Winter Sunset Warmed Up for Florida Oaks

There is a reason Winter Sunset RNA'd at $900,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Breeder John Phillips bred the daughter of three-time leading sire Tapit  and his grand grade 1 winner Winter Memories and wasn't quite ready to let her go for less than seven figures.

Racing for Phillips Racing Partnership and Coffeepot Stables (Bob Cummings and Annette Bacola), Winter Sunset hasn't taken a bad step on the turf in two starts and figures to be the one to beat March 9 at Tampa Bay Downs in the $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T). The 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies will be run at about 4:50 p.m. ET, the race prior to the main event, the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2).

Wayne Catalano, who trained multiple grade 2 winner Farrell for the Coffeepot team, had Winter Sunset ready for her debut last November as she wired maidens going about 7 1/2 furlongs on the turf at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. She made her 2019 bow Feb. 9 in the one-mile Shantel Lanerie Memorial Overnight Stakes and cruised by 1 1/2 lengths under Channing Hill.

In Winter Sunset's wake was Godolphin's Elsa, a bay filly by Animal Kingdom  who will break to Winter Sunset's right from post 4 at Tampa Bay. Elsa was a strong winner of Del Mar's Jimmy Durante Stakes (G3T) to close her 2-year-old season in late November.

What's a turf stakes without a runner from Chad Brown? The winner of the 2014 Florida Oaks with Testa Rossi will saddle La Feve. Group 3-placed in France late last summer, the daughter of George Vancouver rallied from seventh to finish third in Gulfstream Park's Sweetest Chant Stakes (G3T) Feb. 3. Irad Ortiz Jr., who will ride Win Win Win in the Tampa Bay Derby, has retained the mount. Brown also has Peter Brant's Blowout, a first-out winner over the local turf Jan. 23. The Dansili filly out of French classic winner Beauty Parlour was a $481,095 weanling purchase at the Goffs November sale in 2016.

La Feve is owned by Sol Kumin's Madaket Stables, Robert LaPenta, Lindy Farms, and Team Hanley. Madaket Stables, Steve Laymon, Martin Scheinman, and Roger Kaplan are the owners of the Jorge Abreu-trained Stellar Agent, who will be making her first start since finishing third in the Nov. 2 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

Ashbrook Farm and BBN Racing's Concrete Rose was a disappointing eighth in the Breeders' Cup on yielding going, and she has been readied for the Florida Oaks by trainer Rusty Arnold. Concrete Rose, by Twirling Candy , impressed in her Saratoga Race Course bow last summer and was a stout winner of Keeneland's JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G2T).

Entries: Florida Oaks (G3T)

Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, March 09, 2019, Race 10

• Grade IIIT
• 1 1/16m
• Turf
• $200,000
• 3 yo Fillies
• 4:50 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1La Feve (FR)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	117	Chad C. Brown	5/1
2	2Mega Fortune (KY)	Chris Landeros	117	John C. Kimmel	8/1
3	3Winter Sunset (KY)	Channing Hill	119	Wayne M. Catalano	6/1
4	4Elsa (KY)	Joe Bravo	121	Michael Stidham	6/1
5	5Concrete Rose (KY)	Julien R. Leparoux	123	George R. Arnold, II	7/2
6	6Zarina (KY)	Antonio A. Gallardo	117	Chad J. Stewart	30/1
7	7Blowout (GB)	Jose L. Ortiz	117	Chad C. Brown	10/1
8	8Her Royal Highness (KY)	Joel Rosario	119	H. Graham Motion	12/1
9	9Winning Envelope (KY)	Carlos H. Marquez, Jr.	119	Chris M. Block	8/1
10	10Stellar Agent (KY)	Florent Geroux	117	Jorge R. Abreu	4/1
11	11Margaret's Joy (KY)	Robby Albarado	117	Michelle Nihei	30/1