Nest Heavily Favored in Two-Turn Return in Suncoast

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Nest Heavily Favored in Two-Turn Return in Suncoast
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Photo: Coglianese Photos
Nest inches clear from her rivals to capture the 2021 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack

Late last month, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher shipped one of his top 3-year-old colts, Emmanuel , to Tampa Bay Downs from his South Florida base to race the colt two turns in an allowance optional claiming race.

Now he's doing it for one of his leading 3-year-old fillies, this time in stakes company. Pletcher runs Demoiselle Stakes (G2) winner Nest  in the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on a Feb. 12 card highlighted by the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3). 

Though the Suncoast, a dirt race at a mile and 40 yards, is ungraded, it is an official prep on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks, offering qualifying points on a 10-4-2-1 scale to its top four finishers. Nest accrued 10 earlier points in her Demoiselle win for owners Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Michael House.

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides the Curlin   filly, who also was third in the one-mile Tempted Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack and a five-length maiden winner at Belmont Park in her other starts last year at age 2.


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She has been training steadily at Palm Beach Downs, Pletcher's training base for his better horses during the winter months.

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Nest is the 3-5 morning-line favorite in the eight-filly Suncoast Stakes, which also drew Mike Dini's Alittleloveandluck , winner of the Ginger Brew Stakes on turf at Gulfstream Park Jan. 1. The Arrogate  filly has run mostly on turf and synthetic surfaces, finishing third in her lone dirt start at Parx Racing last year in a maiden race.

D. J. Stable's Ha' Penny , fourth in the Gasparilla Stakes Jan. 15 at Tampa, and maiden winners Peaceful Surprise  and Princess Elin  are other threats.

Besides the Sam F. Davis, two other stakes are on the Saturday card at Tampa Bay Downs: the $100,000 Pelican Stakes for older males and the $50,000 Minaret Stakes for females. Both races are main-track sprints at six furlongs.

Pantofel Stable, Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, and Jerold Zaro's Baby Yoda  leads the Pelican Stakes, having been a distant second to Flightline  in the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita Park Dec. 26. The speedy 4-year-old Prospective  gelding also ran third in the Vosburgh Stakes (G2) last fall and won a 6 1/2-furlong allowance last summer at Saratoga Race Course in 1:14.33

Baby Yoda - ALW, Saratoga, September 4, 2021
Photo: Coglianese Photos
Baby Yoda wins an allowance race at Saratoga Race Course

2020 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) winner King Guillermo , adding blinkers, is also in the field, as is stakes winner Bank On Shea .

The Minaret did not draw as much quality, though it has a closely matched field. Stakes winners Feeling Mischief  and Quinoa Tifah  are its leading players.

Mellow Patch's Feeling Mischief, who captured the 2020 Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa, took an allowance optional claiming race at Tampa Jan. 19. Arindel's Quinoa Tifah won the 2020 Our Dear Peggy Stakes at Gulfstream Park and an allowance optional claiming race this past November before off-the-board finishes in her last two starts, both in stakes at Gulfstream.


Entries: Suncoast S.

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, February 12, 2022, Race 8

  • STK
  • 1m 40y
  • Dirt
  • $150,000
  • 3 yo Fillies
  • 3:49 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Blamethechampagne (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Rafael Manuel Hernandez 118 Ian R. Wilkes 12/1
2 2Nest (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Todd A. Pletcher 3/5
3 3Alittleloveandluck (FL)Keeneland Sales Graduate Paco Lopez 122 Michael Dini 5/1
4 4Mining Chrome (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Roberto Alvarado, Jr. 118 Gerald S. Bennett 12/1
5 5Mirth 'n Merriment (KY) Rocco Bowen 118 Timothy E. Hamm 20/1
6 6Peaceful Surprise (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Samy Camacho 118 Christophe Clement 10/1
7 7Ha' Penny (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Luca Panici 118 Joseph F. Orseno 8/1
8 8Princess Elin (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Alonso Quinonez 118 Alnaz Ali 12/1


Entries: Pelican S.

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, February 12, 2022, Race 7

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Dirt
  • $100,000
  • 4 yo's & up
  • 3:18 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1R Mercedes Boy (FL) Rocco Bowen 118 Kerri Raven 15/1
2 2King Guillermo (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Samy Camacho 118 Juan Carlos Avila 6/1
3 3Baby Yoda (FL) Jose L. Ortiz 118 William I. Mott 6/5
4 4Bank On Shea (NY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Carlos A. David 7/2
5 5Pudding (FL) Leonel Reyes 118 Elizabeth L. Dobles 4/1
6 6Cajun Casanova (FL) Pablo Morales 118 Jose H. Delgado 8/1
7 7Boca Boy (FL) Antonio A. Gallardo 118 Cheryl Winebaugh 12/1


Entries: Minaret S.

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, February 12, 2022, Race 6

  • STK
  • 6f
  • Dirt
  • $50,000
  • 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
  • 2:45 PM (local)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L
1 1Special Princess (FL) Ademar Santos 118 Christopher Duncan 20/1
2 2Night Cap (FL) Jesus Lopez Castanon 120 Robert A. Raymond 7/2
3 3Drop a Hint (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Antonio A. Gallardo 118 Herman Wilensky 8/1
4 4Feeling Mischief (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Javier Castellano 118 Michael B. Campbell 4/1
5 5Poseidon's Passion (FL) Samy Camacho 118 James M. Gulick 9/2
6 6My Destiny (KY) Edwin Gonzalez 118 Herman Wilensky 6/1
7 7Tap Dance Fever (KY)Keeneland Sales Graduate Daniel Centeno 118 Gerald S. Bennett 10/1
8 8Quinoa Tifah (FL) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Carlos A. David 5/2