The stars are set to shine Saturday during Festival Day 45 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Triple Crown prospects Chancer McPatrick and Hill Road, both trained by Chad Brown, and trainer Brad Cox’s Patch Adams head a rock-solid field of seven 3-year-old colts set to compete in the 45th running of the Grade III, $400,000-guaranteed Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth.
The annual Oldsmar showcase is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race awarding 50, 25, 15, 10 and 5 points to the first five finishers toward qualifying for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 3 at Churchill Downs.
The 27th edition of the Grade II, $225,000-guaranteed Hillsborough Stakes at a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf has attracted a salty field of 10 older fillies and mares. Brown, who has won the race a record six times, has three entrants: 6-year-old mare Saffron Moon, who won the Endeavour Stakes here on Feb. 1; 4-year-old filly Spaliday, a Grade II winner; and 5-year-old Venencia, a late-charging third in the Endeavour.
Trainer H. Graham Motion, a finalist on this year’s National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame ballot, will be gunning for his third Hillsborough victory with last year’s winner, 6-year-old Sparkle Blue, and the unbeaten (7-for-7) South African import, 5-year-old Gimme a Nother, who will make her first U.S. start. He will also shoot for his third triumph in the Grade III Florida Oaks on the turf with Smart Union and Pretty Lavish.
Motion’s main winter base is Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach; he keeps about 12 horses stabled at Tampa Bay Downs in the hands of his assistant Anne Sinchak, who like Motion came up through the ranks under late Hall of Fame conditioner Jonathan Sheppard.
Motion, who has also won the Tampa Bay Derby with Equality in 2002 and Ring Weekend in 2014, says he points many of his horses to the Oldsmar oval’s Festival Day stakes races, for a variety of reasons.
“The timing works well for us, these races fit in real well with some of our horses’ schedules and the turf course is very appealing,” Motion said. “The grass holds up so well there. They take good care of it, and it’s a fairer course than a lot of others we run on, especially this time of year.”
Motion also enjoys coming to Tampa Bay Downs for its unique atmosphere. “It sort of reminds me almost of a country track in Europe. It has a great feel to it,” he said.
Christophe Clement is also on the Hall of Fame ballot, and he hopes to capture his second Hillsborough with 5-year-old Eternal Silence, who will be making her first start since an allowance victory in July. Clement also has Revolutionnaire in the 19th edition of the $125,000 Columbia Stakes on the turf, a race he has won three times.
You want Hall of Fame trainers? Try Mark Casse, a member of both the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame. Although he is not represented with a horse in the Hillsborough, Casse has two 3-year-old fillies in the 42nd running of the Grade III, $200,000-guaranteed Florida Oaks on the turf, Nitrogen and Smudge, as well as Brodeur in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and Dream On in the Columbia Stakes.
Oh, and let’s not forget Bill Mott, who has entered his 6-year-old horse Bendoog in the 34th running of the Grade III, $125,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes for older horses at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track.
Both the Florida Oaks and the Columbia are for 3-year-olds, thus their talent and potential for greatness will continue to emerge and develop throughout the year.
All will have achieved gargantuan success if they approach the career accomplishments of the favorite for the Michelob Ultra Challenger, Skippylongstocking. Few Thoroughbreds in training are as popular as 6-year-old Skippy, who has won nine of 29 starts while amassing $3,365,985 in earnings.
Purchased for $37,000 as a 2-year-old by owner Daniel Alonso, he has raced at 15 different tracks under the outstanding care of trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. His graded-stakes victories include the Grade II Charles Town Classic (twice), the Grade II Oaklawn Handicap, the Grade III Harlan’s Holiday Stakes, the Grade III West Virginia Derby and the last two runnings of the Grade III Michelob Ultra Challenger.
A lot of fans will buy a $2 win ticket on Skippylongstocking to keep as a souvenir, even if he wins; a few may be inclined to clutch rosary beads during the race. His jockey, the accomplished Tyler Gaffalione, will doubtless appear cool, but you have to figure butterflies will be churning in his gut during the post parade.
Gaffalione is one of numerous south-Florida based jockeys who will be in town for Festival Day 45. There is Hall of Famer Joel Rosario, winner of the 2013 Kentucky Derby on Orb; reigning Eclipse Award champion Flavien Prat, the 2019 Kentucky Derby winner on Country House, who rode four winners here on Feb. 1 – including Saffron Moon in the Grade III Endeavour and Running Bee in the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes, both for Chad Brown – and is named on the likely Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby favorite, Chancer McPatrick; the Ortiz brothers, Irad, Jr., and Jose; Florent Geroux, winner of the 2021 Kentucky Derby on Mandaloun; and Dylan Davis.
Did we leave anyone out? Yeah, but we’ll correct that oversight right now.
You heard right – Frankie Dettori is coming to Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday. He’ll ride Avenue Niel in the Hillsborough, Celtic Motif in the Florida Oaks and Versus in the Columbia, as well as Gold Stamp in the 12th race.
It will be the first appearance at Tampa Bay Downs by the international superstar, who went 7-for-7 at Ascot Racecourse in England on Sept. 28, 1996, one of the most remarkable performances in racing history. Legendary for his flying dismounts after big-race victories, Dettori has won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in France a record six times and has 15 Breeders’ Cup victories.
Dettori has ridden 24 graded-stakes winners since moving to the United States to ride in the summer of 2022.
“Everyone knows who he is, and he’s well-received wherever he goes,” said his agent, Ron Anderson. “He’s a bit of a rock-and-roll star. He is positive about the game and he gets just as excited about a $20,000 claiming race as a Grade I stakes.”
“I’ve seen (Tampa Bay Downs) on TV many a time, and I enjoy new challenges. It’s another ‘tick’ in the box in my career,” Dettori said earlier today. “I like traveling, and I always welcome these kind of things with open arms.
“Especially with it being one of the biggest days of your meet. … with a little luck and crossed fingers, I might have a little success. I’ve ridden all around the world to become as good as I can be and I’m looking forward to coming to Tampa,” added Dettori, who moved his tack from Santa Anita to Gulfstream in late February.
Dettori’s enthusiasm is well-known, and his performances have strengthened his bonds with his American fans. Anderson, who also represents Rosario and has worked for Fernando Toro, Jerry Bailey, Gary Stevens, John Velazquez, Garrett Gomez and numerous other top jockeys, says Dettori possesses an aura all his own.
“Frankie is a different spirit, and that is something that is always needed. He’s a special guy and a special rider,” Anderson said.
Dettori is 54, but you don’t have to squint hard to envision him as he appeared at the start of his career in the late 1980s, especially during a race. “Whatever little physical (edge) might not be the same, the guys who ride at that level into their 50s outthink the other riders,” Anderson said. “Mike Smith, Johnny V., Frankie. … their thought process is brilliant from doing it so many years.”
The stars will be out in force Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs, delivering a radiance the dowager track is sure to wear proudly.
