FESTIVAL DAY 45 NOMINATIONS RELEASED; 7TH DECLARED ‘NO CONTEST’

By Mike Henry —-

(PHOTO Of STATESMAN AND SAMUEL MARIN WINNING THE FIRST RACE COURTESY OF SV PHOTOGRAPHY)
FESTIVAL DAY 45 NOMINATIONS RELEASED; 7TH DECLARED ‘NO CONTEST’

OLDSMAR, FL. – Nominations have been released for the 45th running of the $400,000-guaranteed, Grade III Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, a major “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race, and four other stakes scheduled on Saturday, March 8 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Total purse money for the five Festival Day 45 races is $1,075,000, making it the most lucrative day in track history. The total includes $175,000 from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Stakes Fund earmarked for registered Florida-breds finishing first, second or third in any of the races.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, run at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main dirt track, awards qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve to the top five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale. Two horses have advanced from the race to win the Kentucky Derby: Street Sense, who won both races in 2007, and Super Saver, who finished third in the 2010 Tampa Bay Derby before his Run for the Roses triumph.

The other March 8 stakes include the 27th running of the Grade II, $225,000-guaranteed Hillsborough Stakes, for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward at a distance of a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf course; the 42nd running of the Grade III, $200,000 guaranteed Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; the 34th running of the Grade III, $125,000-guaranteed Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, for horses 4-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track; and the 19th running of the $125,000-guaranteed Columbia Stakes, for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the Oldsmar oval’s traditional showcase, has attracted 50 3-year-old nominees. The group includes such top Kentucky Derby prospects as Chancer McPatrick, a two-time Grade I winner as a 2-year-old owned by Flanagan Racing and trained by Chad Brown; Sovereignty, a Grade III winner bred and owned by Godolphin, LLC and trained by Bill Mott; Burnham Square, a Grade III winner bred and owned by Whitham Thoroughbreds and trained by Ian Wilkes; and John Hancock, the winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs, owned by WinStar Farm and CHC, Inc., and trained by Brad Cox.

Other prominent Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby nominees include Owen Almighty, the Sam F. Davis Stakes runner-up owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and trained by Brian Lynch; Cox’s unbeaten (3-for-3) Grade III winner Disco Time, bred and owned by Juddmonte; and Poster, the third-place Sam F. Davis finisher and a Grade II winner, bred and owned by Godolphin and trained by Eoin Harty.

Cox leads all trainers with 13 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby nominees. Todd Pletcher, who has won the race a record six times, has five nominees, including Donegal Racing’s Grade III-placed Gate to Wire, who won the Swale Stakes on Feb. 1 at Gulfstream Park.

Brown, who won last year’s Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Domestic Product, has four nominees, headed by Chancer McPatrick and Amo Racing USA’s Hill Road, who finished third in November in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Del Mar when trained by Adrian Murray.

Here are the links to the Grade III Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby nominations and their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250308-592640

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250308-592640

The Hillsborough Stakes has attracted 27 nominations. Seven are trained by H. Graham Motion, including his 2024 Hillsborough winner, Augustin Stable and Catherine Parke’s 6-year-old mare Sparkle Blue. Motion has also nominated 5-year-old mare Gimme a Nother, an unbeaten (7-for-7), two-time Group I South African-bred who has made all her starts in that country, owned by Newstead Stables.

Chad Brown, who has won the Hillsborough Stakes a record six times – including in 2012 with Zagora, the subsequent Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner and Eclipse Award Champion Grass Mare, and in 2015 with Stephanie’s Kitten, who won that year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf – has three nominees.

That group includes Saffron Moon, CHP Racing’s 6-year-old who won the Grade III Endeavour Stakes here on the turf on Feb. 1, and Grade II-winning 4-year-old filly Spaliday, owned by Peter M. Brant.

Pletcher has won the Hillsborough four times and has four nominees to this year’s renewal. They include a trio of Grade III winners: 5-year-old Cairo Consort, owned by Town and Country Racing; 4-year-old Life’s an Audible, owned by Repole Stable; and 4-year-old Ireland-bred Raqiya, owned by Shadwell Stable.

Here are the links to the Grade II Hillsborough Stakes nominations and their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250308-592635

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250308-592635

Longtime Tampa Bay Downs followers may recall that the Florida Oaks was contested on dirt from its inaugural running in 1984, when it was a 7-furlong race, through 2010. That seems worth mentioning since two long-ago Florida Oaks winner, Luv Me Luv Me Not in 1992 and Secret Status in 2000, went on to win the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

This year’s Florida Oaks has attracted 35 nominations, with seven trained by Brad Cox. The most accomplished of his nominees are Muhimma, a Grade II winner as a 2-year-old owned by Shadwell Stable, and Eclatant, a Grade III winner owned by Stonestreet Stables.

Motion, George “Rusty” Arnold, II and Mark Casse, all of whom have won the Florida Oaks, have three nominees apiece. Arnold’s trio includes Totally Justified, a stakes-winning, Grade II-placed filly owned by Bregman Family Racing, while Casse’s nominees include Grade I-placed stakes winner Vixen, owned by D. J. Stable and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Nitrogen, D. J. Stable’s stakes winner who finished third in November in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar.

Here are the links to the Grade III Florida Oaks nominations and their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250308-592657

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250308-592657

Four years ago, owner Daniel Alonso purchased Skippylongstocking as an unraced 2-year-old for $37,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training. What a bargain. The now-6-year-old horse, who heads the roster of 29 nominations for the Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, has won seven graded stakes and more than $3.3-million.

If he runs here on March 8, Skippylongstocking will be seeking his third consecutive victory in the race for Alonso and trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. His most recent start, on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park, resulted in a third-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes.

Cox has nominated five to the Michelob Ultra Challenger, headed by Mary E. and Gary L. West’s 4-year-old colt Most Wanted. He was 4-for-4, including a victory in the Grade III Oklahoma Derby, before finishing second on Nov. 29 in the Grade II Clark Stakes presented by Norton Healthcare. Cox’s Challenger nominees also include multiple graded-stakes winning 5-year-old Hit Show, owned by Wathnan Racing, and Godolphin homebred 4-year-old Encino, the winner of last year’s Grade III Lexington Stakes.

Here are the links to the Grade III Florida Oaks nominations and their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250308-592656

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250308-592656

The Columbia Stakes drew 50 nominations, with Cox once again leading the parade with 13. His baker’s dozen includes John Hancock and Disco Time, both nominated to the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, as well as New York-bred stakes winner Sacrosanct, who is 4-for-4 for owners Lady Sheila Stable, Net Birdie, LLC and Schwing Thoroughbreds.

Chad Brown’s three nominees include Ireland-bred Zulu Kingdom, a two-time graded-stakes winner owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb, William Strauss and Michael J. Caruso. Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett has nominated Mr. Pug, LLC and J.P.G. 2, LLC’s colt Naughty Rascal to both the Columbia and the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

Naughty Rascal is a stakes winner on both turf and dirt.

Here are the links to the Columbia Stakes nominations and their past performances:

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250308-592654

https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250308-592654

Around the oval. Today’s seventh race was declared a “no-contest” after No. 4 Mishka broke from the gate prematurely, causing three other horses to attempt to start while the other three were restrained by their jockeys. None of the jockeys or horses involved in the incident were injured.

Refunds were issued on all win, place and show and exotic wagers involving the seventh race only, as well as on the daily double and Pick 3 wagers beginning with the seventh race. There were consolation payoffs on the Pick 3 that began with the fifth race and the daily double and Pick 3 that began with the sixth race, with the winner of the seventh race declared as “all” for those bets.

Payoffs were also announced for the late Pick 4, the late Pick 5 and the Ultimate 6 wagers, with the winner of the seventh race declared as “all” for those bets.

After leading jockey Samuel Marin swung Statesman to the outside and into the clear in the first race, the outcome really wasn’t in doubt. The well-bred colt from the barn of trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III surged past his rivals, gearing down near the wire for a length-and-a-quarter victory from Lastabitlonger in the field of six 3-year-olds.

Statesman, who is Triple Crown-nominated, completed the mile-and-40-yard distance in 1:40.02. He paid $2.60 to win as the heavy betting favorite in the allowance/optional claiming event.

Marin said he wasn’t worried when Statesman dropped back to last just inside the quarter-mile pole. “Not at all. I knew I had a lot of horse, and he just took off in the stretch. He’s such a good horse,” the rider said.

The son of Constitution out of Icon Project, by Empire Maker, is 2-for-5, with both victories coming at Tampa Bay Downs. He is owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing LLC and CJ Stables.

Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:30 p.m. 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.