OWEN ALMIGHTY UNLEASHES BEST IN TB DERBY; DOWNS DAY TO REMEMBER

By Mike Henry —-

OWEN ALMIGHTY UNLEASHES BEST IN TB DERBY; DOWNS DAY TO REMEMBER

SV Photography

OLDSMAR, FL. – Irad Ortiz, Jr.’s face was flushed with excitement as he sought out trainer Brian Lynch in the winner’s circle after 3-year-old colt Owen Almighty’s scintillating victory in the Grade III, $400,000-guaranteed Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

“I tapped him on the shoulder when they started getting close to me,” Ortiz said, his voice hushed but excited, “and ‘whoosh.’ ”

Whoosh, indeed. The 3-year-old colt accelerated like the proverbial freight train, extending his winning margin at the wire to 3 ½ lengths from dual Grade I winner Chancer McPatrick. Hill Road rallied for third, another 2 ¾ lengths in arrears, while the betting favorite, Patch Adams, finished fourth in the seven-horse field.

The winning time of 1:42.30 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth distance was the second fastest in race history, bettered only by the 1:41.90 mark of Tacitus in 2019.

The marvelous finish of the 45th edition of the Oldsmar oval’s showcase race came near the end of an outstanding day of Thoroughbred racing, which included a track record by Skippylongstocking in the Grade III Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes and a stakes record by Nitrogen in the Grade III Florida Oaks.

The day was full of drama and emotion, with a crowd of 7,810 eager to debate those who insist horse racing is a dying sport. Total all-sources wagering handle of $17,630,538 was the second highest in track history, and the on-track handle was $863,599.

Owen Almighty, who had been disqualified after finishing first here in the Pasco Stakes on Jan. 11 and was a valiant second to John Hancock on Feb. 8 in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, earned a cool $210,000 for his first graded-stakes victory. He also earned 50 “Road to the Kentucky Derby” qualifying points, although Lynch recently expressed his belief Owen Almighty might be better off targeting 7-furlong or 1-mile races later this year.

But in the Tampa Bay Downs winner’s circle, Payton Boersma – the COO of ownership group Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and son of founder Travis Boersma – seemed to have other thoughts.

“He (Owen Almighty) really showed what he is made of today,” Payton said. “He’s going to be really tough going into that Derby – the Kentucky Derby, of course.”

Ah, what a pleasant dilemma for Lynch, who collected his second Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby victory after winning in 2022 with Classic Causeway.

“There will be conversation. But if I was to have my way I’d still stick to the plan and go to the Pat Day Mile” (on the Kentucky Derby undercard), Lynch said in a TV interview.

Lynch knows inquiring minds want to know (everything), but he deserves time to savor this one.

“I’m just thrilled. He’s run two crackerjack races here (the Sam F. Davis and today) and of course this Derby is the big race of the meet, so it’s nice to see him take it in the fashion he did,” Lynch said. “This is a good field of horses and it’s not to say the (Kentucky) Derby winner couldn’t come out of it, but he was the best today.

“It was a great ride by Irad. I didn’t give him any instructions – I just said one thing to him I learned from Bobby Frankel: ‘class horse, class rider. You two are a perfect match.’ Irad was just waiting (at the quarter pole), he knew he had plenty of horse.

“This (the Boersma family’s Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing) is a wonderful ownership group.”

Ortiz has won so many big races in his career, it was surprising in a way to see him so over the moon about this one. Then again, maybe it’s that natural enthusiasm that contributes to his excellence.

He had believed Owen Almighty was capable of this kind of performance, but the proof was in the hearts and hooves that needed just a little more hands-on prep work.

“We had some cheater blinkers on him last time and they were still too little,” Ortiz explained. “I talked to Brian and we decide to give him a little fuller blinkers today, and I think it helped. He was there for me when I asked him to go. I tapped him on the shoulder at the quarter-mile pole and he jumped on the bridle and I thought, that’s what I was looking for before. I knew he had more, but he had not really given it to me before today. He was just waiting on horses and kind of looking around.

“Today when I tapped him, he jumped on the bridle and I said ‘Let’s roll.’ I didn’t wait for nobody and he didn’t wait for nobody, so that was huge.”

Trainer Chad Brown, as he so often does, had a huge day. In addition to training both Chancer McPatrick and Hill Road in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, Brown won the Grade II, $225,000-guaranteed Hillsborough Stakes on the turf with 6-year-old mare Saffron Moon and the $125,000-guaranteed Columbia Stakes on the turf with 3-year-old ridgling Zulu Kingdom.

In the mile-and-an-eighth Hillsborough Stakes, Saffron Moon seemed to improve on her previous winning effort here on Feb. 1 in the Grade III Endeavour Stakes. Jockey Flavien Prat pointed her toward a gap between horses in mid-stretch and her heart took over as she surged to a ¾-length victory from an onrushing Gimme a Nother. Venencia, another Brown runner, rallied for third.

Saffron Moon’s time was 1:47.58. Brown has won the Hillsborough a record seven times; Saffron Moon joins Bleecker Street (2022) and Zagora (2012) as Brown trainees to win both races.

Saffron Moon improved to 5-for-11 lifetime and the winner’s share of $120,000 raised her career earnings to $459,625.

“I think this race gives us a lot of confidence her ceiling is unlimited,” Brown said. “She has always trained like a good horse; she may not have run much from 2-5 (years old), but it was not because we were waiting for her to come around. She was on the sidelines a lot, but when she was in the barn she was always impressive in the mornings and in her training.

“My team has done a great job with her, and I’m real happy for the owners, Phil and Christine Hatfield (CHP Racing), as they stuck with her.”

Prat can’t wait until the next time he gets to ride her.

“We got in a good spot early and she kicked on well,” he said. “Once I got a gap turning for home, she responded. I got myself in a good spot going into the first turn, the race developed down the backside and it took a little bit to get an opening, but when she did she jumped through there. She likes training and she’s getting good.”

Even though the South African-bred-and-raced Gimme a Nother lost for the first time in eight career starts, the 5-year-old mare’s luster did not seem to dim.

“She ran great,” said her trainer, H. Graham Motion. “I think it was a pretty credible performance by a horse who hadn’t run since April against a filly who is pretty good.”

The 42nd running of the Grade III, $200,000-guaranteed Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the grass saw Tyler Gaffalione provide a masterful ride on trainer Brendan Walsh’s Lush Lips, leading to late into the race. But when Jose Ortiz (Irad’s brother) asked trainer Mark Casse’s Nitrogen for her best, she gobbled up the ground between herself and Lush Lips like popcorn for a half-length triumph. Deloraine rallied for third.

Casse was delighted to score his second Florida Oaks victory, the first coming 13 years ago with Dixie Strike. This one came for the D. J. Stable of Leonard Green.

Nitrogen’s time of 1:40.42 was a course record. “I don’t know how; she does it, she just gets there,” said a spent Casse, who almost looked as if he had run the distance himself. “I thought ‘Oh boy, I gotta run this horse (Lush Lips) down.’

“I love this place, I love to come here and win. Just happy.”

So was Jose Ortiz, who had ridden Nitrogen in her previous two starts – a third in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 1 at Del Mar and a victory on Jan. 4 in the Ginger Brew Stakes at Gulfstream – and knew she relishes attempting late whirlwind rallies.

“That other filly (Lush Lips) broke well and was not contested on the lead, so I knew she was going to be tough to beat,” Ortiz said. “I decided to wait on the backside and brought my filly back a little and tried to save ground and make a run.

“When I asked her, she gave me a good turn of foot. Sometimes it takes her a little bit to get going, but when she does she has a big (kick).”

In the 34th running of the Grade III, $125,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, two-time defending race champion Skippylongstocking and Most Wanted gave an enthusiastic crowd everything they bargained for, and then some. After tracking his 4-year-old rival throughout, 6-year-old Skippylongstocking surged through the stretch for a 1 ¼-length victory in stakes and track-record time of 1:41.20 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth distance on the fast main track.

Instant Coffee finished third and El Principito was fourth in a field depleted, but not diminished, by four scratches.

In addition to winning three consecutive editions of the Michelob Ultra Challenger, Skippylongstocking improved to 10-for-30 for his career. The winner’s share of $60,000 raised his career earnings to $3,425,985, and the victory was his eighth in a graded stakes.

Not bad for a $37,000 private purchase as a 2-year-old. Owner Daniel Alonso of Miami wore one of those looks of utter joy that cannot be captured in words.

Trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., can’t stop counting his blessings either when it comes to Skippylongstocking, who tracked Most Wanted throughout and never seemed to lose sight of his goal of running down the front-runner.

“I didn’t want to run into Most Wanted in this race but we had already committed to run,” Joseph said. “I have a lot of respect for that horse. But we were full of confidence because Skippy was doing so well. He traveled well today and really laid his head down and finished well. Three (Challenger victories) in a row. … He has really taken us on a wild ride. It’s just so special and all the glory to God. Hopefully next year, we can come back and make it four in a row.”

Tyler Gaffalione, the jockey on Skippylongstocking, praised his horse’s willingness in glowing terms.

“He’s an incredible horse. He just keeps showing up and brings his track with him everywhere he runs,” Gaffalione said. “He is as consistent as they come. He got a little antsy in the gate and stepped back right before they sprung and kind of leaped out of there, but I was able to get him back to himself and he carried me well throughout.

“I knew Most Wanted was our main concern, but when I got to him at the quarter pole my horse found another gear and I was fairly confident he was going to get the job done.”

Brad Cox, the trainer of Most Wanted, a Grade III winner who is now 4-for-6, was disappointed but not discouraged by the outcome.

“He ran well off the layoff, and I think he’ll get a good bit out of this race. We got away well and had the upper hand up the backside, but we got beat by a good horse,” Cox said. “Hopefully, (Most Wanted) will move forward off this.”

In the 19th edition of the $125,000-guaranteed Columbia Stakes, a 1-mile turf event for 3-year-olds, Zulu Kingdom provided plenty of optimism that a big year is within reach. After overtaking the long-shot leader Peace Cloud on the turn for home, the Ireland-bred Zulu Kingdom repelled a strong bid by Reagan’s Wit for a neck length victory. Revolutionnaire finished third.

Zulu Kingdom, a multiple graded-stakes winner on the turf as a 2-year-old, improved to 4-for-5, his only defeat a seventh last November in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar. Chad Brown trains the winner, who was ridden by Flavien Prat, the same connections who won a pair of Grade III turf stakes for older horses earlier this meet with Running Bee and Saffron Moon.

The winner’s time of 1:33.24 on the firm turf course was one one-hundredth of a second off the stakes record set by Winfromwithin in 2021. Zulu Kingdom is owned by the quartet of Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael J. Caruso.

The winner’s share of $60,000 raised his career earnings to $292,607.

Zulu Kingdom attended a lively early pace set by Peace Cloud, with Dream On pressuring from the outside. Prat, who had ridden the winner at Del Mar and in his victory last summer in the Grade III With Anticipation Stakes last summer at Saratoga, was encouraged by his action throughout.

“It was a great run. He jumped so well out of there, so I got myself in the race from the beginning,” Prat said. “I was traveling well all the way around and was able to take a nice breather on the far turn, and he kicked on well.

“Honestly, at the sixteenth pole I didn’t know if (Reagan’s Wit) was going to go by me, but my horse kind of regrouped and kicked on.”

Brown agreed with a winner’s-circle enthusiast who described the victory as a “kick-butt” performance.

“It really was, off the (18-week) layoff,” Brown said. “It was a really, really strong effort. He didn’t have a breather the whole way, and he survived being between horses going fast and held off a nice horse at the end.”

Around the oval. Leading trainer Kathleen O’Connell sent out two winners today. She won the first race with King Miano, a 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by DiBello Racing and ridden by Jose Ferrer. O’Connell added the third with Hey Cookie, a 20-1 shot bred in Florida and owned by Stonehedge, LLC and ridden by Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.

That was one of two victories for Diaz, who also captured the second race on Captivating Sound, a 4-year-old filly owned by PRZ & Sanz Stable and trained by Pablo R. Torres.

Tampa Bay Downs fans are reminded to turn their clocks ahead 1 hour Sunday at 2 a.m. (or 8 a.m., if more convenient) to keep up with Daylight Saving Time. Thoroughbred racing continues Sunday with a 10-race card beginning at 12:16 p.m.

Tampa Bay Downs races Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and is open every day except April 20, Easter, 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.