Airoforce to bypass Sam F. Davis Stakes

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Airoforce, the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, will not make his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 13, but trainer Mark Casse still is likely to be represented in the race by Whatawonderflworld, the winner of the $100,000 males’ division of the OBS Championship.

Airoforce breezed five furlongs in 1:00.25 on Sunday, the second-fastest of 32 workouts at the distance at Palm Meadows that day.

“He’s not going to come,” Casse said. “He worked really well, but we scoped him afterwards, and he was full of mucus, so we’re just not going to do it. We have to figure out where we’re going to go.”

Casse said Airoforce might ship outside of Florida for his sophomore debut. One option is the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds on Feb. 20.

Airoforce, owned by John C. Oxley, concluded his juvenile season by winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 28. The son of Colonel John also won the Grade 3 Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland on Oct. 4 and lost by a neck to the rallying Hit It a Bomb in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf on Oct. 30.

Casse said that as long as Whatawonderflworld trains well at the Ocala Training Center this weekend, he likely will start in the Sam F. Davis Stakes. Whatawonderflworld overcame a four-wide trip to score by a length in the OBS Championship, a 1 1/16-mile race on the OTC’s synthetic Safetrack surface on Jan. 26.

Whatawonderflworld, a gelding by Tiz Wonderful owned by Gary Barber, had made all three of his prior starts against fellow New York-breds last fall, including wins in a $60,000 maiden special weight race at Belmont Park in October and a first-level optional $75,000 claimer at Aqueduct in November.

“He’s won his last three – he’s just a winner, that horse,” Casse said. “I thought he had every reason to lose at OBS. I don’t know how much farther he ran than the second-place horse, but it was a long ways. We’ve already trained him on the dirt, and he’s trained really well on it, and he really came out of his last race in good order.”

Casse has Tepin, the champion turf female of 2015, set to make her 5-year-old debut in the Grade 3, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for older fillies and mares here Feb. 13. Tepin, who beat males Oct. 31 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, worked five furlongs in 1:00.95 on Sunday, the fourth-fastest work at the distance at Palm Meadows that day.

“I thought she went super,” Casse said. “She’s just an amazing horse.”

Casse said he also likely will run Sky Captain in the Grade 3, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for older horses here Feb. 13. Sky Captain, a 6-year-old son of Sky Mesa owned by Oxley, turned in a bullet workout at Palm Meadows on Sunday, going five furlongs in 59.30 seconds.

“He worked phenomenal,” Casse said. “We think he’s a really good turf horse.”

Sky Captain most recently was eighth in a rich optional claimer at Churchill Downs on Nov. 15, and Casse said the horse came out of that race with a foot abscess. Prior to that, Sky Captain was fourth in the Grade 1 Turf Classic on the Kentucky Derby undercard last May. He won the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes at Woodbine in 2014.

◗ Avanzare, who won a pair of Grade 2 turf races last year, moved closer to his 2016 debut by turning in a bullet workout here Saturday, five furlongs in 1:01. Trained by Tom Proctor, Avanzare has made eight consecutive starts in graded stakes and is a logical candidate for the Tampa Bay Stakes.

Avanzare, a 6-year-old gelding by Grand Reward, won the Arcadia Stakes at Santa Anita in January 2015 and the Del Mar Mile Handicap last August, both going one mile. Most recently, he was eighth in the Grade 2 Seabiscuit Handicap at 1 1/16 miles on turf at Del Mar on Nov. 27.