OLDSMAR OVAL ‘GRADS,’ TRAINER HAMM DREAMING BIG AT BREEDERS’ CUP

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Fans of the Tampa Bay Downs Thoroughbred scene have numerous favorites to cheer for and wager on in the 37th Breeders’ Cup, scheduled Friday and Saturday at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Sunny weather is forecast Friday, with partly cloudy skies expected Saturday. Temperatures should climb into the mid-60s or low 70s both days.

Tampa Bay Downs will simulcast all the action while offering free admission and wagering. Friday’s first post time is 11:30 a.m., with the first of Friday’s five Breeders’ Cup races for 2-year-olds – the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint – going off as the sixth race at 2:30 p.m.

Saturday’s first post time is 10:15 a.m. The first of nine Breeders’ Cup races Saturday, the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, is scheduled as the fourth race at 12:02 p.m.

Horse racing’s world championship extravaganza reaches a crescendo with Saturday’s 12th race, the $6-million Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic, which appears likely to settle the Horse of the Year debate.

But a 3-year-old filly who competed at Tampa Bay Downs, Swiss Skydiver, could make her voice heard in the Horse of the Year discussion two races earlier, in the $2-million Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

All the action will be shown on the Oldsmar oval’s giant infield video board. During the Breeders’ Cup, Tampa Bay Downs – which begins its 95th anniversary season of racing on Weds., Nov. 25 – will require patrons to wear masks or face coverings on property, both inside and outside, and to maintain social-distancing protocol to protect against the COVID-19 virus. Socially-distanced seating will be provided.

The connections of Swiss Skydiver, owner Peter J. Callahan and trainer Ken McPeek, have elected to run her in the Distaff after pre-entering her in the Distaff and the Classic.

Swiss Skydiver finished fifth at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 18 in the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes, beaten only ¾-length for first, and has continued to improve, winning five graded stakes at five different tracks, including the Grade I Alabama at Saratoga and the Grade I Preakness against males at Pimlico.

One of only two 3-year-olds in the Distaff field, Swiss Skydiver will break from the No. 5 post position under her Preakness jockey, Robby Albarado. She is the 2-1 morning-line, second-choice to Monomoy Girl at 8-5. A victory by Swiss Skydiver, combined with a Classic upset (or a victory by Authentic, whom Swiss Skydiver edged in the Preakness), would attract considerable notice from Eclipse Award voters for Horse of the Year.

The Distaff field includes a Tampa Bay Downs stakes winner, 2019 Suncoast Stakes champion Point of Honor. She has yet to win as a 4-year-old and will break from post No. 7 for trainer George Weaver and jockey Javier Castellano.

The Breeders’ Cup is an event that thrives on dreams, and Tampa Bay Downs trainer Tim Hamm has a dream 2-year-old filly entered in Friday’s $2-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in Dayoutoftheoffice, whose 3-for-3 mark includes victories in the Grade III Schuylerville at Saratoga and the Grade I Frizette at Belmont.

Hamm, who co-owns Dayoutoftheoffice under his Blazing Meadows Farm banner in partnership with Siena Farm, sent out 15 winners at Tampa Bay Downs last season. Dayoutoftheoffice is his first Grade I winner and first Breeders’ Cup contender in a career that began in 1996.

Dayoutoftheoffice will be ridden by Junior Alvarado in the Juvenile Fillies, slated as the eighth race.

“She makes it seem easy,” Hamm said of the daughter of top sire Into Mischief after her Frizette victory. “You get so many of these horses that whatever you try, it doesn’t seem to work. Then you get these good ones and it makes it seem like a real easy job. Her demeanor is great. She’s very calm and very push-button.

“She’ll do whatever the rider asks her to in the mornings, so she’s easy to train. When she trains, she does it exactly the way you want her to do it.”

Dayoutoftheoffice is the co-second choice at 5-2 on the morning line with Simply Ravishing. Princess Noor, also 3-for-3 and trained by Baffert, is the 9-5 favorite in the seven-horse field.

A winner of the biggest race of the Tampa Bay Downs season, the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, is among the 10-horse field for the Classic: trainer Bill Mott’s 4-year-old colt Tacitus, who won the 2019 Oldsmar showcase in stakes-record time.

Tacitus, who won the Grade II Suburban at Belmont on July 4, is facing the toughest challenge of his career, including trainer Bob Baffert’s powerhouse trio of Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve winner Authentic; multiple-Grade I stakes winner Maximum Security, famously disqualified from victory in the 2019 Kentucky Derby; and multiple Grade I-winner Improbable.

Throw in Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets winner Tiz the Law, and it’s clear Tacitus will likely need a career-best effort to win. But coaxing such performances in major races is a specialty of Hall of Fame conditioner Mott.

Two other Tampa Bay Downs “graduates” appearing to have strong chances Saturday are 7-year-old Florida-bred mare Starship Jubilee in the $2-million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and 4-year-old colt Digital Age in the $2-million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile presented by PDJF (Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund). The Filly and Mare Turf is the seventh race and the Mile is the ninth race.

Starship Jubilee, trained by Kevin Attard and to be ridden by Florent Geroux, won the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes here on March 7. Digital Age, trained by Chad Brown with Castellano scheduled to ride, captured the $75,000 Columbia Stakes here in 2019 as a 3-year-old and is a Grade I winner.

Another Tampa Bay Downs stakes winner in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile is 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding March to the Arch, who won last year’s Florida Cup Turf Classic Stakes. Tyler Gaffalione will ride for trainer Mark Casse.

Extravagant Kid, a 7-year-old Florida-bred gelding who won the 2019 Florida Cup Sprint at Tampa Bay Downs, will contest the $1-million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, which is Saturday’s fifth race. Umberto Rispoli will ride for trainer Brendan Walsh. Also part of the 14-horse field is 5-year-old mare Got Stormy, who finished fourth here in February in the Grade III Lambholm South Endeavour. Gaffalione rides for Casse.