Saffron Moon Looks for Tampa Repeat in Hillsborough

A little over a month after posting the first black-type win of her career with a furious late rally in the Endeavour Stakes (G3T), CHP Racing's Saffron Moon  is back at Tampa Bay Downs for more graded accolades in the March 8 $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T).

Saffron Moon is one of three entries for trainer Chad Brown, who winters his elite string at Payson Park Training Center in Indiantown, Fla. Brown will also saddle the stakes-winning French-bred mare Venencia  in the Hillsborough, who was third to her stablemate in the Feb. 1 Endeavour, as well as the regally bred Spaliday , winner of the Sands Point Stakes (G2T) Oct. 12 at Aqueduct Racetrack in her latest outing.

"It's an easy ship (from her Payson Park Training Center base)," Brown said after Saffron Moon's 2 1/4-length win in the Endeavour. "And (Saffron Moon) seems to like Tampa. She seems to be pretty sound and healthy, so hopefully this is the start of a productive campaign."

Lightly raced as a 6-year-old with only 10 starts, Saffron Moon made the most of her 2025 debut, storming home in stakes-record time in the Endeavour under Flavien Prat. The 2024 Eclipse Award-winning jockey retains the mount on the daughter of Malibu Moon for Saturday's 1 1/8-mile contest.

"She (Saffron Moon) has always had plenty of ability, but she's had some interruptions in her career and we haven't been able to race her as much as we would have liked," Brown said. "(Her owners, Phil and Christine Hatfield) have been very patient with her. They love their horses, and they want to give her every chance they can to reach her potential."

Apart from her barn mates, two talented stakes fillies in their own right, Saffron Moon's biggest opposition comes from the barn of trainer Graham Motion. The veteran horsemen ships in last year's Hillsborough victress, Sparkle Blue , in addition to the intriguing South African group 1 winner Gimme a Nother .

Augustin Stable and Catherine Parke's Sparkle Blue, a half sister to 2010 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) heroine Shared Account, ran the performance of her career when defeating a top-class field in the 2024 Hillsborough. Following that victory, the 6-year-old Hard Spun   mare found the winner's circle only once in five starts, finishing eleventh in Woodbine's Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) Oct. 4 to end her season.

Jorge Ruiz reunites with Sparkle Blue in defense of her Hillsborough title. Drawing the rail post, Ruiz and Sparkle Blue could attempt to repeat the gate-to-wire trip that landed them in the winner's circle from last year's race, though the 2024 running featured a very slow pace.

Gimme a Nother enters as the wildcard in the Hillsborough. Unraced since capturing two straight group 1 wins in her native country, the 5-year-old makes her North American debut off a series of works for Motion over the turf course at Palm Meadows Training Center.

Motion recently enjoyed success with another South African import, Beach Bomb , in the March 1 The Very One Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park.

Nitrogen Headlines Florida Oaks

With her stablemate Vixen  netting back-to-back stakes scores at Gulfstream, the Mark Casse-trained Nitrogen  seeks to make Tampa Bay Downs her own when lining up against a field of 3-year-old fillies for the $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T).

D. J. Stable's Nitrogen exits a dramatic late-running triumph in the Jan. 4 Ginger Brew Stakes at Gulfstream in what was her first start since an excellent third-place showing in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

Jose Ortiz, the Medaglia d'Oro   filly's rider in her last two starts, will pilot Nitrogen in her first test beyond a mile Saturday.

Other notable fillies in the 1 1/16-mile turf affair include the Chad Brown-trained Opulent Restraint , winner of Aqueduct's Chelsey Flower Stakes in October, and undefeated Irish import Pretty Lavish , winner of a one-mile allowance here Feb. 8 for Graham Motion.