Chancer McPatrick was the toast of New York as a 2-year-old, winning the Grade I Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 2 at Saratoga and the Grade I Champagne Stakes on Oct. 5 at Belmont At The Big A with tremendous come-from-behind rallies.
A sixth-place finish in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, his first setback in four career starts, did little to tarnish his reputation as a leading Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve prospect for 2025. Trainer Chad Brown then gave the son of McKinzie time off to have “a tiny flake” surgically removed from a front ankle, according to a published report by the Daily Racing Form.
Chancer McPatrick began working out again on Jan. 26 at Brown’s Payson Park Training Center base in Indiantown and has since posted six official breezes, including a 4-furlong move Saturday in 48 4/5 seconds. He is expected to return to competition next Saturday in the 45th running of the Grade III, $400,000-guaranteed Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the centerpiece of Festival Day 45 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Brown won last year’s Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Domestic Product.
The Kentucky-bred Chancer McPatrick was purchased at the 2024 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training for $725,000 by Sean Flanagan of Lowell, Mass., who as a youngster attended the races at Suffolk Downs in Boston and Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.
A victory in Saturday’s mile-and-a-sixteenth test on the Oldsmar oval main track would catapult his career earnings past his exorbitant sales price, but more importantly, it would earn him 50 qualifying points in the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series that helps to determine the 20-horse field for the Run for the Roses on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
The Festival Day 45 card also includes 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 Grade III, $200,000-guaranteed Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; 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 $125,000-guaranteed Columbia Stakes, for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.
Official entries for each of the five stakes will be taken Wednesday. The expected 12-race program will begin at noon, with the gates opening at 10 a.m. General admission is $15, with each patron receiving a “Mystery Mutuel Voucher” worth anywhere from $5-$1,000.
Tickets may be purchased online; click https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tampa-bay-downs-festival-day-45-tickets-1084288348639?aff=oddtdtcreator to get started.
At press time, Chancer McPatrick’s main competition was expected to come from Owen Almighty, a Grade III-placed stakes-winning colt who has already competed twice this winter at Tampa Bay Downs. He finished first on Jan. 11 in the Pasco Stakes but was disqualified to fifth for interference on the far turn, then finished a valiant second to John Hancock on Feb. 8 in the Sam F. Davis Stakes.
Owen Almighty, a son of Speightstown who has run near the front in each of his five starts, is owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and trained by Brian Lynch, who captured the 2022 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Classic Causeway.
Another probable starter is Brodeur, a son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist owned by D. J. Stable and trained by Mark Casse, who won the 2012 Tampa Bay Derby with Prospective and the 2021 running with Helium. Brodeur won his most recent start, a mile-and-a-sixteenth allowance/optional claiming race on Jan. 26 at Oaklawn Park, in front-running fashion.
Other probable Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby starters include Patch Adams, the fourth-place finisher in the Grade III Southwest Stakes on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn Park, owned by WinStar Farm and CHC, Inc., and trained by Brad Cox, and Filoso, who finished third as a 2-year-old in the Grade I Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland, owned by Gold Square and trained by Chad Summers.
Currently listed as possible starters are Grade III-placed Burning Glory, bred and owned by Juddmonte and trained by Bill Mott, and Hill Road, the third-place Breeders’ Cup Juvenile finisher last fall, who is owned by Amo Racing USA and trained by Chad Brown.
The 27th running of the Hillsborough Stakes is expected to feature 6-year-old mare Sparkle Blue, last year’s winner, and 6-year-old Saffron Moon, who won the Grade III, mile-and-a-sixteenth Endeavour Stakes here on Feb. 1 in stakes-record time.
Sparkle Blue is owned by Augustin Stable and Catherine Parke and trained by two-time Hillsborough winner H. Graham Motion, while Saffron Moon is owned by CHP Racing and trained by Brown, who has won the race a record six times.
Other expected Hillsborough starters include Gimme a Nother, a South African-bred-and-raced 5-year-old owned by Newstead Stables and trained by Motion who is 7-for-7 in her career; Spaliday, a Grade II-winning 4-year-old filly owned by Peter M. Brant and trained by Brown; 4-year-old filly Victoria’s Dancer, owned by Victoria’s Ranch and trained by Juan Carlos Avila; and Ireland-bred 6-year-old Avenue Niel, owned by R. Larry Johnson and trained by Michael Trombetta.
Possibles at press time included 5-year-old Damaso, owned by Perrine Time Thoroughbreds and trained by Kathleen O’Connell, and 4-year-old She’s Fire, owned by Divine Light Healing Ministries and trained by Kevin Rice.
The 42nd running of the Florida Oaks is expected to spotlight owner D. J. Stable and trainer Casse’s Nitrogen, who concluded her 2-year-old campaign by rallying for third in the John Deere Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, then kicked off her 3-year-old season on Jan. 4 at Gulfstream with a victory in the Ginger Brew Stakes. D. J. Stable and Casse are also expected to enter Smudge, who broke her maiden on Jan. 19 at Gulfstream.
Motion, who has won the Florida Oaks twice, is expected to be represented by Ireland-bred Pretty Lavish, owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Bobby Flay, and three-time turf winner Smart Union, owned by Jonathan P. Evans.
Another potential strong contender is the Godolphin bred-and-owned Deloraine, trained by Eoin Harty, who ran away and hid from her competition here on Dec. 13 in an allowance/optional claiming race on the turf.
Other probable Florida Oaks starters at press time included Great Britain-bred Lush Lips, owned by Medallion Racing, Steve Weston, Mrs. Paul Shanahan and Mrs. M. V. Magnier and trained by Brendan Walsh; Miavana, owned by Three Diamonds Farm and trained by Michael Maker; Ireland-bred Celtic Motif, owned by Wells Watson and trained by Brendan Walsh; and Love You Anyway, owned by Bregman Family Racing and trained by George “Rusty” Arnold, II, who has two Florida Oaks victories.
The 34th running of the Michelob Ultra Challenger could produce one of the best “feel-good” stories of Festival Day 45 if 6-year-old expected entrant Skippylongstocking runs his race, which he usually does. He has won the last two editions of the race in his only two appearances at Tampa Bay Downs.
Owned by Daniel Alonso and trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., Skippylongstocking is 9-for-29 lifetime with earnings of $3,365,985. And while he has seven graded-stakes victories, he has also won fans with such efforts as a third in the 2022 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, a third in the 2023 Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita and a second last fall in the Woodward Stakes at Belmont At The Big A.
Skippylongstocking could face a stern challenge from Most Wanted, a 4-year-old colt owned by Mary E. and Gary L. West who is trained by Brad Cox. The late bloomer is 4-for-5, including a victory last fall in the Grade III Oklahoma Derby at Remington Park and a second in the Grade II Clark Stakes presented by Norton Healthcare at Churchill Downs. Also probable is 4-year-old Patriot Spirit, who won the 2023 Inaugural Stakes here and last year’s Illinois Derby at Hawthorne, owned by Mellon Patch and trained by Michael Campbell.
Others declaring their intent are Instant Coffee, a 5-year-old owned by Gold Square and trained by Chad Summers, and O Captain, a 6-year-old gelding owned by JC Racing Stable and trained by Carlos Narvaez. The 6-year-old Group I-placed Bendoog, owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations and William I. Mott and trained by Mott, is listed as a possible.
At press time, D. J. Stable and Casse’s Dream On was looking like a potential standout in the Columbia Stakes. He was third in September at Woodbine in the Grade I Summer Stakes, then a good fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf after leading to the 1/16-mile pole.
Other Columbia probables include stakes-placed Concord Green, owned by Stuart S. Janney, III and trained by Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III; Peace Cloud, owned by Patricia Pavlish and trained by Tim Hamm; Tapirs Valor, another Hamm runner owned by Runnymoore Racing; French-bred Revolutionnaire, owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Winters Equine and trained by Christophe Clement; and Sky Masterson, owned by Joseph M. Grant, Can Do Racing, Greg A. Marsh and William L. Maher and trained by Gary Contessa.
Trainer Gerald Bennett’s Pasco Stakes winner Naughty Rascal, owned by Mr. Pug and J.P.G. 2, is a Columbia possible. The Florida-bred won the Armed Forces Stakes in November at Gulfstream Park in his lone career turf start.
Around the oval. Samuel Marin has taken a stranglehold on the competition to become the meet’s leading jockey by an ever-widening margin. The 23-year-old rider rode four winners for the second day in a row and has 71 for the meet, 14 more than runner-up and five-time champion Samy Camacho.
Marin won today’s first race on Braggadocious, a 6-year-old gelding owned by Roger B. Sterling and trained by Renaldo Richards. He captured the fifth on the turf aboard Miss Taptress, a 4-year-old filly owned by Frank D’Amato and trained by Gregg Sacco.
Marin returned to the winner’s circle after the sixth on Art Fair, a 3-year-old colt owned by Tracy Farmer and trained by Mark Casse. He displayed consummate timing and skill in the ninth race on the turf to get up late on Signator, a 5-year-old horse owned by West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Racing, Gainesway Stable (Antony Beck), Phipps Stable, Ken Langone, Edward J. Hudson, Jr., Lynne Hudson and Lane’s End Racing and trained by Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III.
Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:40 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races each Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday (except for Easter, April 20) and is open every day except Easter 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.
