Allowance race a starting point for Gouverneur Morris

It’s not every Friday that a top Kentucky Derby prospect breaks from the starting gate at Tampa Bay Downs. But that will be the case this Friday when Gouverneur Morris makes his 3-year-old debut among a field of five in a $27,500 first-level allowance.

In two starts at 2, Gouverneur Morris sparked high hopes that he would develop into a serious Derby candidate, winning a Saratoga maiden race by nine lengths before finishing second as the favorite in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland.

With John Velazquez in to ride, Gouverneur Morris will be making his first start in more than four months and be heavily favored in the sixth of nine races at the Oldsmar, Fla., track. The mile and 40-yard race also attracted Untitled, whose 11-length debut win in December at Gulfstream Park also made headlines.

“We’re going into this with our eyes wide open,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Gouverneur Morris for Team Valor International and WinStar Farm. “We’ve had this race planned for some time, hoping it would fill, although that wasn’t taken for granted. Our backup plan was to ship him to Oaklawn Park for the Southwest” on Monday.

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Pletcher said Gouverneur Morris has thrived in his training at Palm Beach Downs in Delray Beach, Fla., and that he is hopeful the Tampa allowance serves as a useful prep toward “a race, maybe two” in which the colt can earn Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

“The horse is doing great,” Pletcher said. “He’s put in some really good, solid breezes with strong gallop-outs. Physically, he’s matured from 2 to 3. He’s always been straightforward mentally. I would expect him to run well without being at his absolute peak. Hopefully, this is a building block to bigger and better things.”

Pletcher compared the current situation to how he proceeded with Always Dreaming in early 2017. Always Dreaming won a Tampa maiden race on Jan. 25, then a Gulfstream allowance on March 4, before earning his way into the Kentucky Derby by winning the Florida Derby in early April. The colt then became Pletcher’s second Kentucky Derby winner, following Super Saver (2010).

“We took one shot at the Derby points with Always Dreaming, and that’s what we’re potentially doing this time, although it would seem there’d be time for a couple of races if we needed it,” he said. “Obviously, we would love to get to the Derby, but we want to get there the right way. Everything will be in play after this.”

Pletcher, a five-time winner of the Tampa Bay Derby, also has used overnight races at Tampa in recent years in preparing other horses such as Vino Rosso and Magnum Moon for the Derby.

“Sometimes it just works out better to ship four hours across the state instead of putting them on a plane to go halfway across the country,” he said.

In fact, the entire field for this race will be vanning across the Florida peninsula from the same area. Gouverneur Morris and a second Pletcher entry, Dudley Square, will be in from Palm Beach, while Untitled, Sounion, and Letmeno are coming from the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach.

“I want to go ahead and see if our horse can get the two turns,” said Mark Casse, trainer of Untitled. “I’d rather find out sooner than later.”

Untitled will break from post 5 and will be ridden by Tampa’s leading jockey, Antonio Gallardo. The Florida-bred colt was squeezed back at the start of his second and most recent race, the Feb. 1 Swale at Gulfstream, before finishing fourth as the favorite.

“We know he’s definitely a nice sprinter,” Casse said. “I thought he was very unlucky in the Swale. The outside post Friday should help him get away clean, you would think.”

First post Friday is 12:40 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 3:16. Dry conditions are in the forecast.

Merango Tango risks perfect mark

The Friday card also will feature the return of Merango Tango, whose victory in an $8,000 conditioned-claiming race at this Tampa meet came in his first start in more than five years.

Merango Tango had won his only two previous starts as a 3-year-old of 2014. He won his comeback on Dec. 27 by four lengths to stay undefeated.

Tim Padilla is the owner and trainer of Merango Tango, now 9. Padilla said the gelding was required to pass a number of stringent tests before being permitted to start after such a long span between races.

Merango Tango, with Dean Butler riding, is entered for a $16,000 claiming tag in the race-9 finale at five furlongs on turf.

◗ A pair of six-furlong stakes for older horses will serve as the weekend highlights at Tampa when the $75,000 Pelican and $50,000 Minaret are run Saturday.