Back in top form, Mr. Jagermeister headed to Pelican Stakes

Mr. Jagermeister goes next in the Pelican Stakes on Feb. 12 at Tampa Bay Downs after becoming the only horse to earn a triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure at the 2021-22 meet at the Oldsmar, Fla., track so far.

Trainer Valorie Lund, who co-owns Mr. Jagermeister with breeder Kristin Boice, said the six-furlong Pelican is a logical next spot after the Minnesota-bred star earned a 100 Beyer with a seven-length victory in a six-furlong allowance on Jan. 9.

“Knock on wood, I’ve got him back at 100 percent right now,” Lund said. “The last two seasons, he’s had some trouble,” explaining that Mr. Jagermeister struggled to recover in 2020 from an injured hock, then in 2021 from a quarter crack.

“He’s really doing well again, and obviously he loves the surface at Tampa,” she added. “We’re just crossing our fingers that he’ll stay that way and hopefully we can enjoy a fine year with him.”

Mr. Jagermeister, a 7-year-old horse, has now won 13 of 37 starts for earnings of $700,839. He’s very popular at Canterbury Park, where he has won six Minnesota-bred stakes. Lund, 63, is wintering for the first time at Tampa after mostly splitting her time between Canterbury and Turf Paradise in Arizona, which she still calls home.

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“We’d gone to Oaklawn and Kentucky the last couple of winters,” she said, “but it was just so freezing cold that I said ‘Where can I go where the weather is good?’ And that’s how we wound up in Florida.”

Mr. Jagermeister was sired by Atta Boy Roy, heretofore the best horse trained by Lund in a career that began in Oregon in 1985. Atta Boy Roy won 14 races, most notably the Churchill Downs Stakes, then a Grade 2, on the 2010 Kentucky Derby undercard.

Mr. Jagermeister’s 100 Beyer is the largest at Tampa since Justaholic got a 102 in a five-furlong turf race in April 2021.

The Pelican is one of four stakes on a Feb. 12 card highlighted by the Sam F. Davis, a Kentucky Derby points qualifier.

The Sam Davis anchors a Festival Preview card that has undergone a couple of tweaks. Two Grade 3 turf fixtures, the Tampa Bay and Endeavour, that previously were part of that program are now being run a week earlier on Feb. 5 on what track management has labeled Turf Champions Day.