Eclipse Award winners Castellano, Gaffalione head to Ocala for Day of Champions

Racing returns to the heart of Florida horse country Tuesday, when the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. puts on its annual day of racing at the Ocala Training Center. The five-race card includes four stakes for 3-year-olds who have passed through the auction ring there. The races are run on the OTC’s synthetic Safetrack surface.

Though parimutuel wagering is only offered on the card’s first two races – a $10,000 allowance for Quarter Horses going 440 yards and the $50,000 males’ division of the OBS Sprint – the event regularly draws several thousand local residents to watch the only day of live racing in Marion County. And this year, OBS’s 27th annual Day of Champions has drawn some big names, including Javier Castellano and Tyler Gaffalione, who won Eclipse Awards as the top jockey and apprentice jockey of 2015.

Race 2 is the $50,000 OBS Sprint for males at six furlongs, and the fillies’ division is Race 3. The fourth race is the $100,000 fillies’ division of the OBS Championship at 1 1/16 miles, and the card concludes with the males’ division.

In Race 2, Castellano will be aboard the 7-2 morning-line favorite in the field of 13, Pinstripe, trained by Todd Pletcher. The son of High Cotton won his only start impressively, taking a $34,000 maiden special weight sprint for Florida-breds by five lengths Dec. 30 at Gulfstream Park. The horse has breezed twice at Palm Beach Downs since then.

The horse with the best Beyer Speed Figure in the field is Lazarus Project, who scored an 82 for his nose victory in a $60,000 maiden special weight sprint at Aqueduct last out in November. The Discreetly Mine colt will have Joe Bravo aboard for the first time for trainer Joe Orseno.

Trainer Mark Casse regularly breezes horses at the OTC and sends out Our Nation, who most recently scored a 68 Beyer for winning a $42,678 maiden special weight sprint by 2 1/4 lengths on the Polytrack surface at Woodbine on Nov. 20.

Our Nation has been training steadily at Palm Meadows in recent weeks and will get Lasix for the first time Tuesday after some blood was found in his trachea following his maiden win, Casse said. The son of the sire United States sold for $150,000 last March as a 2-year-old in training, making him the most expensive purchase in this field. Jose Lezcano will ride.

“He’s run well and trained well over the synthetic, so that’s why he’s here,” Casse said. “It’s not an easy race, but it looks like he’s got probably as good a shot as anybody. At OBS, it never hurts to be close [to the pace]. There are some fast horses in there, so I wouldn’t think he’d be too far out of it.”

Other contenders include Oscar Mike, for trainer Mike Maker, and Drama Club, for trainer David Fawkes. Oscar Mike lures jockey Joel Rosario after taking a $75,000 maiden special weight sprint on the Belmont Park turf with a 70 Beyer last out Nov. 1. Drama Club earned a 74 Beyer for winning a $50,000 maiden-claiming race on turf at Gulfstream Park West in October.

◗ In Race 3, the fillies’ division of the OBS Sprint, trainer Larry Rivelli has Moms Choice, the runner-up in the $300,000 Juvenile Fillies Stakes, a seven-furlong turf race at Kentucky Downs in September. Though Moms Choice also was entered in the OBS Championship and has run in three consecutive route races, she will return to sprinting here, Rivelli said. The filly won her career debut sprinting on Arlington’s Polytrack last August under Jose Valdivia Jr., who is aboard Tuesday.

Gaffalione will ride Kandoo after the pair finished third in the $57,500 Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs last month for trainer Ralph Nicks. Orseno sends out Hi Holiday, who won the $77,500 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park in September.

◗ In Race 4, the fillies’ division of the OBS Championship, Tom Albertrani will send out Awesome Dame, who won a maiden special weight race by one length while going a mile at Gulfstream Park last out Dec. 27. The daughter of Awesome of Course had finished second in her three previous starts, all on the New York Racing Association circuit.

Also entered are Bonita, who finished a close third in the $75,000 Hut Hut Stakes at Gulfstream Park West in November after winning her career debut for trainer Chad Stewart, and Silver Magnolia, who romped by 8 1/2 lengths in a maiden special weight race going a mile on the Tampa Bay Downs turf course last out Dec. 23.

◗ In Race 5, the males’ division of the OBS Championship, Maker sends out Swagger Jagger, who has won two straight, including the $75,000 Pulpit Stakes at a mile on the Gulfstream Park West turf in November.

Also entered are Bullet Gone Astray, who won the $100,000 Mountaineer Juvenile in August and most recently was third in the $100,000 Mucho Macho Man Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 2 for trainer Henry Collazo, and Extinct Charm, who beat fellow New York-breds last month at Aqueduct in the $98,000 Damon Runyon Stakes for trainer Gary Contessa.