After winning a division of last year's Florida Sire Stakes and placing in the series' other two races for juveniles, Liam's Lucky Charm is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the $125,000 Pasco Stakes Jan. 18 at Tampa Bay Downs.
The seven-furlong Pasco is one of two featured races on Saturday's Skyway Festival Day card. Three-year-old fillies will break from the gate in the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes, also at seven furlongs.
Liam's Lucky Charm will return to the same distance of his victory in the Affirmed division of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes in late August, when he scored a narrow victory over Chance It and completed seven furlongs in 1:23.25. Stretched out to two turns for the first time in his next start, the In Reality division of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes, Stonehedge's son of Khozan finished third in the 1 1/16-mile test—more than 10 lengths behind Chance It.
Awaiting Liam's Lucky Charm will be stakes-winning Pennsylvania-bred Golden Candy, a son of Goldencents who will make his 2020 debut after closing last season with a runner-up finish in the seven-furlong Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes for state-breds Dec. 7 at Parx Racing.
Other top contenders in the expected field of seven include No Getting Over Me, who finished second in the six-furlong Inaugural Stakes Dec. 7 at Tampa Bay; My Man Flintstone, who enters off a three-length maiden score on the synthetic surface at Turfway Park; and Godolphin's Albert Park, a son of Street Sense who won the Oct. 9 Fitz Dixon Jr. Memorial Juvenile Stakes on the synthetic surface at Presque Isle Downs.
The Pasco continues Tampa's series of stakes races for 3-year-olds. The Feb. 8 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles is next on the schedule.
In the Gasparilla, which has 11 entries, Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver is the 7-2 morning-line favorite in her stakes debut. The daughter of Daredevil—Expo Gold, by Johannesburg, rolled to a 5 1/2-length score in a seven-furlong maiden race Nov. 16 at Churchill Downs and finished second in an allowance-level race Nov. 30 at a mile on a sloppy Churchill track.
The field also includes stakes winner Two Sixty, who bounced back from a last-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) to finish second in the six-furlong Sandpiper Stakes Dec. 7 at Tampa. Gary Barber owns the daughter of Uncaptured.
Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, January 18, 2020, Race 3 Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, January 18, 2020, Race 9Entries: Pasco S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1Liam's Lucky Charm (FL)
Edgard J. Zayas
124
Ralph E. Nicks
2/1
2
2Big Yes (FL)
Jose A. Batista
118
Walter H. Woodard
30/1
3
3Golden Candy (PA)
Jesus Lopez Castanon
124
Anthony Pecoraro
3/1
4
4No Getting Over Me (FL)
Samy Camacho
118
Gerald S. Bennett
7/2
5
5My Man Flintstone (KY)
Willie Martinez
118
Kenneth G. McPeek
4/1
6
6Albert Park (KY)
Pablo Morales
124
Michael Stidham
4/1
7
7He's Smokin Now (FL)
Ronald Dale Allen, Jr.
118
Gerald S. Bennett
20/1
Entries: Gasparilla S.
PP
Horse
Jockey
Wgt
Trainer
M/L
1
1We the Clouds (KY)
Daniel Centeno
118
Timothy E. Hamm
9/2
2
2Campy Cash (FL)
Angel Suarez
118
Keith Nations
8/1
3
3Swiss Skydiver (KY)
Alonso Quinonez
118
Kenneth G. McPeek
7/2
4
4Randiabby (NY)
Wesley Henry
118
Jennifer A. Quinones
30/1
5
5Veruca (KY)
Samy Camacho
118
Cherie DeVaux
8/1
6
6Palace Miss (FL)
Willie Martinez
118
Kenneth G. McPeek
15/1
7
7Judy's Way (KY)
Jesus Lopez Castanon
118
Carlos H. Silva
30/1
8
8Two Sixty (FL)
Edgard J. Zayas
124
Mark E. Casse
4/1
9
9Ceci Valentina (FL)
Marcos Meneses
124
Angel M. Rodriguez
6/1
10
10Mo City (KY)
Pablo Morales
118
Michael Stidham
8/1
11
11Gerri B (KY)
Antonio A. Gallardo
118
Kelsey Danner
8/1