Strategic Bird First Stakes Winner for Noble Bird
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Photo: SV Photography
Strategic Bird fends off Devine Charger in the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs
After Strategic Bird won her career debut Nov. 13 at Gulfstream Park by 12 3/4 lengths, it was fair to ask how she might handle a challenge in the $50,000 Sandpiper Stakes Dec. 4 at Tampa Bay Downs.
The Florida-bred juvenile filly answered the question in resounding fashion, turning back Devine Charger by a neck after a stretch-long duel to win the fourth-fastest Sandpiper in its 44 runnings. She provided her freshman sire, Noble Bird , with his first black-type stakes winner.
"That was something incredible," said winning jockey Antonio Gallardo after she held firm to the wire, completing the six-furlong distance in 1:10.05.
Owned by Gary Barber and trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Strategic Bird paid $4 to win.
"I had a couple of people with me who said 'This race is over,' " said Casse assistant Jimmy Miranda of Devine Charger's challenge, "but I said, 'No, not yet.'
"She laid down some good fractions (:21.93, :44.91) and won, so we're really happy with the result. When you get one who wins first time out like she did, you just want to see if they'll take the next step, and she handled everything well today. She's a good-minded filly."
"I tried not to rush her too much because I knew she has a lot of natural speed," Gallardo added. "She broke a little slow and still set those fractions like it was nothing. Having the No. 1 post was perfect, and after I gave her a chance to relax, she dug in and never quit."
Video: Sandpiper S. (BT)
Bred by the John Oxley Living Trust, Strategic Bird is out of the Afleet Alex mare Strategize . Two of her six foals have started and won. Among those yet to start is a yearling colt by Noble Bird.
The winner was a $40,000 purchase by TMC from the Royal Thoroughbreds consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2021 June 2-Year-Olds & Horses of Racing Age, where she worked a quarter-mile in :21 leading up to the auction.
A multiple graded stakes winner of over $1.3 million, Noble Bird's most prestigious victory came in the 2015 Stephen Foster Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs. He entered stud in 2018, and will stand the 2022 season for a $4,000 fee at Ocala Stud in Florida.
Chasing Happiness finished third in the 10-horse field, seven lengths behind Devine Charger.
Also on the Saturday card at Tampa, Florida-bred 2-year colt Cattin took the $100,000 Inaugural Stakes. His time for six furlongs was 1:10.90.
In the Inaugural, winning jockey Samy Camacho had close to a dream trip on Cattin, who improved to 2-for-4. The juvenile, owned by Corinne Heiligbrodt, William Heiligbrodt, and Spendthrift Farm, was bred by Curtis Mikkelsen and Patricia Horth. Ralph Nicks trains.