Florida-breds Strategic Bird, Cattin clean up in stakes

Atlantic Coast shippers Strategic Bird and Cattin emerged victorious as stakes action at the 2021-22 meet at Tampa Bay Downs got under way Saturday with the Sandpiper and Inaugural, a pair of six-furlong races for 2-year-olds, amid ideal weather at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.

Purses for both races were billed as $100,000, although only the first $50,000 was to be shared among the top finishers. Another $50,000 was to be awarded wholly to the winner only if he or she is a registered Florida-bred – which happened to be the case with both winners.

The Sandpiper, for fillies, and Inaugural, for 2-year-olds, are the respective local preps for the Gasparilla and Pasco, to be run Jan. 15 at seven furlongs.

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Sandpiper Stakes

Strategic Bird was wheeling back three weeks after a smashing 12 3/4-length debut romp at Gulfstream Park. She didn’t have it nearly as easy in the Sandpiper – but she still was game enough to prevail by a neck over a persistent Devine Charger.

Ridden by Antonio Gallardo, Strategic Bird broke a tad slowly from the inside post in a field of nine, but not enough to keep her and jockey Antonio Gallardo from streaking to an open lead after just a dozen strides or so. Leaving the half-mile pole, Strategic Bird and Devine Charger already had opened daylight on the others, and by the eighth pole, their two-filly race was getting tighter. In the final yards, racing closest to the rail, Strategic Bird never let her rival past, finishing in 1:10.05 over a fast track and returning $4 as a solid favorite.

Devine Charger, the 5-2 second choice, was another seven lengths ahead of late-running Chasing Happiness in third.

Mark Casse trains Strategic Bird for longtime client Gary Barber. The bay filly is from the first crop of Noble Bird, whom Casse trained for John Oxley, the filly’s breeder. She earned $80,000, including the $50,000 bonus as one of four Florida-breds in the field.

Inaugural Stakes

Cattin ($11.40) was the trailer midway down the backside in a tightly grouped field of nine colts and geldings in the Inaugural, but then he and jockey Samy Camacho quickly began picking off rivals one by one. Leaving the quarter pole, it was obvious that Cattin was going best of all, and Camacho kept the Neolitic colt to his task before letting up about 40 yards before the wire.

Lightening Larry was 2 3/4 lengths behind the winner in second and was followed by Grand Valley and Magical Mousse. Concrete Glory, the 8-5 favorite, was not a serious factor and finished eighth.

As one of three Florida-breds in the lineup, Cattin also earned $80,000 for owners Corinne and Bill Heiligbrodt after finishing in 1:10.90 for his second victory in four starts. The colt had finished third and fourth in the Florida Sire Stakes series at Gulfstream in his last two starts.

It was a bittersweet victory for trainer Ralph Nicks. It was the first stakes win for Nicks since his father, retired trainer Morris Nicks, died Nov. 25 in Texas at age 74 following a lengthy illness.