FLORIDA CUP DAY MARCH 30 TO SHOWCASE MANY OF STATE’S TOP HORSES

By Mike Henry —-

Forever Souper; SV Photography
FLORIDA CUP DAY MARCH 30 TO SHOWCASE MANY OF STATE’S TOP HORSES

OLDSMAR, FL. – At first, the assignment didn’t seem overly difficult: selecting the top 10 moments from the previous 21 editions of the Florida Cup, which will be held next Sunday, March 30 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Conceived by track President Stella F. Thayer and Vice President of Marketing & Publicity Margo Flynn after they witnessed a similar event at Delaware Park, the Florida Cup was first held in 2003 as a way to recognize the Sunshine State’s legacy of breeding and raising outstanding Thoroughbreds.

Lest anyone forget (or not be aware), Florida was the birthplace of such National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame legends as Needles, Carry Back, Dr. Fager, Ta Wee, Susan’s Girl, Affirmed, Unbridled, Holy Bull, Silver Charm and Skip Away, and many other greats capable of chilling fans’ spines at the mere mention of their exploits.

Thayer and Flynn agreed a day devoted to Florida-breds would be a fitting tribute to the horses, breeders, owners and trainers who strive to elevate the Thoroughbred. A series of six races – three each on the main dirt track and turf course – was established, at various distances and for different ages.

The Florida Cup has been held continuously with the exception of 2020, when it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It has blossomed into a ritual of springtime, full of intense competition, heart-pounding finishes and a fair share of astounding upsets.

A lineup of six $110,000 stakes races for registered Florida-breds is on tap for March 30:

The Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies, for 3-year-old females at 7 furlongs on the main track
The Equistaff Sophomore Turf, for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16-mile on the turf
The NYRABETS Sprint, for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at 6 furlongs on the main track
The ESMARK Turf Classic, for horses 4-and-upward at 1 1/8-mile on the turf
The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore, for 3-year-olds at 7 furlongs on the main track
The Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf, for fillies and mares 3-and-upward at 1 1/16-mile on the turf

Horsewomen and horsemen will be feted before the races at a buffet luncheon beneath the big tent adjacent to the paddock.

Rest assured, this somewhat extensive lead-in is in no way intended to skirt the task of ranking the top 10 moments of the Florida Cup. We do remind readers, however, that the list is one person’s opinion, thus entirely subjective, and that person did not officially witness their first Florida Cup until 2012.

As always, we welcome a lively discussion of those moments not on this list. Away we go.

2017 EG Vodka Turf Classic: Trainer Mark Casse had an ambitious agenda laid out for 5-year-old gelding World Approval, who had won the previous year’s Grade I United Nations Stakes at Monmouth but been inconsistent otherwise. It would begin at Tampa Bay Downs, where the Live Oak Plantation-owned homebred had won the Florida Cup Sophomore Turf two years earlier. In his first start in more than 5 months, World Approval carried jockey Julien Leparoux to a 2 ¼-length triumph over the 2016 Turf Classic winner, Go Around. What followed was the stuff of legends: The durable gray son of Northern Afleet won the Grade II Longines Dixie Stakes, the Grade I Fourstardave Handicap, the Grade I Ricoh Woodbine Mile and the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Mile en route to being voted an Eclipse Award as Champion Turf Male. The following February, Casse and Live Oak owner Charlotte Weber sent World Approval back to Oldsmar to win the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes.
2012 Hilton Garden Inn Sprint: Jockey Willie Martinez says It’s Me Mom was one of the fastest sprinters he has ever ridden. Martinez was at Aqueduct in New York on April 7, 2012 to ride Trinniberg in the Grade III Bay Shore Stakes (which they won), so trainer Lynne Scace called on veteran Jorge Vargas to ride the 4-year-old It’s Me Mom in the race that would define her. Competing against males, It’s Me Mom broke on top and never looked back, defeating the hard-knocking My Charming Clyde by 2 ¾ lengths. The time for the 6 furlongs was 1:08.67 – a track record that still stands. It’s Me Mom finished her racing career 11-for-22 with earnings of $560,454 for her breeder-owners, Tampa Bay area residents Thomas and Jean Bosch, whose presence outside the winner’s circle at each of her Oldsmar starts was always a heartwarming sight.
2018 Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf: Newly inducted Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano already had three Florida Cup victories (and four overall) on the day when he lined up for the Distaff Turf on trainer David Fawkes’s Madame Uno, a 4-year-old filly who had never won a stakes. The competition included Surprise Wedding, who had set a stakes record earlier that meet in the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes, and the multiple-stakes winner Compelled. Castellano took Madame Uno to the lead at the outset and rationed her speed throughout, scoring a 1-length victory from Surprise Wedding. Late in the afternoon and in a hurry to catch a flight after his record Florida Cup performance, Castellano still found time to sign autographs and pose for pictures while walking back to the jockeys’ room.
2003 Stonehedge Farm Sophomore Fillies: A field of 11 3-year-old fillies competed in the first-ever Florida Cup race in history, but only one was ridden by a woman: Just Bill Me, who was back with Rosemary Homeister, Jr., after their victory six weeks earlier in the Suncoast Stakes. Just Bill Me and Homeister were more than up to the task of launching the Florida Cup in style with a 7 ¾-length victory in a time of 1:24.55 for the 7 furlongs – despite top weight of 122 pounds. Just Bill Me changed hands after the race from owner Denis Dwyer and John Reynolds and trainer Enrique Alonso and did not win in her final four starts, two of which were in Grade III races, but she sure put on a springtime show in Oldsmar.
2016 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore: Trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr., was fond of calling owner Raymond Mamone’s Imperialism colt Imperial Hint “The Little Rocket.” It was a description Imperial Hint would live up to throughout his career, winning four Grade I stakes – which happened to be the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and the Vosburgh Stakes in New York in back-to-back years. But for sheer, unadulterated, wind-through-your mane speed, there were few better performances than his second career start at 3, when he won the OBS Sophomore by 6 ¾ lengths under Antonio Gallardo in 1:22.15 for the 7 furlongs, .02 seconds off the stakes record. The third-place finisher, future Florida Cup Sprint winner Extravagant Kid, wound up making $1.7-million. Imperial Hint’s career bankroll was $2.2-million – not bad for a Florida-bred.
2013 Distaff Turf Stakes: As a 7-year-old, defending race champion Hooh Why’s best days were behind her in the “what have you done for me lately?” world of horse racing. But her legion of fans remained confident the 2009 winner of the Grade I Ashland Stakes at Keeneland could handle a field of state-breds again, making her the 2-1 favorite. Ronnie Allen, Jr., always a cool customer in the saddle, rode her with plenty of confidence too – but it appeared to be misplaced as the leaders showed no signs of stopping. After swinging Hooh Why five wide, Allen summoned all her resolve and courage, and their efforts resulted in a head victory, her 12th and final triumph in a career that included seven stakes wins. It was an emotional day indeed for the family of Hooh Why’s breeder, the late Gail Gee, owners Mark Hoffman and Earl Trostrud, Jr., and trainer Rick Slomkowski.
2023 Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies: The combination of a filly who had won her first two career starts by a combined 20 ¾ lengths, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and star jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., proved irresistible to bettors, who hammered Munnys Gold down to 2-5 in a field that included recent Suncoast Stakes winner Dreaming of Snow. The daughter of Munnings lived up to the hype. She almost seemed to soar above the surface, powering to a 17 ¼-length victory in track-record time of 1:20.09. Ah, but racing is full of surprises, and her fast track to the Hall of Fame was soon derailed. Munnys Gold won only one more time – an allowance race – in six starts.
2012 Dayton Andrews Dodge Sophomore Turf Stakes: Star Channel was bred by Mr. & Mrs. Samuel H. Rogers Jr. to be a turf monster. His sire, English Channel, was the 2007 Eclipse Award Champion Grass Horse and John Deere Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, and his broodmare sire, Cozzene, was the 1985 Eclipse Champion Grass Horse and a Breeders’ Cup winner. Midway through his first start at Tampa Bay Downs, though, a lot of bettors were wondering why they had made him the 9-10 favorite. They needn’t have worried. When jockey Pedro Cotto, Jr., gave him his cue Star Channel took off, and the Todd Pletcher-trained 3-year-old had a victory that would have made his ancestors proud.
2015 Tampa Turf Classic: The Florida Cup would not have attained its current status without the support of many of the state’s top breeders such as Glen Hill Farm, founded by the late Leonard Lavin and run by Craig Bernick. Among Glen Hill’s nine Florida Cup victories as an owner, few resonated more with fans than Old Time Hockey’s second consecutive victory in the Turf Classic. A son of 2004 Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, he was the epitome of an honest, lunch-bucket horse, a notch or two below the best of his generation but always willing to lay it on the line. The Tom Proctor-trained 6-year-old gelding had to run more than a full second faster in 2015 than he had the previous year – and he did so under the guidance of Ronnie Allen, Jr., to post a neck victory.
2024 ESMARK Turf Classic. Although Forever Souper entered the race with five lifetime victories from 12 starts, nothing really seemed to suggest he would raise his game to another level when last year’s calendar turned to spring. But with a well-bred horse (by American Pharoah, out of the War Front mare Mighty Souper), that possibility always seems to exist. Trainer Michael Trombetta had the 5-year-old Live Oak Plantation homebred at the top of his game, and Paco Lopez hustled him home in a stunning stakes-record time of 1:46.87 – only .61 seconds off Hall of Fame member Tepin’s 1 1/8-mile course record.

Around the oval. Leading jockey Samuel Marin rode two winners today. He was aboard 5-year-old gelding Silver Slugger in the third race for owner Victoria’s Ranch and trainer Juan Carlos Avila. Marin added the eighth with Girl Dynamite, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly owned by Tito Guevara and trained by Nestor Marrero.

In the seventh race, a starter/optional claiming event at a mile on the turf for 3-year-olds, the Frosted gelding Flash Frozen improved to 4-for-4 with a 1 ¾-length victory from Flamingproposition. Flash Frozen is owned by SJB Stable and trained by leading conditioner Kathleen O’Connell and was ridden by Antonio Gallardo.

Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:30 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.