2024 ECLIPSE CHAMPS BROWN, PRAT HAVE GIII TURF FAVES

By Mike Henry —-

2024 ECLIPSE CHAMPS BROWN, PRAT HAVE GIII TURF FAVES; GIL JOCKEY OF MONTH

OLDSMAR, FL. – Running Bee, who finished second in last year’s Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes, seeks to improve on that performance Saturday in the 39th running of the $175,000, mile-and-a-sixteenth race on the Tampa Bay Downs turf course.

Owned by Calumet Farm, the 6-year-old horse has been established as the 8-5 morning-line favorite in the 10-horse field. He is trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winning Outstanding Trainer Chad Brown and will be ridden by Flavien Prat, who won the 2024 Eclipse as Outstanding Jockey. Running Bee sports a 7-for-15 career record with earnings of $667,443.

Running Bee has three stakes victories since last year’s Tampa Bay Stakes, including the Grade III Monmouth Stakes last June and the Artie Schiller Stakes on Nov. 2 at Belmont At The Big A in his most recent start.

Running Bee and Prat are slated to break from the No. 2 post in the field of older horses.

The Monmouth Stakes is Running Bee’s lone graded victory.

The Tampa Bay Stakes is the ninth race on a 10-race card beginning at 12:15 p.m. It is one of two graded stakes on the card, the other being the sixth race, the 26th running of the Grade III, $175,000 Endeavour Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward.

Brown and Prat also have the morning-line favorite in the Endeavour, 6-year-old mare Saffron Moon at 5-2. She is owned by CHP Racing. Saffron Moon, who is 3-for-9 lifetime, has competed in one stakes in her career, finishing second in the Grade III Cardinal Stakes at Churchill Downs in 2023.

Saffron Moon drew the No. 4 post for the Endeavour. The second morning-line choice in the 10-horse field at 7-2 is 5-year-old mare Ocean Club, who is owned by her breeder, Glen Hill Farm, and trained by Jack Sisterson. Pablo Morales is the jockey.

Ocean Club’s biggest win came in the Grade III Noble Damsel Stakes in September at Belmont At The Big A. She is in the No. 9 post.

The third morning-line Endeavour choice at 9-2 is Venencia, a 5-year-old mare trained by Brown. Samy Camacho is the jockey on the French-bred, who won the Forever Together Stakes on Nov. 10 at Aqueduct in her most recent start.

Brown is aiming for his fifth victory in the Endeavour. He won it for the first time in 2012 with French-bred Zagora, who went on to win the (then)-Grade III Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita en route to being voted an Eclipse Award as Champion Grass Mare.

Be My Sunshine is another intriguing Endeavour entrant. She finished second in last year’s renewal to Walkathon. The 5-year-old mare is trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., and will be ridden by Leonel Reyes.

Among the expected main challengers to Running Bee in the Tampa Bay Stakes is Pocket Aces Racing’s 5-year-old gelding Irish Aces, who is trained by Brendan Walsh and will be ridden by Declan Cannon. Irish Aces, who was fifth in last year’s Tampa Bay Stakes as the wagering favorite, won the Big Ass Fans Tapit Stakes in August at Kentucky Downs.

Also looking dangerous is the aptly named 5-year-old Ontario-bred gelding Northern Invader. Edwin Gonzalez will ride for trainer Cherie DeVaux.

Gil is Mother’s Restaurant Jockey of Month. When you’re a Thoroughbred jockey, life can come flying at you at a dizzying pace.

It’s no different for 25-year-old Cipriano Gil, who until this month was struggling to make his name known among Tampa Bay Downs horsemen and fans. In addition to trying to increase his business and improve his English language skills, Gil’s wife Nathali, a model, is expecting their first child this summer.

But with more than 500 victories in his homeland of Venezuela and a burning ambition to succeed, Gil looks at each day as an opportunity to pursue his passion. And his devotion to soaking up knowledge is starting to produce the kind of results that are impossible to ignore.

With 10 victories from 40 mounts since Jan. 4, including today’s third race on 5-year-old Top Recruit for owner Kenneth Ramsey and trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., Gil is a clear-cut winner of the Mother’s Restaurant Jockey of the Month Award.

He’s developed enough maturity, and humility, after going 14-for-167 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach from April through late November to understand he didn’t earn the honor alone.

“I have to thank the owners and trainers for all the good opportunities I am getting,” said Gil, whose English continues to improve as he interacts with people on the backside on a daily basis.

On Saturday, Gil receives his biggest opportunity to date in the United States, riding 4-year-old colt Fidelightcayut in the Grade III, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes for owners RT Racing Stable and Hablan Los Caballos and trainer Juan Carlos Avila. The New York-bred, who is 30-1 on the morning line, will break from the No. 8 post in the 10-horse field.

If that opportunity sounds a little like a law school graduate arguing his first case before the Supreme Court, don’t tell it to Gil. He started riding ponies on the family farm in Ciudad Bolivar as a youngster and enrolled in a jockeys’ school when he was 13. He arrived at the fabled La Rinconada racetrack in Caracas two years later, then spent the next seven years polishing his skills before coming to the United States.

“He is very confident in his abilities,” said Kevin Meyocks, his agent. “There is always pressure at that level, but he knows how to focus and put his horse in the right positions. He’s figuring out how to ride the Tampa Bay Downs turf course (two winners Sunday) and he has the work ethic and drive to keep getting better.”

Gil also benefits watching how Venezuelan countrymen Sonny Leon, Daniel Centeno and Samy Camacho, among others, conduct their business. “He’s able to see how a guy like Danny does things – coming here to work every morning and stopping by the barns to say hi to everybody,” said Leon, the 2022 Kentucky Derby winner on Rich Strike who assisted with translation during Gil’s Jockey of the Month interview.

“He has talent and he keeps improving. He knows you never stop learning in this business,” Leon said. “And a good thing about him is he is very patient (referring to Gil’s approach to learning as much as his race-riding). He’s young but he is doing everything right, and I think if he keeps going that way he can take his career to another level.”

The south Florida-based Meyocks – who also represents Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr., at Tampa Bay Downs, as well as Emisael Jaramillo and Luca Panici at Gulfstream – lauds Gil’s desire to become a “go-to” rider for Oldsmar horsemen who are starting to notice him showing up more frequently in the winner’s circle.

“He’s out there six days a week, getting on six or eight horses in the mornings. Things started a little slow for him there, but it’s about not giving up on his dream. His desire to succeed is starting to pay off,” Meyocks observed.

Gil, who said the support from his parents Antonio and Marbely is a major factor in his climb, views every day and every race as a new challenge. “No one here knew me at the beginning, but now I’m getting more opportunities. I’m real happy how things are going,” he said.

“He believes in himself,” Leon said. “That’s the most important thing. As long as he keeps doing the right things and is honest with people, and works hard every day, he’ll be successful.”

Around the oval. The late Pick-5 was hit today by 1,280 bettors who correctly selected the 3-8-3-5-6 combination. They each won $360.10, as the pool climbed to $534,157 after Wednesday’s results produced a carryover.

The 20-cent Ultimate 6 wager, which has a carryover pool of $8,401, begins with Saturday’s fifth race.

Tampa Bay Downs races each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday and 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.