O’CONNELL IS TRAINER OF MONTH; LATE LIFELINE PROPELS “LIVE IT UP” WINNER

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR, FL. – Kathleen O’Connell is unsure what she will do for an encore after overtaking Kim Hammond as Thoroughbred racing’s all-time winning female trainer in North America on Sunday.

“I haven’t had time to think about it. It’s been business as usual,” O’Connell said Wednesday.

The question might have been unfair, given all that she has accomplished since joining the training ranks in 1981. And although the term “woman trainer” still carries a hint of the resistance females faced in Thoroughbred racing, and throughout the country, over the decades, O’Connell and her crew deserve all the plaudits that marked career victory No. 2,386, one more than Hammond.

“It’s been a ride. It’s been a long ride, and it intensified in the last few weeks,” O’Connell said. “I would like to give special thanks to every person who supported me in the industry, and all my help, especially. This is not just about me; it’s about the people who work for me and the owners who trust me to run their horses in the correct spots.

“It’s a combination of a lot of things, just a huge team effort.”

O’Connell’s achievement has earned her the Boot Barn Trainer of the Month award, as well as boosting her into a tie for sixth place in the Tampa Bay Downs standings with 16 winners.

Given the success she has enjoyed with horses produced by the Stonehedge LLC operation of the late Gilbert G. Campbell, it was fitting O’Connell broke the record Sunday with a Stonehedge-bred runner.

O’Connell took over the top spot from Hammond with a victory by 3-year-old gelding My Eagle Soars in the fifth race, touching off an emotional ceremony in the Tampa Bay Downs winner’s circle. Campbell, who died in 2021 at 91, named My Eagle Soars – a son of top Florida sire Khozan, out of the Rock of Gibraltar mare Silver Rock – before passing.

Campbell’s contributions to O’Connell’s record, and her efforts in bringing out the best in his horses, are well-documented in Florida racing annals. Their first big horse together was the Campbell-bred and owned Blazing Sword, whose graded triumphs included the Grade III Calder Derby in 1997 and the Grade II Washington Park Handicap and Grade III Widener Handicap in 2000.

Together, Campbell and O’Connell also campaigned graded winners Ivanavinalot, Fly by Phil, Watch Me Go and Well Defined. Watch Me Go’s victory in the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby in 2011 earned O’Connell her lone runner in the Kentucky Derby.

Meanwhile, after winning on O’Connell’s first-time starter Dream Concert (a daughter of the O’Connell-trained stakes winner Spanish Concert) in Saturday’s Lambholm South Race of the Week, jockey Antonio Gallardo approached his assignments for O’Connell on Sunday with heightened anticipation. After failing to win on Gratia Prince in the fourth, Gallardo reminded himself that opportunities to lift a friend and benefactor are few and far between.

Ten years earlier, Gallardo was a virtually unknown 25-year-old from Spain struggling to gain a foothold in the United States. O’Connell gave him the mount on 14-1 shot Flatter This in the Challenger Stakes, and the upset victory marked, in a way, the beginning of Gallardo’s run of dominance at Tampa Bay Downs, with five titles in seven seasons and a record-setting 147-victory meet in 2014-2015.

Gallardo was also runner-up in North America in victories in 2015 and 2016. He is the first to say a lot of his success derived from O’Connell’s belief in him.

“I was talking to my wife (Polliana) and I said I really want it to be me, because she has done a lot for me and my family,” Gallardo said. “She has been like my mom. I’m pretty excited.”

So, what can O’Connell do for an encore? First and foremost, she considers herself a teacher. Perhaps nothing brings her more fulfillment than developing the Thoroughbreds in her care for competition.

“We have enough young horses that we can keep them together, and that’s the best way that they learn,” said O’Connell. “It’s difficult to have just one young horse, because they are not used to company. My joy is watching them go through all the stages and simulating what it’s going to be like in a race.

“This accomplishment helps recharge everybody, just like winning a race. It’s maybe a little easier to get up, gives you a little more spring in your step.”

She plans to keep moving forward, making it more difficult for the next woman to pass her.

“Live It Up Challenge” winner jumping for joy. Rest assured, Brian Wright’s level of concern watching Tapit Trice flounder at the rear of the pack in the early stages of last week’s Grade III, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby didn’t approach that of the colt’s owners, Mandy Pope of Whisper Hill Farm and Antony Beck of Gainesway Stable.

But with his lead on the final day of the “Live It Up Challenge” handicapping contest at stake, the Zellwood, Fla., resident had a stomach full of butterflies watching the TVG broadcast.

“I knew I had an OK lead, and people might take a shot (at a longshot) and maybe blow me away,” Wright said. “I was trying to protect my spot, but maybe they (his pursuers) were trying to protect their spots, too.”

The strategy didn’t matter much after Tapit Trice and jockey Luis Saez took over at the top of the stretch. Wright made a pittance on his selection, but the additional $7.60 gave him some breathing room to turn back his challengers and finish the seven-week long contest on top.

Wright’s final bankroll of $430.80 was $9.50 more than runner-up Wiley Flower. A total of 1,454 players participated.

“When I checked the results, it was euphoria,” said Wright, a 62-year-old mail carrier with the Winter Garden Post Office. “I felt like jumping up to the sky. I had to work for it.”

Wright, 62, has long been a fan of both Thoroughbred and Standardbred (harness) racing. He owns small shares in a couple of Thoroughbreds, and he attends the Little Brown Jug, harness racing’s premier pacing event, each September in Delaware, Ohio. About 20 years ago, he won a U.S. Trotting Association handicapping contest and a trip to the Little Brown Jug, stoking that passion.

Gradually, he has shifted his interest to the Thoroughbred game. Wright was psyched to win the “Live It Up Challenge” first prize of two seats (each a $1,000 value) in next February’s “High Rollers” handicapping contest at Tampa Bay Downs.

The next three finishers – Flower ($421.30), Stuart A. Epley ($420.40) and Rick Pignatro ($418.70) – each won one “High Rollers” seat. Ewell B. Johnson, who had the most winners in the contest, earned a $500 cash prize.

Everything seemed to fall into place for Wright, who hit an 8-1 shot, Kuhl Star, on March 5 and decided to grab a $25 lifeline on the deadline for such purchases. “That was my ace in the hole. I would have been eliminated without it.

“I started slow and I heard footsteps the last few weeks, but I persevered and got lucky.”

Around the oval. Panama Red, a 4-year-old Irish-bred filly who finished fourth in the Grade III Endeavour Stakes here on Feb. 4 after setting the pace, led throughout in today’s fifth race for older fillies and mares, an allowance/optional claiming event at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf.

Daniel Centeno rode Panama Red for owner Lael Stables and trainer Arnaud Delacour. Her time was 1:42.16. Another Irish-bred, Paris Peacock, finished second, 1 ¾ lengths back.

Pablo Morales rode two winners today. He captured the fourth race on Catch On Emotional, a 6-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Trueno Stables and trained by Luis Dominguez. Morales added the seventh with Caminero, a 4-year-old colt owned by Leland Hayes and trained by Katy Cheeks.

Thoroughbred racing continues Saturday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:18 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs is open every day except April 9, Easter Sunday 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.