Magic Attitude to Begin Season in Hillsborough

Lael Stables' Magic Attitude will try to start her 4-year-old season off right March 6 when she races in the older filly and mare division for the first time in the $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) going 1 1/8 miles on the Tampa Bay Downs turf.

The Galileo filly was a group 3 winner and group 1-placed last season in France before joining trainer Arnaud Delacour's barn on this side of the Atlantic. She got up to take the Sept. 19 Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park in her North American debut, then finished a close third in the Oct. 10 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Dixiana (G1T) at Keeneland to close out the year.

"She breezed a half-mile Tuesday (in :49 3/5), and I'm very happy how she came out of the work," Delacour said. "We're excited about running her Saturday, but we still have to play it by ear because she is better on firmer turf."

Rain is forecast Saturday, potentially impacting the race.

Magic Attitude returned to training at Classic Mile in mid-December before shipping to Tampa in mid-February.

"She needs to step up, but I think she'll be ready," Delacour said. "She has an explosive turn of foot and great acceleration for about a sixteenth of a mile, which you like to see from a turf filly."

Magic Attitude drew the rail with Julien Leparoux assigned to ride. She'll be back against Micheline, who is set to break from the outside under Luis Saez.

Godolphin's Micheline finished second in the QEII a half-length ahead of Magic Attitude. The Bernardini  filly, now 4, won the Sept. 10 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks at Kentucky Downs one start earlier for trainer Michael Stidham.

"At the end of last year, we decided the best racing for her was going to be in March and spring and summer, and we just gave her a little freshening," Stidham said. "She remained very sound throughout her campaign last year. We mainly did it to give her a little freshening, get her away from the racetrack for a little while. Then we started her back and she's been training very well. We're excited to run her."

Klaravich Stables' Counterparty Risk returns in the Hillsborough off a victory over the same course in the Feb. 6 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (G3T) racing a sixteenth of a mile shorter. The Chad Brown-trained Australia daughter, another 4-year-old, is the lightest raced in the field with only four starts. Antonio Gallardo will ride from post 2.

Also coming back from the Endeavour is R Unicorn Stable's runner-up New York Girl, who ran second throughout in her second stateside start. Bill Mott trains the 4-year-old New Approach filly.

Myhartblongstodady, La Signare, Court Return, How Ironic, Miss Teheran, Morning Molly, and main track only entrant Queen Nekia complete the field.

Be Sneaky Tries Turf in Florida Oaks 

Sophomore fillies will take their turn on Tampa's turf in the $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T), run at 1 1/16 miles.

Delacour has another Lael runner entered, with Be Sneaky switching to the turf after placing in two stakes on dirt. The Into Mischief  filly won on debut at Laurel Park last fall before finishing third there in the Smart Halo Stakes. She returned this year to run second on Tampa's dirt in the Feb. 6 Suncoast Stakes.

"We've always had it in the back of our minds to run this filly on the turf, but at this stage, it's a guessing game," Delacour said. "She was a little aggressive (in the Suncoast), and we hope she can settle better on the grass and track the speed rather than setting the pace."

Klaravich and Brown also have a Florida Oaks entrant. Domain Expertise, a Kitten's Joy  daughter, broke her maiden on Tampa's lawn in December third time out, then took third in the Jan. 30 Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park.

Starlight Racing's Jouster with Todd Pletcher, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Gianni Fittipaldi's Mia Martina with Graham Motion, and Gainesway Stable's Oyster Box, also with Motion, all enter off back-to-back maiden and allowance scores.

Mia Martina was transferred to Motion before her last start Jan. 10 at Gulfstream Park. Eclipse had purchased her, with one of the original owners in Fittipaldi retaining an interest, after her debut last November at Gulfstream Park West.

"She's by a sire that we're really high on, Not This Time —he's really established himself as one to watch after his freshman year; now his first crop are sophomores," said Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners president and founder Aron Wellman. "She's a filly that just looks like the further the better; she had a beautiful turn of foot, and one that hopefully would mature with age as the way she's built. She's a big, tall, lanky filly, and we were very pleased to get that allowance win into her early in the year. After that we had put a circle around the Florida Oaks … We thought that the spacing would be very generous and then hopefully the Florida Oaks would be a race that could set her up deeper into the season."

Flight to Shanghai, Queen of the Green, Alex's First, Big Band Luzziann, Hindsight, Forever Boss, and main track only entrant Big Bad Diva round out the field.

Additional reporting by Byron King.

Entries: Hillsborough S. (G2T)

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, March 06, 2021, Race 9

• Grade IIT
• 1 1/8m
• Turf
• $225,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:25 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Magic Attitude (GB)	Julien R. Leparoux	120	Arnaud Delacour	9/2
2	2Counterparty Risk (IRE)	Antonio A. Gallardo	118	Chad C. Brown	4/1
3	3Myhartblongstodady (NY)	Daniel Centeno	118	Jorge R. Abreu	8/1
4	4La Signare (FR)	Alonso Quinonez	118	Brendan P. Walsh	8/1
5	5Court Return (ON)	Roberto Alvarado, Jr.	118	Josie Carroll	10/1
6	6How Ironic (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	118	Victoria H. Oliver	12/1
7	7New York Girl (IRE)	Junior Alvarado	118	William I. Mott	5/1
8	8Miss Teheran (IRE)	Samy Camacho	118	Chad C. Brown	6/1
9	9Queen Nekia (FL)	Daniel Centeno	118	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	6/1
10	10Morning Molly (KY)	Jesus Lopez Castanon	118	Thomas F. Proctor	12/1
11	11Micheline (KY)	Luis Saez	118	Michael Stidham	8/1

Entries: Florida Oaks (G3T)

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, March 06, 2021, Race 10

• Grade IIIT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:55 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Big Bad Diva (KY)	Daniel Centeno	117	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	20/1
2	2Jouster (KY)	Luis Saez	119	Todd A. Pletcher	2/1
3	3Mia Martina (FL)	Julien R. Leparoux	119	H. Graham Motion	8/1
4	4Flight to Shanghai (KY)	Samy Camacho	117	Jane Cibelli	15/1
5	5Queen of the Green (KY)	Roberto Alvarado, Jr.	119	Jon G. Arnett	20/1
6	6Be Sneaky (KY)	Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.	117	Arnaud Delacour	10/1
7	7Alex's First (FL)	Raul Mena	117	Cody W. Axmaker	30/1
8	8Big Band Luzziann (FL)	Jesus Lopez Castanon	117	Anthony J. Granitz	20/1
9	9Hindsight (KY)	Rafael Bejarano	117	Victoria H. Oliver	15/1
10	10Domain Expertise (KY)	Antonio A. Gallardo	117	Chad C. Brown	3/1
11	11Oyster Box (KY)	Junior Alvarado	119	H. Graham Motion	4/1
12	12Forever Boss (KY)	Robby Albarado	117	Kenneth G. McPeek	15/1