TAMPA BAY: SHIVAREE REKINDLES NOT-SO-DISTANT MEMORIES; MENESES RIDES 3 WINNERS

By Mike Henry —-

SHIVAREE REKINDLES NOT-SO-DISTANT MEMORIES; MENESES RIDES 3 WINNERS

OLDSMAR, FL. – Shivaree’s best days on the track are behind him. But at the start of each day, owner-trainer Juan Arriagada senses the 7-year-old gelding’s passion and desire and enthusiasm for being a racehorse remain intact.

“If you saw him on the walker, you would never know he’s about to turn 8,” said Arriagada, referring to the Jan. 1 birthday shared by all North American Thoroughbreds. “He looks like a 3-year-old in the morning. Around the barn everyone calls him ‘Abuelo’ (grandfather), but he’s a very kind horse with a great attitude.”

Shivaree, who won today’s fifth race with leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin aboard, has won four stakes, including back-to-back editions of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Marion County Florida Sire Stakes in 2020 and 2021 at Tampa Bay Downs. As a 3-year-old in 2020, he finished second in the Grade I Curlin Florida Derby and the Grade III Swale Stakes, both at Gulfstream Park.

The Florida-bred son of Awesome of Course has career earnings of $606,766.

Arriagada, who claimed him for $8,000 out of a starter optional claiming race on Aug. 29 at Delaware Park, has run him three times at the current meet, each time in claiming company (meaning he is eligible to be purchased for the race’s claiming price by a track-licensed owner).

But just because he is offering him for sale doesn’t mean he hasn’t become attached to the gallant, giving athlete.

“Everybody likes him. My wife (Alison) likes to gallop him, and the groom loves being around him,” Arriagada said. “I just have to be careful not to train him too hard. He’s an easy-maintenance, classy old horse who is pretty sound for his age and cool to be around.

“The way he is, I think a young girl who is into jumping or showing would love to have him. So I’d like to see if we can win a couple more times with him here at Tampa and then try to find him a new home. He’s not the horse he used to be, but he has a lot of class and he deserves a chance (at another career and/or lifestyle).”

His first two races at the current meet resulted in fifth and fourth-place finishes at sprint distances, and Arriagada thinks stretching him out to a mile-and-40-yards today was the key to his front-running 3 ¾-length victory. “I think he wants to go longer. He broke sharp today and kept going, and when (Marin) hit him at the quarter-pole, he made a strong move.”

Perhaps most tellingly, you didn’t have to be a horseman to know that Shivaree was feeling proud of himself in the winner’s circle and while Arriagada hosed him off before the walk back to the barn. In that sense, Abuelo still has it.

Around the oval. Marcos Meneses rode three winners today. He won the fourth race on Humor Sense, a 4-year-old filly owned by GOP Racing Stable and trained by Gerard Ochoa. Meneses added the seventh race aboard Catire Vizcaya for owner-trainer Juan Carlos Avila and co-owner Marco Berne and the eighth on Cajun Gem, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Shadybrook Farm and trained by Michael Yates.

Samy Camacho rode two winners, both on the turf. He captured the first race with Emmett, a 2-year-old Florida-bred colt owned by RyZan Sun Racing and trained by Jose Francisco D’Angelo. Camacho added the sixth race, the Lambholm South Race of the Week, with Americandreammaker, a 3-year-old filly owned by Rock Brothers Racing and trained by Michelle Hemingway.

Sunday racing is set to return with a nine-race card beginning at 12:40 p.m. The feature race is the eighth, a $53,000, mile-and-a-sixteenth allowance/optional claiming event for horses 3-years-old-and-upward. The 8-5 morning-line favorite in the nine-horse field is Havildar, a 4-year-old colt owned by FMQ Stables, Inc., and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr. Jose Batista is the jockey.

Tampa Bay Downs will conduct a nine-race card on Tuesday, with post time for the first race at 12:10 p.m. Admission is free. The fifth race is a $54,000, 5-furlong turf sprint, with 3-year-old filly Hopesndreams the 2-1 favorite. Jesus Castanon will ride the Florida-bred for owner-trainer Mike Dini.

There will be a mandatory full jackpot payout on the 20-cent Ultimate 6 wager Tuesday. The Ultimate 6 requires bettors to select the winners of the day’s final six races. Normally, there is a full jackpot payout only when there is one winning ticket, but with the mandatory payout everyone correctly selecting the winners of the fourth through ninth races will share in the full jackpot. If no bettor picks all six winners, those picking five of six (or four of six, if no one picks five) will split the bundle.

The Ultimate 6 jackpot carryover rose to $40,369.29 today, with Sunday’s action potentially growing it much larger before Tuesday. Six out of six correct today paid $1,012.98.

The track will jump into its traditional 4-days-a-week schedule (Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) beginning Friday, when it holds its annual Calendar Giveaway, with the first 5,000 patrons receiving a commemorative 2025 calendar free of charge. With its spectacular photography and timely reminders of upcoming events, this is always one of the track’s most popular promotions, and fans are encouraged to get theirs before they run out.

Tampa Bay Downs is closed on Christmas, Dec. 25, and Easter, April 20. Otherwise, the track 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.