Confessional, Renegade top prospective field for Sam F. Davis
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Confessional disappointed as the favorite in his 3-year-old debut, but perhaps that five-length loss to Nearly doesn’t seem so bad anymore.
Nearly bounced out of that Jan. 2 allowance win at Gulfstream Park to move near the top of many handicappers’ early Kentucky Derby contenders lists with a dominant 5 3/4-length victory in last Saturday’s Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream. Meanwhile, Confessional will look to jump on the Derby trail himself Saturday when he is scheduled to make his stakes debut in the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
Confessional, a son of Essential Quality trained by Brad Cox, will be first or second choice in a field that includes Renegade, who despite his official status as a maiden, could be favored for trainer Todd Pletcher. Cox won last year’s Sam Davis with John Hancock, who would then finish fourth in the Louisiana Derby but never run again.
Confessional bumped hard with Nearly early on in that four-horse allowance race but faltered while Nearly went onto an easy victory. Confessional finished 4 3/4 lengths clear of the rest of the field in second.
Cox said he will remove blinkers from Confessional’s equipment, which he hopes will help him settle early in the race. Confessional will be ridden by Flavien Prat for the first time, Cox said.
Entries for the Sam Davis will be taken on Wednesday. The field is expected to include Renegade, who was beaten two lengths by Paladin in the Grade 2 Remsen, and his Pletcher-trained stablemate, Epic Desire, a maiden winner at Tampa on Jan. 9.
Others expected include Game for It, who scratched out of the Holy Bull, Max Capacity, Dr. Kapur, Wayne’s Law, and possibly Ocelli and Clocker Special.
The Sam Davis, a stepping-stone to the Tampa Bay Derby on March 7, offers its top five finishers qualifying points (20-10-6-4-2) to the May 2 Kentucky Derby.
◗ Tampa will be racing Thursdays for the next two weeks, making up for a pair of Sunday cards that were not scheduled due to an outbreak of equine herpes virus that impacted a couple of barns.
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