Heiressall, Shivaree end season on high note in Tampa stakes

As stakes action at Tampa Bay Downs takes a customary five-week break from mid-December to mid-January, the results from a couple of Florida-bred stakes at the Oldsmar track will linger.

Shivaree and Heiressall both shipped across the Florida peninsula from Gulfstream Park to post season-ending triumphs Saturday at Tampa in the Marion County and City of Ocala, respectively. Both got terrific trips from just off the pace in setting them up for what should be a productive 2021.

“Hopefully he can be one of the better Florida-bred 4-year-olds next year,” trainer Ralph Nicks said of Shivaree, whose ambitious 2020 campaign was bookended by stakes wins, the first coming in the ungraded Limehouse at Gulfstream in early January.

“She is a professional girl, all business on the racetrack,” trainer Terri Pompay said of Heiressall, a 5-year-old mare bred and owned by Pompay’s longtime client, the My Purple Haze Stables of Wanda Polisseni.

Shivaree, a Jacks or Better Farms homebred, likely will be rematched with Jackson in the Jan. 16 Sunshine Millions Sprint at Gulfstream. Jackson, trained by Jose Pinchin, had been 3 for 3 at Tampa, all stakes, when forging to the lead in the Marion County, only to be overhauled in the final furlong when settling for second.

Shivaree earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure and Heiressall got an 80.

Meanwhile, stakes coordinator Gerry Stanislawzyk can tend to other administrative duties in the Tampa racing office for a while. There won’t be another stakes at Tampa until Jan. 16, when the Pasco, Gasparilla, and Wayward Lass are run. The biggest dates at the five-month-plus meet are Feb. 6 (Sam F. Davis) and March 6 (Tampa Bay Derby).