Indy Breeze has top team going for her
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Fillies and mares will provide the highlights of Sunday’s card at Tampa Bay Downs in a pair of second-level optional $32,000 claimers on the main track. Each race offers a $24,000 purse and drew a field of seven, with race 3 for sprinters going six furlongs and race 7 for routers going one mile and 40 yards.
In the third race, the powerhouse tandem of trainer Jamie Ness and jockey Antonio Gallardo has the 9-5 morning-line favorite in Indy Breeze. The 5-year-old mare will be coming back on short rest after winning a race at this level by 2 1/2 lengths here Dec. 9. She earned a 75 Beyer Speed Figure for that 6 1/2-furlong race, the highest last-race mark in this field. Indy Breeze, who is 2 for 4 on the Tampa dirt, is among five horses in for the tag.
One of the horses who isn’t in for a tag is Lovethislife, who is stepping down in class after a pair of richer races at Churchill Downs and will be running in Florida for the first time. Trained by William Connelly, the 3-year-old filly earned a career-best 75 Beyer three starts back in August, when she scored a front-running 3 1/2-length win in a first-level allowance at Ellis Park.
The race also includes Ms Hoochie Coochie, who enters off a win as the favorite in a $25,000 claimer at Churchill Downs on Nov. 15.
In race 7, one of the leading contenders is Wilhelmina, the runner-up to Indy Breeze in that Dec. 9 race. Wilhelmina, a 5-year-old mare trained by Dean Ward, has made 11 consecutive starts in sprints but has had some success routing. Back in March 2014, Wilhelmina won a second-level optional $40,000 claimer going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park with a career-best 80 Beyer.
The 2-1 morning-line favorite is Street Song, who turned in a bullet half-mile workout in 48.20 seconds for trainer Ian Wilkes here Dec. 19. The 3-year-old filly is stepping down in class after running in richer races at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, where she was sixth, beaten 4 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 3 Dogwood Stakes in September.
Also in the field is Kinsley, who won a first-level optional $16,000 claimer at Gulfstream Park West last out for trainer Todd Pletcher, and Redshirt, who has won two straight races for trainer Eoin Harty.