CAMACHO, MARIN READY FOR BATTLE; FULL FIELDS SET FOR SAT. TURF STAKES

By Mike Henry —-

(PHOTO OF SAMY CAMACHO ABOARD PRACTICAL VALE IN PADDOCK BEFORE 1ST, THEY FINISHED SECOND, COURTESY SV PHOTOGRAPHY)
CAMACHO, MARIN READY FOR BATTLE; FULL FIELDS SET FOR SAT. TURF STAKES

OLDSMAR, FL. – Although the 2024-25 Tampa Bay Downs meet is only slightly past the halfway point, Samuel Marin and Samy Camacho have put so much distance between themselves and their rivals that the competition for the jockeys crown is almost certain to remain a two-person race.

Both men are up for the challenge.

“I’m excited about it,” said Marin, who leads with 56 winners. “It will probably be between him and me, and I’m ready.”

The 36-year-old Camacho, who has won the last four titles and five of the last six, has 52 victories after winning today’s second race on trainer Gerald Bennett’s 4-year-old filly U Lite Up My Life. “I believe in myself. I know I can do it,” Camacho said earlier today. “Five behind (where he began the day), that’s nothing for me. Bet on me – I’m going to win everything I can.”

Camacho owned a healthy lead before being suspended by the Tampa Bay Downs stewards for eight racing days, beginning Feb. 2, “for not persevering and achieving the best possible result while aboard his mount ‘Curlaine’ during the running of Race 3 on Jan. 11.” After taking the lead in deep stretch, Camacho reached up to pull down his goggles, a move that resulted in Curlaine losing momentum – and the race – to Costa Amalfitana by a head.

Camacho rode two winners on Feb. 1, the day before his suspension began. Marin – who served a three-day suspension of his own beginning Feb. 2 for careless riding in a race – rode 12 winners between Feb. 8-16, a period of six racing days, to grab the advantage.

Although his vision was obscured by dirt while riding Curlaine, Camacho admits it was a bad time to try to switch goggles, fully aware that the move deprived his horse of an almost sure victory and cost his owner, trainer and people who bet on Curlaine to win where it hurts most – in the pocketbook.

But he knows all he can do is move forward, and is confident his performance will help everyone forget and forgive his mistake.

“When you’re thinking about bad stuff, it’s not good for you,” Camacho said. “Now that I’m back, he’s going to have to ride hard to beat me.”

Marin, 23, won last fall’s month-long meet at Meadowlands in New Jersey with 10 winners. Before that, he finished third at Monmouth Park with 40 victories, six more than Camacho, after returning from a broken left collarbone incurred late in the Oldsmar meet. So he doesn’t intend to back down from the challenge.

“I’m really focused on what I’m doing,” Marin said. “If it happens it happens, but if it doesn’t, I’m happy for having the opportunity to be riding here and to be part of the competition.”

It’s fair to describe Camacho and Marin as friendly rivals, despite the difference in their ages. Both are from Venezuela, they respect each other’s abilities and both employ Mike Moran, himself a past Oldsmar jockey champion, as their agent. But everything else has been put aside for now, as they vie for something that can never be taken away – a meet championship trophy.

“I came back to do my job,” Camacho said. “Right now, it’s important for my family and for the trainers and owners I ride for to win races. I did it already in the beginning of the season, and now I’m going to be stronger.”

So, perhaps, is Marin, which would make for an exciting second half. “I’ve been working hard every day to make it happen. I know I have a lot more to learn, and hopefully I can find it,” he said. “I have to thank God, because He is who I look up to every day. Hopefully I can keep getting the kind of opportunities I’ve been getting.”

Full fields for Lighting City, Turf Dash. Full fields of 12 horses are set to compete Saturday in the 22nd running of the $125,000, 5-furlong Lightning City Stakes and the 22nd running of the $125,000, 5-furlong Turf Dash, the track’s annual turf sprint stakes.

The Lightning City has been carded as the eighth race and the Turf Dash will be the 10th and final race on a card that includes the third legs of the Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series.

Both the Lightning City and the Turf Dash drew 14 entries, with 12 permitted to run.

Irad Ortiz, Jr., is among several south Florida-based jockeys who will be in for the occasion. He has been named to ride 6-year-old Florida-bred mare Sol Hope for trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., in the Lightning City and 6-year-old gelding Our Shot for trainer John P. Terranova, II in the Turf Dash.

Tampa Bay Downs jockey Daniel Centeno will aim for his eighth victory in the Turf Dash aboard trainer Bill Mott’s 7-year-old ridgling American Monarch. The Turf Dash field also includes the winners of the last three editions of the race, both 9-year-olds: Smithwick’s Spice (2024) and Florida-bred Chess Master (2022 and 2023).

Extra day added on May 4. Tampa Bay Downs has announced the addition of an extra day to its 2024-25 meet on Sunday, May 4, the day after the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve.

Fans who remember the popular “Fan Appreciation Day” to close the meet will be heartened to learn that admission will be free and there will be 50-percent discounts on all Gift Shop items, as well as discounted food and beverage items in the Concession Stands, as the track thanks its horsemen and horsewomen and the fans for their support and participation.

As always, the track will conduct full cards on both Friday, May 2 – Longines Kentucky Oaks Day – and Saturday, May 3, as well as simulcasting both of the major 3-year-old races from Churchill Downs.

Mark your calendars now for a weekend of Thoroughbred excitement you will not want to miss.

McKanas makes winning return to Tampa Bay Downs. Owner-trainer Leon J. McKanas, who primarily races at Gulfstream, won the fourth race today with his 5-year-old Florida-bred horse Undalay for his first Tampa Bay Downs winner since 2020. Cipriano Gil rode Undalay in the 6-furlong claiming contest.

McKanas, who sent out two winners earlier this month at Gulfstream, is probably best remembered by Oldsmar racing fans and others for appearing on the CBS-TV hit series Survivor in 2014. Although he didn’t win, McKanas and 17 fellow castaways thrilled viewers with their exploits from Cagayan in the Philippines. He once described his appearance on the series as “a 100-percent life-altering experience” that gave him “a whole new appreciation for my existence.”

McKanas also played college football at Northeastern University, rushing for 1,756 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior in 2001 to earn the Harry Agganis Award as the Outstanding Senior Football Player in New England.

Cipriano Gil also won the ninth race, which was switched from the turf to the dirt, on Oishi, a 4-year-old colt owned by Gran Chanito Stable and trained by Gerard Ochoa.

Soldieress rewards connections for their patience. Soldieress, a 5-year-old mare owned by Endsley Oaks Farm, broke her maiden in the first race in her first start since finishing third on July 10, 2023 at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa.

It was an emotional victory for trainer Aldana Spieth, who has trained the daughter of Kantharos for all five career starts. Spieth’s husband, Scott Spieth, was aboard for the victory in the 6-furlong maiden claiming event for older fillies and mares.

Soldieress had been preparing for a start in August of 2023 at Presque Isle when she struck her left rear leg against her stall wall, resulting in lacerations that led her to returning to Endsley Oaks in Brooksville, Fla., to recuperate. The connections were unsure if she would make it back to racing, but a series of workouts this winter with Scott Spieth aboard signaled her readiness.

“She’s faced some obstacles in her career, and it means a lot to get her back as a winner,” Aldana Spieth said.

Around the oval. Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:28 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 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.