Pasco, Gasparilla Attract Hall of Fame Trainer Interest

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Pasco, Gasparilla Attract Hall of Fame Trainer Interest
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Photo: SV Photography
Gasparilla entrants Strategic Bird and Devine Charger run 1-2 in the 2021 Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs

Hall of Fame trainers Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, and Mark Casse will be represented by promising 3-year-olds during the Skyway Festival Day card Jan. 15 at Tampa Bay Downs.

The $125,000, seven-furlong Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds and the $125,000, seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies are the co-features on the 10-race card, which includes the $50,000 Wayward Lass Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile event for older fillies and mares. Purses for the Pasco and Gasparilla include $50,000 in funds for Florida-breds.

The Pasco Stakes, which could propel some starters into the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) Feb. 12, has drawn a field of seven colts and geldings and will be contested as the fifth race. Among the top contenders is Pletcher-trained Provocateur , who broke his maiden at Tampa by 4 1/2 lengths in a six-furlong sprint Dec. 23.

Antonio Gallardo will again ride Provocateur, a son of Into Mischief   owned by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm. He is a full brother to One Liner , winner of the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park in 2017.

Spendthrift is also a co-owner in the Ralph Nicks-trained Cattin  with Corinne and William Heiligbrodt. The Neolithic   colt won the six-furlong Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Dec. 4.

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Video: Inaugural S. (BT)



Joker Racing's Cyberviking  is another contender, having compiled a 3-for-4 record at Gulfstream Park for trainer Jorge Delgado.

The Gasparilla, a prep for the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, also Feb. 12, attracted eight fillies and goes as the sixth race.

The Casse-trained Strategic Bird , 2-for-2 for owner Gary Barber, enters the race off a thrilling neck victory in the Dec. 4 Sandpiper Stakes, in which she ran six furlongs in 1:10.05, .85 seconds faster than Cattin's Inaugural time. Gallardo will again be aboard Strategic Bird, a daughter of Noble Bird  .

Just behind her in the Sandpiper was J D Farms' Devine Charger  (Will Take Charge  ), a Jordan Blair-trained filly who was second, beaten a neck.

Mott has entered LNJ Foxwoods' Outfoxed , a Valiant Minister   filly who twice blew out Florida-bred stakes fillies last year but who is unraced since September. 

Bringing a recognizable pedigree into the race is the Pletcher-trained Goddess of Fire , a Mineshaft   filly and a half sister to grade 1 winner Mind Control . She broke her maiden at first asking Aug. 22 at Saratoga Race Course before running a distant third in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs and later fifth in the Tempted Stakes at Belmont Park.

Most of the stakes participants at Tampa will race with Lasix. Numerous 3-year-olds add the use of the diuretic for the first time after not being treated with it as 2-year-olds. The drug, used to control respiratory bleeding in horses, is still permitted by Tampa for use in stakes races, while elsewhere in the state at Gulfstream Park, its stakes use is prohibited.


Entries: Pasco S.

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, January 15, 2022, Race 5

  • STK
  • 7f
  • Dirt
  • $125,000
  • 3 yo
  • 2:14 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Provocateur (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Antonio A. Gallardo 118 Todd A. Pletcher 3/1
2 2Cyberviking (FL) Chantal Sutherland 120 Jorge Delgado 7/2
3 3Morgan Point (FL) John Jude 118 Chad J. Stewart 10/1
4 4Markhamian (FL) Marcos Meneses 118 Juan Carlos Avila 4/1
5 5Cattin (FL) Samy Camacho 124 Ralph E. Nicks 2/1
6 6Gold Special (FL) Luca Panici 118 Angel M. Rodriguez 10/1
7 7Magical Mousse (MD) Isaac Castillo 118 Jesus Cruz 12/1


Entries: Gasparilla S.

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, January 15, 2022, Race 6

  • STK
  • 7f
  • Dirt
  • $125,000
  • 3 yo Fillies
  • 2:50 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Ha' Penny (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Luca Panici 118 Joseph F. Orseno 20/1
2 2Devine Charger (KY) Jesus Lopez Castanon 118 Jordan Blair 4/1
3 3She Nasty (KY) Chantal Sutherland 120 Jorge Delgado 15/1
4 4Goddess of Fire (KY) Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr. 118 Todd A. Pletcher 9/2
5 5Outfoxed (FL) Samy Camacho 124 William I. Mott 2/1
6 6Platinum Gem (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Pablo Morales 120 Maria Bowersock 8/1
7 7Eros's Girl (NY) Maria Rosana Scaldaferri 118 M. Anthony Ferraro 15/1
8 8Strategic Bird (FL) Antonio A. Gallardo 124 Mark E. Casse 5/2