Chrome Ghost to keep doing what he does best
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OLDSMAR, Fla. – Chrome Ghost has been tried on multiple surfaces and at multiple distances, but his favorite thing to do is sprint on dirt at Tampa Bay Downs.
On Wednesday, Chrome Ghost gets to do that for a third straight time against six rivals in a multi-conditioned allowance/optional $100,000 claiming race at seven furlongs. Chrome Ghost is one of five of the seven runners in this field entered for the high claiming tag.
Chrome Ghost, a 5-year-old gelding by Shaman Ghost trained by Gerald Bennett, won a second-level/optional $32,000 claiming race by two lengths here Jan. 11. It was his third win from four starts sprinting on dirt at Tampa. Last spring, Chrome Ghost won twice in 16 days sprinting on dirt here, and Bennett is hoping for something similar this March. He plans to use Wednesday’s race as a springboard to the $110,000 NYRABets Sprint on March 30. That race is restricted to registered Florida-breds and is one of six such stakes offered that day.
“He’s been winning well in hand on this racetrack,” said Bennett, adding that he hasn’t raced Chrome Ghost since Jan. 11 because he’s “trying to keep him fresh for March 30.”
Bennett added, “I won’t have to do hardly anything with him. He’s a light-framed horse. He doesn’t carry a lot of weight.”
Most members of this field have done their best work on turf or synthetic. One of the exceptions is John Jay, who returns from a seven-month layoff following a win at Monmouth on Aug. 16. Trainer Pat McBurney gave him a break after running 13 times in 11 months.
“He had a busy year, then came up with a little splint, nothing major,” McBurney said. “He’s literally been ready to run for six weeks, but I couldn’t get a race here and I didn’t want to ship him to Gulfstream for his first race back.”
McBurney said he would prefer six furlongs for John Jay, but “he needs to get over there and get back to work.”
McBurney also sends out Mohs, who hasn’t raced on dirt since he was beaten a nose in an off-the-turf allowance at Monmouth Park in 2021.
“If it wasn’t his fastest, it was equal to his best turf number,” McBurney said. “I always thought he’d prefer the grass more because he was never keen about eating dirt.”
McBurney said Mohs was excluded from a turf allowance race and he just wants to get him back to the races.
Dreaming of Kona is looking to break a 13-race losing streak dating back to June 2023. He was fourth, beaten 1 3/4 lengths in the Pelican Stakes on Feb. 8, a race that has produced three next-out winners. In his next start, Dreaming of Kona ran sixth in an optional $62,500 claiming race at Gulfstream.
Khozeiress, trained by Terri Pompay, drops into this race after four straight stakes tries. He has won the last two non-stakes races in which he’s competed and gets the services of the meet’s leading rider in Samuel Marin.
Going Up, trained by Ron Potts, has run just once on dirt, that being a victory in a restricted sprint stakes at Colonial Downs in August 2023.
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