Trainer Gerald Bennett unveiled two candidates for the $125,000 Pelican Stakes on Feb. 7 in Friday’s eighth race, a strong $56,500 allowance/optional claiming sprint on the main track.
El Principito, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Bennett’s Winning Stables, Inc., and Todd R. Bittiger and ridden by Jose Ferrer, rallied from far back in the nine-horse field to surge past favorite Uncashed inside the sixteenth pole. Life Is Precious, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Winning Stables and Bittiger and ridden by Daniel Centeno, rallied for second, ¾-length behind El Principito and a half-length ahead of Uncashed.
The field included last year’s Pelican Stakes winner, Nutella Fella – a Grade I winner as a 2-year-old – and stakes winner Pure Class.
As a Florida-bred, El Principito was eligible for additional state-bred money and earned $35,865. El Principito’s time was 1:09.50, less than a second off the Tampa Bay Downs 6-furlong track record. Bennett attributed the performance, in part, to the horse being gelded shortly after his previous start in August, a fourth-place finish in the Benny The Bull Handicap at Gulfstreamz.
“I worked him out of the gate after he was gelded to get the confidence back in him and let him know (he could run without discomfort),” Bennett said. “He’s been training well since we gelded him.”
While El Principito benefited from a wicked speed duel early between Uncashed and longshot Rome’s Conquest, Bennett believed his horse was the likely winner regardless of the pace scenario.
“He can go 1:09 even if he goes to the front. He’s able to win going wire-to-wire,” Bennett said.
Life Is Precious, who finished third in last year’s Pelican, appeared to be closing fastest of all Friday. “Life Is Precious was just spinning his wheels when he ran at Gulfstream this year, but he really likes this racetrack. Another couple of jumps and he’d have beaten (El Principito),” Bennett said.
Bennett, who has won the Pelican Stakes three times, says he has another candidate for the race in 5-year-old gelding Chrome Ghost, bred and owned by J J Brevan Stable. Chrome Ghost won a 6-furlong allowance/optional claiming contest on Nov. 14 at Gulfstream and was second here in March in the Florida Cup NYRABETS Sprint Stakes for Florida-breds.
You never know how that hand will look in in 10 weeks, but Bennett – who won today’s fourth race with 2-year-old Florida-bred filly R End of a Dream, a first-time starter – is pleased with how all three sprinters are training and competing.
Go west, young man. Oldsmar jockey Pablo Morales was named to ride trainer Wesley Ward’s 5-year-old gelding No Nay Hudson in the Prevagen Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Del Mar on Nov. 1, but the race was oversubscribed and the Ireland-bred No Nay Hudson failed to draw in off the also-eligible list.
While it was disappointing not to be able to showcase No Nay Hudson on racing’s top stage, Morales didn’t think it would be long before he heard from Ward again. The 37-year-old rider had won the Grade II Nearctic Stakes Presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, a 5-furlong turf sprint, on No Nay Hudson on Oct. 4 at Woodbine in Toronto.
The jockey’s previous successes on Ward-trained horses include the Grade II Highlander Stakes in 2022 at Woodbine on 8-year-old Bound for Nowhere and the 2024 Prairie Meadows Debutante on juvenile filly Long Neck Paula.
So when the call came to ride No Nay Hudson again Sunday at Del Mar in the $100,000 Stormy Liberal Stakes sprinting 5 furlongs on the turf, it didn’t take Morales long to prepare. He will fly out to San Diego tonight.
No Nay Hudson is 8-1 on the morning line in the 10-horse field.
“When (Ward) said that he wanted me back, I said of course. We were pretty excited about it,” Morales said. “He ran a really big race (in the Nearctic Stakes) closing, which is something he hadn’t done before. He’s usually been close up in his races, but he got pinched a little coming out of the gate and gave me a big performance to win the race.”
Morales hopes another big effort will provide him an opportunity to ride No Nay Hudson again in graded-stakes company.
“Getting a chance to ride for a trainer like Wesley Ward and compete at Del Mar – I’ve never been there – it’s a huge opportunity. The race will only last about 55 seconds, but when (Ward) calls I just go,” Morales said.
Post time for the Stormy Liberal, which is the fifth race on the Del Mar card, is 5:32 Eastern Time. The entire card will be simulcast at Tampa Bay Downs.
Around the oval. Multiple stakes-winning 5-year-old gelding Silver Slugger turned in a strong effort in today’s eighth race, a 6 ½-furlong starter/optional claiming event. Kept to his task by jockey Sonny Leon after getting checked momentarily on the backstretch, Silver Slugger wore down Mr. Penny Pincher late to triumph in a time of 1:16.81.
Jose Francisco D’Angelo, who trained back-to-back Breeders’ Cup winners four weeks ago in Shisospicy and Bentornato, sent out the winners of today’s second and third races. He captured the second with 4-year-old Florida-bred filly Classic Ballad, owned by Bruno Schickedanz and ridden by Samuel Marin.
D’Angelo added the third with Gallant Knight, a 3-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Brent Fernung and ridden by Cipriano Gil.
Trainer Terri Pompay also posted back-to-back victories, both for owner My Purple Haze Stables. She won the sixth race with Bridoza, a 3-year-old Florida-bred colt ridden by Sonny Leon. Pompay added the seventh on the turf with Quistmer, a 4-year-old gelding ridden by Chris Landeros.
Thoroughbred racing continues Wednesday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:25 p.m. Tampa Bay Downs races on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday schedule, with Sundays added to the mix on Dec. 21.
The track is open every day except Christmas, Dec. 25, for simulcasting, no-limits action and tournament play in The Silks Poker Room and golf fun and instruction at The Downs Golf Practice Facility.
Register for “10 Days of Festivus.” The “10 Days of Festivus Challenge” Handicapping Contest begins Friday and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 24. It’s fun and it’s free, and the winner earns $1,000. Interested? Players must register by 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 to be eligible. The runner-up earns $500.
Each day, players select one of two designated CHALLENGE RACES and make their choice in the race, with results determined from a mythical $2 win-place-show wager on their pick. Players begin the contest with a free lifeline and have an opportunity throughout the contest to purchase five more lifelines. Players lose a lifeline if their choice does not finish first, second or third, or if they fail to make a selection on a contest day.
A full set of rules is available at www.festivuschallenge.com , which is also the place to register. See how your skills stack up against many of the track’s top handicappers.
Officials and staff of Tampa Bay Downs invite Thoroughbred lovers and newcomers alike to share in the excitement of the Oldsmar oval’s meet-long centennial celebration, commemorating the track’s opening on Feb. 18, 1926.
