TAMPA BAY: STAKES ACTION TO START HEATING UP WITH WEATHER

By Mike Henry —-

STAKES ACTION TO START HEATING UP WITH WEATHER

OLDSMAR, FL. – Nominations for the Festival Preview Day 45 card on Saturday, Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs are expected to be released Tuesday. It promises to be an outstanding day of Thoroughbred racing, highlighted by the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-olds with Triple Crown aspirations.

General admission tickets for Festival Preview Day 45 are $3.With temperatures expected to climb throughout the week, fans are encouraged to begin making plans as the connections of many leading 3-year-olds seek a path to Louisville on the first weekend in May.

The Sam F. Davis, a mile-and-a-sixteenth race on the main track, is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race. The top five finishers will receive 20, 10, 6, 4 and 2 qualifying points toward securing a spot in the Run for the Roses starting gate on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

Another Festival Preview Day race with potential long-term implications is the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. This is a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” points race, offering the same number of points as the Davis to the first five finishers toward being part of the Kentucky Oaks field on May 2.

Excellent sprinters of both sexes will also be featured Feb. 8 in the $125,000, 6-furlong Pelican Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward and the $100,000, 6-furlong Minaret Stakes for fillies and mares 4-and-upward.

This upcoming Saturday features two Grade III races on the turf: the $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes for horses 4-and-upward and the $175,000 Endeavour Stakes for fillies and mares 4-and-upward. Both races will be contested at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth.

Entries for Saturday’s card will be taken Wednesday.

Avila, Mystic Lake shine on Pegasus Day. Tampa Bay Downs trainer Juan Carlos Avila made his presence known Saturday at Gulfstream Park during the Pegasus World Cup card, capturing the Grade III Fred W. Hooper Stakes presented by Ketel One Vodka with 6-year-old horse Little Vic. It was the second career Grade III victory for the son of Practical Joke, who won the Tom Fool Handicap at Aqueduct in 2023.

Jockey Leonel Reyes sent Little Vic to the lead from the No. 1 post in the 1-mile Fred W. Hooper and he never faltered, finishing 2 ¾ lengths ahead of Implementation. Favorite Tumbarumba finished third. First-place money of $89,280 raised Little Vic’s career bankroll to $566,010.

Little Vic is owned by Victoria’s Ranch, the racing concern of retired major league baseball slugger Victor Martinez, who purchased the horse in 2020 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $50,000. Avila and Martinez teamed to win the 2020 Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with 49-1 shot King Guillermo.

Little Vic is 1-for-3 at Tampa Bay Downs in his career.

Saturday’s score was the seventh graded-stakes triumph for Avila, who is tied for third in the Oldsmar standings with 12 winners.

In the Grade II Inside Information Stakes presented by MyRacehorse on Pegasus Day, two-time Tampa Bay Downs stakes winner Mystic Lake upset even-money favorite Emery for her first graded-stakes victory. The 4-year-old Florida-bred filly is owned by C2 Racing Stable LLC and Stefania Farms LLC and trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., and was ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Mystic Lake, a daughter of Mo Town, won the Gasparilla Stakes and the Florida Cup Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies Stakes last season at the Oldsmar oval. She has three graded-stakes victories since then.

A large number of Tampa Bay Downs bettors were rooting for Skippylongstocking, the two-time winner of the Oldsmar oval’s Grade III Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, to take home the top prize in the Grade I, $3-million Pegasus World Cup Invitational. The 6-year-old managed a third-place finish in the 11-horse field, behind the winner White Abarrio, ridden by Ortiz, and runner-up Locked.

Both White Abarrio and Skippylongstocking are trained by Joseph, who also won the TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes presented by SirDavis American Whisky with 5-year-old mare Be Your Best.

Around the oval. Leading jockey Samy Camacho rode two winners today, giving him 48 for the meet and a five-race lead from current runner-up Samuel Marin. Camacho won the second race on Fussy Girl, a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by Ulises Munoz and trained by Donald F. Hunt. Camacho added the fourth with Madam Mitole, a 3-year-old filly owned by Mr Pug, LLC and J.P.G. 2, LLC and trained by Gerald Bennett.

Cipriano Gil also rode two winners, both on the turf. He captured the seventh race on Real Mikey, a 5-year-old Florida-bred mare owned by Ricardo De Anda and trained by Brian Lusk. Gil added the ninth and final race on Allons, a 5-year-old Florida-bred mare owned by Janice Creel and trained by Rick Creel.

Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:40 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.