Richard Sillaman was eager to spread the credit around after 4-year-old gelding Poker Joker’s come-from-behind victory today in the fourth leg of the Males Division of the Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series, contested as the seventh race at a distance of a mile-and-three-eighths.
The conditioner started with groom Winston Edwards, who actually wore a T-shirt forecasting Poker Joker’s victory, his fifth in a row at the current meet. “He (Edwards) is hands-on and he loves his horses. And he’s very excitable,” Sillaman said.
Next to receive plaudits was jockey Pablo Morales, who has ridden Poker Joker all four times since Sillaman claimed him for $16,000 from the first of his victories at Tampa Bay Downs for owner Michael S. Schmidt of Nebraska back on Dec. 6. “He fits him like a glove,” Sillaman said.
“He gets him to relax and gets a lot of run out of him. He just sat and sat today and when the rail opened, he took him through there.”
But Sillaman, Edwards and Morales were all in agreement that Poker Joker, a son of Practical Joke out of the Speightstown mare Abracadabra, deserved most of the credit for his half-length victory over Royal Luck. Pace-setter Escape Key finished a neck back in third in the 10-horse field.
“This horse amazes me every day. He just gets better and better, and I think he’ll go farther,” Sillaman said after Poker Joker vaulted to the top of the Oldsmar victory standings for the current meet with his 5-for-5 mark that includes the last two legs of the Tampa Turf Test.
Two races later, 4-year-old filly Cleopatra’s Nile also stayed unbeaten at the meet, moving to 4-for-4 with her second consecutive victory in the Fillies and Mares Division of the Tampa Turf Test. Like Poker Joker, she has turned everything around in 2025 after going 0-for-7 last year.
The daughter of Mucho Macho Man-Kittenindafastlane, by Kitten’s Joy, is owned by Bruce D. Gans and trained by Kathleen O’Connell and was ridden by Antonio Gallardo. She staved off Atmidnight through the stretch by a length-and-a-quarter, with Ariana Valentina rallying strongly for third.
Back for a little bit to Poker Joker. “He’s only run 10 times in his life, so I think he is starting to get it. I didn’t know he’d turn out like this,” said Sillaman, who also won today’s sixth race with 4-year-old filly Oops Haha.
“He was still running after the race. They had to get the pony to pick him up or he’d have run all day.”
As the third betting choice, Poker Joker paid $11.80 to win after touring the course in 2:16.21, .74 seconds off the course record.
Morales, a patient rider who excels on the turf, is the first to acknowledge he wouldn’t have hit the board without the right horse. Through a series of circumstances, that horse, at least at the starter handicap level, is Poker Joker.
“It just helps when you have horse and can wait for a (hole) to open,” Morales said. “I didn’t really have a plan of going inside or outside. I was just trying to get a good trip on the rail and following the horse (Spanish Noble) I thought would run well. He moved out and made his run and I saw the horse in front of me was stopping. I figured I could go by quick, but my horse was going to give me that run inside or out, regardless.”
Horses such as Poker Joker stir something in any jockey’s soul, and Morales is no different. “I’ll take a horse like this every time who always tries hard and keeps improving,” he said.
As for Cleopatra’s Nile, she flowed smoothly throughout, with Gallardo getting her to relax until moving to the lead a little more than halfway through the race. Her time for the mile-and-three-eighths was 2:18.46 and she paid $4.40 as the wagering favorite in the nine-horse field.
“I told K.O. (O’Connell) after the mile-and-an-eighth race (on Feb. 22) I knew she could get the distance today because she relaxes so well, and that’s what you want your horse to do at the longer distances,” Gallardo said. “She did the same thing today, just relaxed and stayed patient.”
Well-situated only a couple of lengths off the lead, Gallardo felt confident and waited as long as he dared.
“I knew (the leaders) were going pretty slow (the first 4 furlongs in 51.21 seconds), so I thought ‘You know what? I’m going to the lead. There’s no reason to wait any longer,’ ” he said. “I had a lot of horse (at the top of the stretch), and I knew if somebody came to me, my filly likes to play the game. If somebody comes to me, she’ll fight for the win.”
With O’Connell at Gulfstream Park today, her assistant Brian Smeak got to enjoy Cleopatra’s Nile’s impressive performance up close and personal.
“I love this filly. She’s so nice to be around,” Smeak said. “Antonio definitely had horse left at the top of the stretch, and when (Atmidnight) came to her she was able to open up.”
Around the oval. First-time starter Lordship looked like a 3-year-old to keep an eye on in the second race, rallying from 6 lengths behind at the 3/8-mile pole before coasting home late under jockey Samy Camacho to post a 1 ¼-length victory from Three Percent, another first-time starter. Lordship’s time for the mile-and-40-yard distance on the main track was 1:40.34.
Owned by Earle I. Mack and trained by Chad Brown, Lordship is a son of 2017 Horse of the Year and Hall of Fame member Gun Runner and Flag Day, an unraced mare by Giant’s Causeway. Lordship is a full brother to Hall of Fame, a 4-year-old colt who won last month’s Grade III Mineshaft Stakes Presented by Relyne GI By Hagyard at Fair Grounds.
That was one of two victories today for Camacho, who also won the fourth race on 5-year-old gelding Summer Bee for owner Ballybrit Stable and trainer Mike Dini.
There were 119 winning tickets sold on today’s late 50-cent Pick 5, each ducat returning a healthy $2,506.20. The winning combination was 5-9-2-8-7.
Thoroughbred racing continues Sunday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:28 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.
