Full field entered for Tampa Bay Derby despite rainy forecast

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Oh, great. Local forecasters are calling for a 100 percent chance of rain for the biggest day of the Tampa Bay Downs meet Saturday, although the prospect of a sloppy track sure didn’t keep horsemen from flooding the entry box for the Tampa Bay Derby.

A capacity field of 12 3-year-olds was entered here Wednesday for the Tampa Bay Derby, the only points qualifier toward the May 7 Kentucky Derby scheduled for this weekend or next.

Chad Brown was among the high-profile trainers phoning the Tampa racing office when making something of a surprise entry with the flashy debut winner Money Supply, who earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in winning a six-furlong maiden-special that opened the Sam F. Davis card here Feb. 12.

Jose Ortiz, who rode Money Supply that day, will be back from Gulfstream Park to ride the Practical Joke colt when being flown in Saturday morning with his older brother, Irad, who has a return mount on the clear-cut race favorite, Classic Causeway.

A 3 3/4-length winner of the Davis, Classic Causeway will take plenty of beating with a repeat effort in the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, a 50-20-10-5 qualifier toward the Kentucky Derby. The Giant’s Causeway colt has flourished in the interim at his Palm Meadows base on the Atlantic Coast, according to trainer Brian Lynch.

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“He came out of the Davis in great shape,” Lynch said. “He’s carrying good weight and he has great energy, so we’re counting our blessings. He seemed to really like the racetrack, so we thought the smart thing was to take him back over there and have a crack at the Tampa Bay Derby.”

Besides Money Supply, the other likely favorites behind Classic Causeway include Shipsational, Major General, and Giant Game.

Shipsational, second in the Davis, also has trained smartly in the intervening weeks, according to trainer Eddie Barker. The New York-bred colt was making his first start outside of restricted company when rallying from well back in the Davis to gain the runner-up spot in the late going.

Major General will be making his first start since winning the Iroquois at Churchill Downs in mid-September. His trainer, Todd Pletcher, also had considered Charge It for this race before deciding Tuesday to wait instead for the Florida Derby on April 2 at Gulfstream with the Tapit colt.

Giant Game was an 11th-hour entry by Dale Romans, who said Wednesday he is not “100 percent sure we’ll actually run” as he also mulls a later Derby prep for the third-place finisher in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

A number of longer-priced colts round out the lineup, including two owned by BBN Racing partnerships, Trademark and Spin Wheel. BBN stands for Big Blue Nation, and with the University of Kentucky favored to win the Southeastern Conference men’s basketball tournament being played in Tampa this weekend, BBN co-founder Brian Klatsky is hoping he and the other Kentucky fans coming to town will be treated to a memorable experience, soggy weather or not.

“It’s going to be a BBN invasion of Tampa,” Klatsky said. “We think we’ve got two decent shots in the Tampa Derby.”

Trademark, trained by Vicki Oliver, finished a distant last of 12 in the Davis after winning back-to-back two-turn races to end his 2-year-old season in Kentucky. The colt had a rough trip in the Davis when hitting his head on the gate at the break, then rushing up into contention in an effort that left him spent.

The 42nd Tampa Bay Derby anchors the annual Festival Day card that also includes four other stakes – the Grade 2 Hillsborough, Grade 3 Florida Oaks, Grade 3 Challenger, and the Columbia.

First post for a 12-race Saturday card is noon Eastern. How a sloppy track might affect the running of the Tampa Bay Derby is subject to speculation, given most starters have no established form over off going, including Classic Causeway.