STATE-BREDS STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE IN SUNDAY’S FLORIDA CUP

By Mike Henry —-

STATE-BREDS STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE IN SUNDAY’S FLORIDA CUP

OLDSMAR, FL. – The state’s legendary Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry is set to shine in Sunday’s 22nd annual Florida Cup Day at Tampa Bay Downs, with six $110,000 stakes races attracting 59 entrants.

The Florida Cup races are part of an 11-race program beginning at noon. Excellent wagering opportunities will abound throughout the day, highlighted by three 50-cent Pick 5s beginning in the first, fourth and seventh races (the latter being an all-stakes Pick 5) and three 50-cent Pick 4s beginning in the second, third, fifth and eighth races (the latter consisting of all stakes).

Deep fields have been assembled for each of the Florida Cup races – none more so than the ESMARK Turf Classic, with five of the 12 entrants past Florida Cup stakes winners. The group for the mile-and-an-eighth race on the grass, scheduled as the eighth on the card, is headed by defending race champion Forever Souper, the Live Oak Plantation-owned 6-year-old homebred gelding who set a stakes record of 1:46.87 in last year’s running.

Forever Souper, who will break from the No. 2 post position, is trained by Michael Trombetta and will be ridden by Paco Lopez, who teamed with him for last year’s victory.

Another former champion in the ESMARK Turf Classic is breeder-owner Peter D. Mattson’s 8-year-old gelding Drama Chorus, who won the 2022 and 2023 editions of the race. He is trained by Tim Padilla and will be ridden by Alonso Quinonez while breaking from the No. 3 post.

Also entered in the race are the last three winners of the Florida Cup Equistaff Sophomore Turf: Crystal Quest (2024), Otago (2023) and Treasure King (2022). The 4-year-old colt Crystal Quest, a Live Oak homebred trained by Trombetta, will break from the No. 1 post under leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin.

Otago, now 5, will break from the No. 12 post under Adam Beschizza. He is owned by Crown’s Way Racing, NBS Stable, Edward Delava and Eli Diamant and trained by Kelsey Danner. The 6-year-old Treasure King, owned by Lean Entertainment and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr., will break from the No. 5 post under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano.

The Florida Cup stakes program begins with the fourth race, the 7-furlong Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore on the main track. The likely favorite is Macho Music, who finished a good second on Feb. 1 in the Swale Stakes at Gulfstream Park to the graded-stakes-placed Gate to Wire. Castellano is set to ride Macho Music for owners Rohan Crichton, Mark Fletcher Taylor and Daniel L. Walters. Crichton is the trainer.

After a maiden special weight event for 3-year-old fillies on the turf and an allowance/optional claiming race for older fillies and mares sprinting 7 furlongs, the Florida Cup series will resume with the seventh race, the 7-furlong Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies. A pair of stakes-winning 3-year-olds head the eight-horse lineup: Troy Johnson and Maritza Weston’s Win N Your In, trained by Carlos David, and Averill Racing’s R Morning Brew, trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.

Luis Saez will ride Win N Your In and Edgard Zayas will be aboard R Morning Brew. Also expected to be tough is Bella Cleopatra, owned by Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson and Campeche Stables and trained by George Weaver. Castellano is the jockey.

The ninth race, the 1 1/16-mile Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf, has drawn a field of 12 older fillies and mares. Heading the group is multiple-stakes winning 4-year-old Dancing N Dixie, owned by Gary Barber, Rocky Top Stable and LEMB Stables and trained by Mark Casse. Third in last year’s Grade III Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs and Grade II-placed last summer at Saratoga, she will be ridden by Dylan Davis from the No. 2 post.

Casse has also entered Jose Birriel, Jr.’s Seat at the Table, who has won three consecutive turf races at Tampa Bay Downs this meet and will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo from the No. 1 post. Another likely contender is 5-year-old mare Mohawk Trail, a Grade III winner owned by NBS Stable and trained by Danner. Beschizza will be aboard from the No. 11 post.

The 10th race is the 6-furlong NYRABETS Sprint on the main track, with a field of 10 headed by JoAnn and Alex Lieblong’s homebred 4-year-old gelding Pure Class, who won last year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore. David Fawkes is the trainer and Marcos Meneses will ride from the No. 1 post.

Tampa Bay Downs trainer Gerald Bennett has entered a 1-2 punch of Tropic Lightning Racing’s 4-year-old gelding Rouki, who won the Feb. 22 Turf Dash Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, and the speedy 5-year-old gelding Chrome Ghost, owned by Richard Heatter. Samy Camacho will ride Rouki from the No. 3 post and Marin will be aboard Chrome Ghost from the No. 5 post.

Another likely threat is 7-year-old gelding Comedy Town, a two-time stakes winner last summer at Gulfstream who is owned by Ten Twenty Racing and Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., and trained by Joseph. Zayas will ride from the No. 4 post.

The Florida Cup concludes with the 11th race, the Equistaff Sophomore Turf for 3-year-olds at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the grass. In what could be the most wide-open race of the day, there are 10 entered, with Emmett – sporting three strong Tampa Bay Downs turf efforts for owner RyZan Sun Racing and trainer Jose Francisco D’Angelo – appearing a strong contender. He will break from the No. 10 post with Camacho in the irons.

Castellano will ride Good Long Cry, owned by Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson and Campeche Stables and trained by Weaver. Good Long Cry drew the No. 3 post.