reward bettors who made her a 2-5 favorite. R Disaster was second, 2 ¼ lengths ahead of Dream Concert.

The FTBOA City of Ocala FSS was one of two stakes for FTBOA-registered Florida-bred horses sired by an FTBOA-registered Florida stallion on today’s card. Big Martini won the FTBOA Marion County FSS for colts and geldings earlier on the card.

More on that race soon. As for Nic’s Style (who is named for Rousseau’s wife Nicola), both the owner and jockey are delighted to be on the ride with Mott, who took over the filly’s training after her previous trainer, Ralph Nicks, retired. Mott has trained her for her last four races.

Nic’s Style improved to 5-for-6 and the first-place purse of $60,000 raised her career earnings to $328,400. “I’ve been racing for 30 years and I’ve always dreamed of winning a Florida stallion stakes, so I just did,” said Rousseau, who owns a company that exports industrial supplies.

“Ralph Nicks picked her out for me (at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s 2021 October Yearling Sale, resulting in a $25,000 purchase), and the first time she raced (the following spring at Gulfstream Park), she ran brilliantly. Then she got injured, and it was a year-and-a-half before she came back.

“She just needed time, and Ralph was very patient. Owning her is a surreal experience,” added Rousseau, who also won today’s sixth race at Gulfstream Park with 3-year-old filly Julee’s Legacy. “Right now we’re taking things as they come, and whatever Hall of Famer Bill Mott says to do, I’m on the plane right there.”

When the field for the $100,000 Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Marion County Florida Sire Stakes for males was drawn earlier this week, trainer Rohan Crichton and jockey Sonny Leon opted for a “wait-and-see” approach with 4-year-old gelding Big Martini.

But after two scratches reduced the field to four horses, Leon decided to ask Big Martini for his best right out of the starting gate and see if any of his three rivals, most notably 9-10 favorite Loco Abarrio, had the stuff to keep up.

Big Martini responded to the challenge, extending his lead approaching the far turn and repelling a stretch challenge from 3-year-old Pure Class to post a 2-length victory in 1:22.19, .51 seconds off Shivaree’s 2020 stakes record. Khozeiress finished third and Loco Abarrio, who never found his best stride, was fourth.

It was the first stakes victory for Big Martini, who finished third in last season’s Marion County. He paid $7.20 to win as the third wagering choice. The son of The Big Beast-Dirty Martini, by Hard Spun, was bred by Bett Usher and Elaine Daughtery and is owned by Daniel L. Walters and Dennis G. Smith, who purchased him for $87,000 at the 2022 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June Sale.

First-place money of $60,000 raised Big Martini’s career earnings to $268,308. The triumph was his fourth from 18 starts, with six seconds.

“Before the two scratches, I was going to play with the break and see what happens,” Leon said. “But when the field got down to four horses, I thought, we’re in the No. 1 hole and I’ve got to go. If I saw somebody was going to fight with my horse for the lead, I was going to settle my horse down a little, but it didn’t really happen and he was going easy the whole way.

“Sometimes you can have a plan but when you break from the gate, everything changes,” Leon added. “A jockey should always have a Plan B.”

Loco Abarrio had won the FTBOA Gil Campbell Memorial Handicap in his previous start, but it was clear before the field reached the turn it wasn’t his day.

“I knew he ran here once before (a fifth-place finish in the 2023 Pasco Stakes) and he didn’t like it much,” said jockey Alvarado, who added that Loco Abarrio felt no worse for wear after the race. “He was working beautifully toward the race, but he was kind of spinning his wheels. He just didn’t get ahold of the track.”

Crichton, who watched the race from Gulfstream Park, said Big Martini has been at Tampa Bay Downs the past couple of weeks with his assistant Curtis Suckie and that may have been the difference.

“The fact that he broke so fast. … that’s why maybe I shouldn’t tell jockeys what to do,” Crichton said, laughing. “He looked fantastic and Sonny gave him an enterprising ride. I really think this horse is getting into himself. He keeps getting better and hopefully that trend will continue.”

Around the oval. Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:25 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs will then race Friday, next Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 22, followed by a special Christmas Eve card on Tuesday, Dec. 24.

The track will be closed on Christmas Day before jumping into its normal 4-days-a-week schedule (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) on Dec. 27.

Also on Dec. 27, Tampa Bay Downs will hold its annual Calendar Giveaway, with the first 5,000 patrons receiving a commemorative 2025 calendar free of charge. With its spectacular photography and timely reminders of upcoming events, this is always one of the track’s most popular promotions, and fans are encouraged to get theirs before they run out.

With the exception of Dec. 25 and Easter Sunday, April 20, 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.