Trainer Chad Brown and jockey Flavien Prat enjoyed an afternoon most horsemen only fantasize about during last season’s “Turf Champions Day” card at Tampa Bay Downs.
The reigning 2024 Eclipse Award winners teamed for four victories from four races, including the Grade III, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes with Calumet Farm’s 6-year-old horse Running Bee in course-record time of 1:38.83 for a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf and the Grade III, $175,000 Endeavour Stakes with CHP Racing’s 6-year-old mare Saffron Moon in stakes-record time of 1:39.92.
The chances appear good that Brown will be prepared for a successful defense or even two on Saturday, Jan. 31. He has nominated seven horses to the 27th running of the Endeavour and two to the 40th edition of the Tampa Bay Stakes.
Nominations closed last weekend with 40 older fillies and mares nominated to the Endeavour and 35 males to the Tampa Bay Stakes.
Brown has won the Endeavour three times in the last five years and five times overall. His nominees this year include Frederick Hertrich, III and John D. Fielding’s 5-year-old Whiskey Decision, a Grade III winner last spring on turf at Monmouth Park, and multiple-stakes winner Oversubscribed, a 5-year-old owned by Klaravich Stables.
Trainer Mark Casse, who won the 2016 Endeavour Stakes with Hall of Fame member Tepin, has five nominees for the race. That group includes Canadian Grade I winner And One More Time, a 4-year-old owned by Live Oak Plantation.
Should trainer H. Graham Motion take a shot, he will be bidding for his third Endeavour trophy. His nominees include Warming, a 4-year-old Grade III winner owned by Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and For Flying, a 6-year-old mare owned by Newstead Stables.
Other impressive-looking Endeavour nominees include Qatar Racing’s 6-year-old Breath Away, a Grade II winner who finished fourth in last year’s Endeavour, trained by Miguel Clement; 6-year-old Child of the Moon, a French-bred import owned by Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and Louis Lazzinnaro and trained by Brown; and 5-year-old Ready for Shirl, a Grade II winner owned by Charles E. Fipke and trained by Roger Attfield.
Here are the links to the Endeavour Stakes nominees and their past performances:
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20260131-598356
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20260131-598356
Brown has two nominated to the Tampa Bay Stakes – multiple Grade-I winner Program Trading, owned by Klaravich Stables, and lightly raced 4-year-old Dirand, owned by Peter M. Brant and Tony Shafrazian.
The 6-year-old ridgling Program Trading has earned more than $1.5-million. His most recent start was in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Del Mar on Nov. 1, and although he finished 10th, he was beaten only 5 ¼ lengths. His Grade I victories include the 2023 Saratoga Derby Invitational, the 2023 Hollywood Derby and the 2024 Od Forester Bourbon Classic.
Hall of Fame trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey, III has won four of the last 10 editions of the Tampa Bay Stakes and leads all conditioners with four nominees for the race. Heading that list is the 7-year-old Fort Washington, whose three graded-stakes victories in 2025 included the Grade I Arlington Million in August at Colonial Downs.
McGaughey has also nominated Battle of Normandy, a 6-year-old owned by West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing.
Michael Maker has nominated three runners to the Tampa Bay Stakes. That group includes Emmanuel, a 7-year-old career millionaire who won the Tampa Bay Stakes back in 2023, setting a (then)-course record of 1:39.25 for trainer Todd Pletcher in the process.
Pletcher has nominated Major Dude, a 6-year-old multiple-Grade II winner owned by Spendthrift Farm. Major Dude won the Artie Schiller Stakes in October at the Belmont At The Big A meet in his most recent start.
Michael Stidham has nominated a pair for the Tampa Bay Stakes in 4-year-old colts Tom’s Magic and Montador. Tom’s Magic, owned by CJ Thoroughbreds and Mo Speed Racing, is a three-time stakes winner who finished second in the Grade I Hollywood Derby at Del Mar on Nov. 29 in his most recent start.
Montador, a homebred racing for Godolphin, won the Woodchopper Stakes on Dec. 27 at Fair Grounds.
Casse, who won the Tampa Bay Stakes in 2018 with World Approval, has nominated 7-year-old gelding Win for the Money for Live Oak Plantation. Win for the Money won the Grade I Woodbine Mile in 2024.
Here are the links to the Tampa Bay Stakes nominees and their past performances:
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SN-TAM-20260131-598353
https://www.equibase.com/premium/eqbHorsemenAreaDownloadAction.cfm?sn=SNPP-TAM-20260131-598353
Around the oval. The 2025 Pasco Stakes winner, trainer Gerald Bennett’s 4-year-old Florida-bred colt Naughty Rascal, ran second to 6-year-old Florida-bred gelding Uncashed in today’s second race, a $56,500, 6-furlong allowance/optional claiming race. It was the first start for Naughty Rascal since finishing sixth in the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby in March.
Uncashed won by a half-length in a time of 1:10.03, with Beeline another nose back in third. Pablo Morales rode Uncashed for owner Patricia’s Hope LLC and trainer Larry Rivelli. Uncashed improved to 13-for-25 in his career.
Morales also won the fifth race on the turf, riding first-time starter French Tip to a neck victory from Consider Me First in a time of 1:37.34 for the 1-mile distance. The winning 3-year-old filly is owned by Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor.
Daniel Centeno also rode two winners, both on the turf. He captured the third race aboard So So, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Amaty Racing Stables and trained by Jose A. Gallegos. Centeno added the ninth and final race with Classicals Finale, a 4-year-old filly owned by LBR Racing Stable and Scott Leavitt and trained by Richard Sillaman.
Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:32 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday-Sunday schedule, with a pair of Thursday cards added on Feb. 5 and Feb. 12. The track is open every day for simulcast wagering, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf instruction and pleasure at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.
Saturday is the track’s annual “Cap Giveaway Day.” All patrons will receive the centennial black cap with gold lettering against the Tampa Bay Downs 100 logo with their paid admission, while supplies last. Encircling the logo are the words “100 Years of Thoroughbred Racing,” and directly below, the years “1926-2026.”
Tampa Bay Downs jockeys will be on hand to sign the caps for fans wanting autographs. The gates will open at 11 a.m.
