Samy Camacho had a chance to ride Naughty Rascal on Nov. 2 in the Armed Forces Stakes on the turf at Gulfstream Park. Instead, Camacho chose to ride Scarecrow after working that colt out before the race.
“He said ‘Man, that Scarecrow horse is a runner,’ ” recalled trainer Gerald Bennett, who saddled Naughty Rascal for the victory, a length-and-a-quarter ahead of Camacho’s third-place finisher.
Those type of misjudgments happen on a regular basis in horse racing, and most are quickly forgotten. But Camacho didn’t forget about Naughty Rascal, the horse he’ll ride in Saturday’s Grade III, $400,000-guaranteed Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.
Although his opening odds of 20-1 make him the longest shot in the seven-horse field, Camacho thinks Naughty Rascal, who is owned by Ron Pugliese’s Mr Pug, LLC and the J.P.G. 2, LLC concern of Jim Georgeades, has a few things working in his favor for the mile-and-a-sixteenth “Road to the Kentucky Derby” contest.
Camacho has never ridden Naughty Rascal in a race, but was aboard the 3-year-old Florida-bred son of Rogueish on Feb. 27 for a 4-furlong workout that went in 48 3/5 seconds. “He’s a versatile horse. He can be in front, he can race in mid-pack and he can be in last early and come from behind,” Camacho said.
“A lot of horses come here and don’t like this track. He has been training here and raced here (three times, including a victory on Jan. 11 in the Pasco Stakes via disqualification), so I think that gives us a step up. And I believe in him because of Gerald Bennett.
“I don’t worry about the competition or the morning line. I’m confident every time I ride for Gerry.”
The 45th Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the 11th race on Saturday’s 12-race card, awards qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale.
Post time for the first race is 12:05 p.m. The other stakes on the Oldsmar oval’s biggest day of the meet are the fifth, the Grade III, $125,000-guaranteed Michelob Ultra Challenger for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track; the seventh, the $125,000-guaranteed Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf course; the ninth, the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for fillies and mares 4-and-upward at a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf; and the 10th, the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf.
The 36-year-old Camacho, the leading jockey at Tampa Bay Downs the last four years and five of the last six, won the 2020 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby aboard 49-1 shot King Guillermo when it was a Grade II race. Camacho finished third last year aboard Grand Mo the First, beaten only a half-length behind winner Domestic Product.
Bennett, who turns 81 Wednesday, is a nine-time Oldsmar training champion, including eight in a row from 2015-16 through 2022-23. He has sent out 4,189 winners, but has yet to win a Tampa Bay Derby, the trophy he most craves at this stage of his career. In fact, he has only started two horses in the race; his ex-claiming horse Crimson Knight, an 86-1 shot, finished a neck behind Watch Me Go in the 2011 edition.
Adding an additional layer of drama to his quest, Bennett has been battling cancer in his colon, liver and a lung during the meet. Earlier this winter, he underwent surgery to remove benign tumors from his bladder.
Yet there was Bennett during Friday’s training break, discussing possible pace scenarios for the race with Camacho.
“He (Naughty Rascal) is loaded with speed if we want to use it. But if these other trainers are depending on me to take care of (expected pace-setter) Owen Almighty for them, they have another shot coming, because I’m not going to use my horse to go with that one,” Bennett said. “And if nobody else does, he is probably going to have his best chance of winning the race.”
Owen Almighty finished ahead of Naughty Rascal in the 7-furlong Pasco but was disqualified and placed fifth by the stewards for interference on the turn for home, giving Bennett’s charge the victory. Four weeks later, Owen Almighty finished second to John Hancock here in the mile-and-a-sixteenth Sam F. Davis Stakes, with Naughty Rascal, under jockey Edwin Gonzalez, fading to sixth after challenging briefly nearing the top of the stretch.
“He wasn’t himself (before the Sam F. Davis). Before the Pasco, he was buckin’ and playin’ and squealing even before we saddled him. He got beat only a length, and Edwin told me he knew (Owen Almighty) was coming down or he could have made it closer or even gotten there,” Bennett said.
“He’s coming up to this race a lot better. He seems to be happier, so we’re going to give him a chance to see what he’s really capable of going this distance against these horses.”
Naughty Rascal’s odds could be higher than 20-1 by post time, of course. But only two weeks ago, Bennett and Camacho teamed to win the Turf Dash Stakes with 20-1 Rouki, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Tropic Lightning Racing. And two seasons ago, they sprang a 38-1 shocker in the Suncoast Stakes with Dreaming of Snow, a 3-year-old filly owned by Team Equistaff and Bennett’s Winning Stables who beat 2022 Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Wonder Wheel by a neck.
“The Tampa Bay Derby I won on King Guillermo was the biggest win of my career, and I almost made it last year with Grand Mo the First,” Camacho said. “I’ve got another chance this year, and I’m going to do whatever Gerry tells me to do when we get to the paddock.”
Bennett also has two horses entered in the Michelob Ultra Challenger. Life Is Precious, a 4-year-old owned by Winning Stables and Todd Bittiger, will be stretching out to two turns after finishing a game third in the Pelican Stakes here on Feb. 8. Daniel Centeno will again be aboard. The other Bennett entry, El Principito, was claimed by Bennett for $25,000 from his previous start, a third-place finish on Feb. 16. He will be ridden by Camacho.
Here is the full field for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby in post position order, followed by each entrant’s trainer, jockey and morning-line odds:
- Owen Almighty, Brian Lynch, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 5-1; 2. Chancer McPatrick, Chad Brown, Flavien Prat, 8-5; 3. Hill Road, Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione, 4-1; 4. Brodeur, Mark Casse, Jose Ortiz, 15-1; 5. Filoso, Chad Summers, Dylan Davis, 15-1; 6. Naughty Rascal, Gerald Bennett, Samy Camacho, 20-1; 7. Patch Adams, Brad Cox, Florent Geroux, 2-1.
Ochoa is Mother’s Restaurant Trainer of the Month. When you think about it, preparing a Thoroughbred for competition is one of the most challenging sporting endeavors imaginable. So much time, sweat and tears, plus dealing with inevitable setbacks such as illnesses and injuries, have derailed the best laid-plans of many industry participants.
But dreams of owning and training a winner and developing a stakes-caliber athlete keep untold numbers of horsemen and horsewomen coming back. Many work behind the scenes, knowing their contributions are just as valuable as those of the stakes-winning owners, trainers and jockeys who will compete at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday during Festival Day 45.
Mother’s Restaurant Trainer of the Month Gerard Ochoa won’t be at Tampa Bay Downs this weekend, as he is in Ocala preparing a consignment of 17 horses for the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s March Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale that begins Tuesday. Most are horses he purchased last year at Keeneland as yearlings, owned by a number of investors from outposts as distant as California and Japan.
Ochoa hopes to sell as many as he can, but he’ll plan to race those who don’t meet their asking price.
It sounds exciting as heck and risky, too, and even though he is thrilled to be the Oldsmar oval’s Trainer of the Month, his mind is elsewhere this week as assistant trainer Edwin Morillo oversees Ochoa’s stable of 21 racehorses at Tampa Bay Downs.
“I feel awesome being the Trainer of the Month and I appreciate the opportunities Tampa Bay Downs has given me,” Ochoa said through interpreter and Ocala sales assistant, Mardon Rodriguez.
Ochoa won five races from 17 starts recently, with two seconds and a third, to edge Alejandro Olais Mendieta for the award. Ochoa is tied for eighth in the Oldsmar standings with 12 winners. He also competes as an owner under his GOP Racing Stable banner and is second with 11 victories as an owner, trailing only Juan Arriagada in that category.
Ochoa, 52, has trained horses almost 30 years and pinhooked – buying yearlings and selling them as 2-year-old racing prospects – since 2015. His young horses are kept at Ruben Sierra’s Derby Dream Equine Training Center in Ocala.
He won more than 800 races as a trainer in his homeland, including the 2004 Venezuelan Triple Crown with Nelson Be at Hipodromo de Santa Rita. More than 100 of those victories came in stakes races. Career victory No. 100 as a trainer in the United States came on Dec. 22 at Tampa Bay Downs with 22-1 shot Chica Music.
Ochoa plans to race the remainder of the year at Gulfstream Park and Colonial Downs in Virginia.
Around the oval. The trio of owner Mila Mullens, trainer Arnoud Dobber and apprentice jockey Sara Hess accounted for two victories today. They won the first race with Future Fortune, a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly, and captured the fourth race with Goshaki Goshaki, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly.
Camacho rode two winners today. He captured the seventh race on the turf with Debt Limit, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Klaravich Stables and trained by Chad Brown. Camacho added the ninth, also on the grass, with Ehsaan, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Ken T. Reimer and trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
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.
