Since her horses were sidelined for seven racing days in December, Tampa Bay Downs trainer Kathleen O’Connell has been making up for lost time.
O’Connell sent out four winners on Jan. 2, tying a track record she established in 2003. It is shared by Gerald Bennett (three times), Jamie Ness (twice) and Chad Brown. That performance was instrumental in O’Connell earning the Martin’s Italian Trainer of the Month Award.
It also kindled hopes for a third consecutive Oldsmar training crown and fifth overall for O’Connell, who first won the title in 1998-99 and captured it again in 2009-10, tying with Ness. O’Connell has nine victories, trailing Juan Carlos Avila (18), Juan Arriagada (13) and Bennett (12).
More on O’Connell in a moment. With $817,003 funneled into today’s late Pick 5 carryover pool, the potential for a huge payoff seemed likely, and victories in the first two legs by 17-1 and 20-1 shots seemed to assure it.
At the end of the card, the winning 4-11-10-6-2 combination paid $21,765 apiece to 35 lucky ticket holders.
The Ultimate 6 was also hit, with one bettor correctly selecting the winners of the final six races – the old 8-4-11-10-6-2 combination – to the tune of $33,093.
Back to O’Connell, one of the track’s most popular trainers due as much to her humility as her winning ways. “Four in a day doesn’t happen too often,” she said Wednesday from Gulfstream Park, where she is overseeing her south Florida string this week. “We felt they were all in good spots and drew good post positions, but you still need to get a good trip to win.
“I’m very happy for everyone in our crew and the owners – it was very hard for them to watch races their horses were supposed to run in.”
Her record-tying afternoon began when the 5-year-old mare Fullmoonmagic won the first race for owner Joseph Capriglione, with Sonny Leon in the saddle. O’Connell and Leon teamed to win the sixth race with Stonehedge LLC-bred and owned 3-year-old filly Justamomentplease, who was claimed from the race for $16,000 by trainer Ralph N. Baez.
O’Connell added the eighth race with DiBello Racing LLC homebred 6-year-old mare Princess Britni, ridden by Jose Ferrer, and the ninth on the turf with Katies a Lady, a 7-year-old mare owned by Double D Stable and ridden by Ademar Santos.
O’Connell’s barn was one of two sidelined last month by a quarantine imposed after a horse was confirmed to have the neurological form of EHV-1 (Equine Herpesvirus Type 1), which is highly contagious. No other horse on the grounds tested positive or displayed any signs of having the virus.
Tampa Bay Downs established numerous safety measures to keep the virus from spreading, including requiring workers at both barns to wear protective footwear and clothing and adopting a temporary training schedule for the affected barns – after the rest of the track’s horse population had already been out and galloped or breezed.
“It was a very tough thing to go through, but everyone on our team pulled together and did a great job. It was a total group effort,” O’Connell said. “Horses are creatures of habit who want structure and routine, and we had to break that up and go to a different routine that was hard on everybody, including the horses. I am a firm believer in schooling a horse at the starting gate and we didn’t have gate-schooling for 21 days, so everything needed to be revamped and we did the best that we could.”
On Sundays during the quarantine, when there was no racing, the track maintenance department dragged the racetrack after horses from other barns had worked to provide O’Connell’s horses a smooth surface. O’Connell cited that as one example of track officials working closely with her to ensure she could keep her horses as race-ready as possible.
“I thought they did a great job of accommodating our needs wherever possible,” she said. “Everybody worked together and tried to do things in a safe manner while helping us with what we needed to get back into action.”
That is when O’Connell and her charges are at their best. Since joining the training ranks in 1981, she has sent out 2,606 career winners, briefly holding the No. 1 spot all-time among North American female trainers in 2023 before being passed by Linda Rice. O’Connell’s national profile skyrocketed in 2015 as the trainer of exciting 3-year-old filly Lady Shipman, who finished second by a neck to Mongolian Saturday in the TwinSpires Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland after winning six stakes and setting two course records.
O’Connell has also trained the likes of 2011 Grade II Tampa Bay Derby winner Watch Me Go, her lone Kentucky Derby starter; Blazing Sword, a winner of three graded stakes from 1997-2000; 2019 Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Well Defined; Stormy Embrace, winner of back-to-back runnings of the Grade II Princess Rooney Stakes in 2018-19; and Ivanavinalot, who won the Grade II Bonnie Miss Stakes in 2003 and is the dam of Hall of Fame member Songbird.
Around the oval. O’Connell won today’s fifth race, which was switched from the turf to the main track, with Surprise Package. The 4-year-old gelding was certainly that to bettors, paying $36.40 to win. Chris Landeros was aboard the SJB Stable-owned winner.
Cipriano Gil and Samy Camacho each rode two winners today. Gil captured the third race on Guapo Again, a 7-year-old gelding owned by Lugamo Racing Stable and trained by Juan Carlos Avila. Gil added the seventh race with Tigre, a 6-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Bay to Bay Racing and trained by Tim Hamm.
Camacho won the fourth race on Twelve Treasures, a 4-year-old gelding owned by Paula S. Capestro and trained by Renaldo Richards. Camacho added the ninth and final race on the turf with Moonscape, a 4-year-old filly owned by Michelle Hemingway and Robert Bruno and trained by Hemingway.
Saturday’s nine-race card is highlighted by the second legs of the Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series, with both the Male and the Female Divisions being contested at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the grass. The four-race series is for horses 4-years-old-and-upward which have started for a claiming price of $16,000 or less in 2025-26.
In the seventh race for males, owner-trainer Ralph N. Baez’s 7-year-old gelding Mackenzie’s Novva, who won the first leg going a mile on Dec. 27 at staggering odds of 92-1, will try for another upset with jockey Gaddiel Martinez back in the saddle. Mackenzie’s Novva is one of four horses in the 12-horse field with morning-line odds of 8-1.
While 9-year-old Embrace My Uncle is the 5-2 morning-line favorite, he is on the also-eligible list as a “Main Track Only” runner. The morning-line favorite among the turf entrants at 3-1 is Eldest Son, who finished second by a head to Mackenzie’s Novva last time. Samuel Marin will ride Eldest Son for trainer Michael Simone.
A field of 12 fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward will contest the Female Division of the Tampa Turf Test, slated as the ninth race. The morning-line favorite at 5-2 is 4-year-old Crafty Collector, who is trained by Gerald Bennett and will be ridden by Samy Camacho. Crafty Collector finished second by a neck on Dec. 27 to 4-year-old Dynamic Actress, who is regarded as the 3-1 second choice. Samuel Marin will again ride Dynamic Actress for trainer John Pimental.
“Live It Up Challenge” begins Saturday. The deadline to register for the free “Live It Up Challenge” handicapping contest is 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, the first day of the event. It runs through the March 7 Festival Day 46 card highlighted by the Grade III ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade II Hillsborough Stakes on the turf.
All wagers are mythical, with players required to make selections each racing day in any two of the three randomly selected “Challenge Races.” A player’s bankroll is based on the payoffs for their selections based on a $2 win, place and show wager.
Participants start the contest with one free lifeline. If a player’s selections in both of a day’s “Challenge Races” do not hit the board, they lose a lifeline. Players may purchase up to eight additional lifelines for $5 each upon signup; up to eight more for $10 each on Jan. 31; and up to four more for $25 each on Feb. 14.
Once a player loses all their lifelines, they are eliminated. Players can only lose a maximum of one lifeline per day.
The player with the largest bankroll will be declared the Grand Prize winner and will receive two seats in the High Rollers Contest in February of 2027 at Tampa Bay Downs, a $2,000 value. The second, third and fourth-place finishers will receive one High Rollers Contest seat apiece in February of 2027 at the Oldsmar oval, a $1,000 value.
A bonus prize of $500 will go to the player who selects the most winners during the contest. To register and for a complete set of contest rules, visit www.liveitupchallenge.com on the Internet.
