Four of last year’s winners are among 117 registered Florida-bred nominees to the 22nd annual Florida Cup Day showcase scheduled on Sunday, March 30 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Six races – three apiece on the main dirt track and the turf course – will be contested for $110,000 each in purse money.
More on the Florida Cup in a moment. On today’s card, the 20-cent Ultimate 6 and the 50-cent late Pick 5 wagers were each hit by one lucky bettor. The Ultimate 6 payout (1-3-4-3-9-12) was $85,049.56 and the late Pick 5 payout (3-4-3-9-12) was $81,848.05.
Florida Cup Day, which originated in 2003 (it was cancelled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), sports an old-time, country fair-type atmosphere reminiscent of an era when breeders, owners, trainers and jockeys sent their best horses to compete for bragging rights (and a little moolah on the side), while respecting the best efforts of their competition.
All horsemen are invited to a buffet luncheon beneath the big tent adjacent to the paddock that should start around 12:15 p.m. that day, leaving the next 4-5 hours to focus on the on-track action.
Kathleen O’Connell, who leads all Tampa Bay Downs trainers with 40 victories this season, has nominated 12 horses to the Florida Cup, including five who are nominated for two separate races. The next-most nominees belong to Jose Francisco D’Angelo – currently second at Gulfstream Park with 35 winners – with nine, including three who are double-nominated.
The quartet of 2024 Florida Cup Day winners nominated for this year’s event is headlined by the Live Oak bred and owned 6-year-old gelding Forever Souper, who is 9-for-19 in his career with earnings of $496,467. Trainer Michael Trombetta has nominated the son of American Pharoah to the mile-and-an-eighth ESMARK Turf Classic, which he won in stakes-record time of 1:46.87.
Forever Souper then won three consecutive stakes races last summer before concluding his campaign with a solid fourth in November in the Grade II HPIbet Autumn Stakes at Woodbine.
Another 2024 Florida Cup Day winner nominated to the ESMARK Turf Classic is Live Oak homebred 4-year-old colt Crystal Quest, also trained by Trombetta. The son of Uncle Mo won last year’s Equistaff Sophomore Turf.
Still a third past Florida Cup day champion (in 2022 and ’23) nominated to the ESMARK Turf Classic is 8-year-old gelding Drama Chorus, who won the Turf Classic both years for breeder-owner Peter D. Mattson and trainer Tim Padilla. The son of Big Drama has 10 lifetime victories and earnings of $391,725.
But there is no stopping there in the category of past champions, at least when it comes to nominations. Otago and Treasure King, the 2023 and 2022 Equistaff Sophomore Turf winners, respectively, are also nominated to the ESMARK Turf Classic.
Otago, a 5-year-old son of Speightstown, is owned by Crown’s Way Racing, NBS Stable, Edward Delava and Eli Diamant and trained by Kelsey Danner. He finished fourth in last year’s ESMARK Turf Classic. The 6-year-old Treasure King, owned by Lean Entertainment LLC and trained by Victor Barboza, Jr., finished second on Jan. 18 at Gulfstream in the Sunshine Turf Stakes.
C2 Racing Stable’s Mish, who won last year’s NYRABETS Sprint, has been nominated to the 6-furlong race by trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., who leads the Gulfstream Park standings with 64 winners. Joseph has three horses nominated to the NYRABETS Sprint, including 7-year-old multiple-stakes winner Comedy Town, an earner of $446,663, and Classify.
Mish, for his part, has 10 lifetime victories and earnings of $588,627.
Joining Forever Souper, Crystal Quest and Mish as 2024 Florida Cup Day winners nominated to this year’s event is 4-year-old gelding Pure Class, who won last year’s Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore at 7 furlongs on the main track and is nominated to the NYRABETS Sprint. Bred and owned by JoAnn and Alex Lieblong and trained by David Fawkes, Pure Class finished second in this season’s Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Marion County Florida Sire Stakes.
Gerald Bennett, who is tied with Jamie Ness for the most Tampa Bay Downs training titles in history with nine, has six Florida Cup Day nominees, including four in the NYRABETS Sprint. That group is headed by Tropic Lightning Racing’s 4-year-old gelding Rouki, who won the Turf Dash Stakes here on Feb. 22 sprinting 5 furlongs on the grass.
Following below is the slate of Florida Cup Day races and the nominees to each, along with their past-performance information:
ESMARK Turf Classic 4-up, 1 1/8-mile, Turf
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250330-592632
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250330-592632
Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies 3-year-olds, fillies, 7 furlongs, Main
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250330-592633
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250330-592633
NYRABETS Sprint 4-up, 6 furlongs, Main
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250330-592636
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250330-592636
Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore 3-year-olds, 7 furlongs, Main
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250330-592637
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250330-592637
Equistaff Sophomore Turf 3-year-olds, 1 1/16-mile, Turf
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250330-592648
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250330-592648
Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf 3-up, fillies and mares, 1 1/16-mile, Turf
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20250330-592649
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20250330-592649
Around the oval. Samuel Marin and Samy Camacho each rode two winners today. Marin won the second race on the turf on Princess Buttercup, a 4-year-old filly owned by Robert S. Evans and trained by H. Graham Motion. The track’s leading jockey added the sixth aboard Everdoit, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Patrick Rhodes and trained by Darien Rodriguez.
Camacho won the fourth and fifth races back-to-back. He won the fourth with Ortho Star, a 3-year-old gelding owned by The Elkstone Group and trained by Anthony Granitz. Camacho scored in the fifth on the turf on Curlaine, a 3-year-old filly owned by Manzanita Stables and trained by Christophe Clement.
Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:40 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and is open every day except April 20, 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.
