Two-Year-Olds Focus of Tampa Bay Stakes

By Doug McCoy

The road to the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby (gr. II) begins locally Dec. 19 when 2-year-olds face off in the $100,000 Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

The Saturday card features two other stakes: the $100,000 Sandpiper for 2-year-old fillies and the $100,000 Lightning City for 3-year-olds and up at five furlongs on the turf.

No winner of the six-furlong Inaugural has gone on to win the Tampa Bay Derby, but a number of people who witnessed the dazzling debut of St. George Stable's Ishaq came away with the feeling the speedy son of Harlan's Holiday has the talent to compete in top company. Bet down to 4-5 in his debut at Tampa Bay Nov. 28, the Efren Losa Jr. trainee won by 10 1/4 lengths in a quick 1:04.26 for 5 1/2 furlongs on a fast track.

While Ishaq most likely will be favored in the Inaugural, there are others with ability, including Midwest Thoroughbreds' Jay's Way. The Jamie Ness-trained colt by Gone Astray   was unlucky not to win his career debut at Monmouth Park, and then won his next two starts before a sixth-place finish behind Mohaymen in the Nashua Stakes (gr. II) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Jay's Way, a $50,000 purchase at the 2015 Ocala Breeders' Sales Co. 2-year-olds in training auction, will cut back from one mile and has had two solid works at Tampa Bay. Ness believes six furlongs isn't the colt's best distance but the Inaugural is the first step toward the track's longer 3-year-old stakes.

"He's a big, long-striding colt and he's going to be a much better horse once we start going longer," Ness said. "We pushed the envelope a little trying him against graded company in the Nashua last time out and he didn't get the best of trips, but the winner of that race looks like he could be any kind of horse.

"Jay's Way has come back to work really well down here and we're hoping we can finish up strong and get a piece. If the speed collapses, well you never know, but really this is a steppingstone for us. We're looking down the road toward the (grade III) Sam Davis and hopefully the (Tampa Bay) Derby for our colt."

Godolphin Racing's Transform, two-for-two with wins at Belterra Park Gaming and Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort for trainer Eoin Harty, takes a big step up in class. The son of Bernardini   out of Dubai Escapade, is a winner of six of eight starts including the grade I Ballerina Stakes.

Lynne Martin-Boutte's Formal Summation, by In Summation  , is one of three stakes winners in the field, having won the off-the-turf Laurel Futurity on a sloppy track in September for trainer Kathleen O'Connell.

Godolphin is represented in the six-furlong Sandpiper with Conflate, another Bernardini homebred out of Any for Love. Also trained by Harty, Conflate won her career debut at Belterra Park and finished a closing third after trouble in an entry-level allowance race at Hawthorne Race Course.