Big fields for Saturday card of claiming races
The Kentucky Derby postponement is being felt at racetracks far beyond the Churchill Downs gates. Tampa Bay Downs has long hosted large Derby Day crowds, with nearly 12,000 fans pouring through the gates last year for a day of live racing that culminated with the Derby simulcast.
A dramatic contrast is in store for Saturday, when racetrack grandstands and simulcast venues across the map will sit eerily silent. Tampa will still host racing, yes, but a nine-race card that lacks so much as a maiden-special or allowance almost seems appropriate for such a strange occasion. The Derby, of course, has been postponed to Sept. 5 because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Tampa opener goes at 12:20 p.m. Eastern, and true to form it’s a $6,250 claiming race at seven furlongs. The ninth and last race (4:37), a $20,000 claiming race for 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf, offers the largest purse of the day, $17,700.
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Tampa racing secretary Allison De Luca said the modest card is partly the result of using three allowances and two maiden-specials on Wednesday.
“After they’ve failed to go, I’ve been using some of the better races as soon as we can get them to fill,” she said. “It’s just the way things played out this week, nothing intentional. We could’ve used an allowance with six (starters) for Saturday, but the preference is to use a bigger field. At least we have some nice-sized fields,” referring to a total of 102 horses (including 13 also-eligibles) having been entered in the nine races.
Tampa has conducted its 2019-20 meet without interruption, but since March 18, spectators have been banned and stringent health precautions have been in place because of the coronavirus crisis. The Oldsmar, Fla., track is just one of three in North America that will conduct Thoroughbred racing Saturday, along with Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park.
The meet was supposed to effectively end Sunday, but because of the extraordinary circumstances an additional 12 programs will be run through May 30. A three-day schedule (Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) starts next week.
Sunshine and a high of 82 are forecasted for Saturday.
Shug with a three-bagger
Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey won with three of his starters Wednesday at Tampa, all by sizable margins in two-turn turf races, for his first three-win day in more than 15 years.
Passing Out ($6.60) won the third, a second-level allowance, by seven lengths; North Dakota ($4.80) won the seventh, a first-level allowance, by three lengths; and first-time starter Stolen Holiday ($9.20) won the eighth by 4 1/4 lengths. All three were ridden by the meet’s leading jockey, Antonio Gallardo. A fourth McGaughey runner, Amends, finished sixth in the fifth race.
It was the first three-win day for McGaughey since March 19, 2005, when Survivalist captured the Gotham Stakes as his last of three winners at Aqueduct.
Pending a change in the coronavirus situation, McGaughey remains based on the Atlantic Coast. His seven wins (from 16 starts) this winter equal his previous Tampa high, set at the 2016-17 meet (22 starts).
McGaughey, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2004, won six races on the Oct. 16, 1993, card at Belmont Park, including five major stakes.