Street Sense (inside horse) and Any Given Saturday (outside horse with dark green and yellow silks) duel for the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby. Cotton Blossom (in green and yellow silks) captures the Florida Oaks; Cassydora (in blue silks) wins the Grade III Hillsborough Stakes; Lookinforthesecret (in white silks) takes the $75,000 Turf Dash. Photos by Tom Cooley
Street Sense (inside horse) and Any Given Saturday duel in the stretch run of the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby. Photo by Tom Cooley
OLDSMAR, Fla. (March 17, 2007) The 27th running of the Grade III $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby was won today by Street Sense. Street Sense, the winner of the Grade I Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last year, is owned by James Tafel and trained by Carl Nafzger, ran the 1 1/16 miles in the stakes and track-record-setting time of 1:43.11. He went off as second choice in the wagering.
Street Sense, under jockey Calvin Borrel, broke alertly and stalked leaders All I Can Get and Most Distinguished, while Any Given Saturday also stalked the pace. Coming around the final turn, both Street Sense and Any Given Saturday made their moves and pulled ahead for a stretch battle. Street Sense emerged the victor with an inside trip by a nose over Any Given Saturday. Delightful Kiss finished third 6 ¼ lengths back.
“He's been off for so long, four and a half months. We had to start somewhere and this seemed like the best place to start. Believe you me, he's 20 lengths better than he ran today.” said Borel of his horse’s run down the stretch.
Conditioner Carl Nafzger said of Street Sense’s win, “I’ve said a thousand times, he is a helluva colt, as is Any Given Saturday, as I told Todd (Pletcher, Any Given Saturday’s trainer), I congratulated him, of all the 3-year olds that have came along except for Breeder’s Cup horses, his horse is about the best. He really ran his race. I hand it to Todd. I still think it’s one of the best horses in the crop.” As for Street Sense’s future plans, Nafzger said, “The Blue Grass, that’s a natural race. We won’t push him out of that. We like the Blue Grass.”
Todd Pletcher has no specific plans for Any Given Saturday, sayin, “Anything is a possibility, including the Bluegrass.” Pletcher is returning the son of Distorted Humor to homebase of Palm Beach Downs.
Owner James Tafel said of Street Sense’s victory, “We hadn’t run since early November, and we’ve had a long layoff. He’s been training like a bear. Todd’s horse ran a big race. He’s a contender,” adding, “The Daily Racing Form had Street Sense on the cover and it said, “The Champ is Back”- and the champ is back!”
NEW TRACK HANDLE AND ATTENDANCE RECORDS: Tampa Bay Downs set a new attendance record Saturday, as Festival Day drew 10,593 racing fans to the 81-year-old Oldsmar oval.
The track also set a co-mingled handle mark of $10,301,016. The on-tack handle of $871,997 was slightly down from last year’s record, partially attributable to smaller field size. The all-source handle, including non-co-mingled handle from Canada eclipsed $10,916,634, up over $400,000 or 4%, also a new mark for Tampa Bay Downs.
The $200,000 Florida Oaks Festival Day’s co-feature was won by Cotton Blossom. The Daughter of Broken Vow took the $200,000 Florida Oaks with jockey John Velazquez, boosting her earnings to $463,380. Cotton Blossom, who was saddled today by Todd Pletcher, comes from Dogwood Stable, paid $4.00 to win and ran the distance of 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.06.
Jockey John Velazquez settled his mount behind early pacesetters Saint Barbara and Desire to Excel. Cotton Blossom stalked the pace throughout the backstretch and made her move around the far turn. The filly won the race by 2 lengths, with Suaveness finishing second and Maria’s Kitty completed the trifecta.
“We had a good position. I couldn’t let her settle and get too far back and lose interest. When we came down the lane, she wandered a bit, but when she saw the other horses, she came on.” said John Velazquez of his mount’s closing drive.
Trainer Todd Pletcher said that the filly had been training well up to the race despite having been rested since November. “It felt good to have her come back. She had a good, solid career at two, and Mr. Campbell and I decided to freshen her up.” As for Cotton Blossom’s future plans, Pletcher says, “We’re using this as a prep for either the Ashland or the Fantasy.”
The Grade III $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes Jockey John Velazquez guided Cassydora over the turf to her second consecutive stakes victory at Tampa Bay Downs in the 9th running of the Grade III $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes. The mare’s first stakes victory at Tampa Bay Downs came in February 17th’s Endeavour Stakes. Her win today was Cassydora’s first Graded stakes victory.
Cassydora, owned by Green Hills Farm and conditioned by Todd Pletcher, led the field over the lawn and won going away by 1 ¼ lengths. Cassydora’s win marked the second stakes win of the day for the duo of Pletcher and Velazquez.
Todd Pletcher said that Cassydora generally prefers to settle behind leaders, but her front-running style today was, “just circumstance. The fractures were pretty slow, and there wasn’t much pace. She’s headstrong. Any time you get good fillies in a race like that, it’s tough. It was a big effort for her.” According to Pletcher, Cassydora’s next race isn’t a definite. Pletcher said, “I’ll have to look at the calendar.”
The $75,000 Turf Dash Stakes Lookinforthesecret ran to victory in the third running of the Turf Dash Stakes today under the hand of reinsman Daniel Centeno. Lookinforhtesecret broke alertly and went immediately to the lead, and continued along in front to make every pole a winning one for trainer and owner Jamie Ness. Lookinforthesecret ran about five furlongs on the lawn in :56.61, and scored Ness the second stakes win of his career.
Ness claimed the four-year-old son of Cimarron Secret for $12,500 at Tampa Bay Downs on January 5 of this year, and has run the horse in increasingly tough company. Today was Lookinforthesecret’s first stakes attempt, and the gelding won the race by 1 ¼ lengths. Mr. Silver finished second and The Nth Degree came in third.
“It feels great!” said Ness of his horse’s win, adding, “He’s a pretty special horse. The first time I watched him run, I though that he looked like a very decent mid-level claiming horse. But he kept getting better and better.” Ness says that Lookinforthesecret will next run in one of the Florida Cup races at Tampa Bay Downs on April 7. Ness adds that he’s disappointed that the Claiming Crown is no longer held at Canterbury Park (where Ness stables in the summer), as his horse would be a contender for that stakes day.
“He’s a nice horse” said jockey Daniel Centeno, who earned his second stakes victory of the Tampa Bay Downs meet with this win. “I know him very well, and he has natural speed. I believe in him. I rode him twice before, and he’s always going up and getting better every day.” Centeno says that he knew he had the race won in the stretch. “I knew when I asked him to go and he just kept on giving and giving.”
Racing resumes tomorrow, March 18, and Tampa Bay Downs will offer Taste of the Bay, an event that takes place in the Grandstand apron adjacent to the saddling enclosure. Taste of the bay will feature selections from the menus of local eateries and will continue from 11:00 to 3:00 PM.
Tampa Bay Downs gates will open at 11:00 AM and post time for the first race is 12:25 PM. The Silks Card Room will remain open from noon though midnight.