Inexpensive The Goddess Lyssa wins first stakes, now 5 for 7

The front-running victory Saturday by odds-on The Goddess Lyssa in the $50,000 Minaret at Tampa was her first in a stakes and now has trainer Gerald Bennett mulling his options with a 4-year-old filly who cost her owner, Mary Thomas of Team Equistaff, a mere $10,000 nearly two years ago.

“I prefer to look around here first, but obviously sometime down the road we have to look at sending her against a little better caliber,” said Bennett.

The Goddess Lyssa, a Florida-bred by Fury Kapcori, earned a career-high 89 Beyer Speed Figure in winning for the fifth time in seven starts, all of them at Tampa. Daniel Centeno was aboard in the 3 1/4-length score.

Later Saturday, Zenden pulled a 7-1 upset in the $75,000 Pelican, the male counterpart to the Minaret, when somehow fending off Souper Stonehenge in a stretch-long duel to prevail by a head. Zenden, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred horse by Fed Biz, earned a 93 Beyer in winning for the fifth time in 14 starts.

:: Click to learn about our DRF's Free Past Performance program.

Samy Camacho was aboard Zenden for owner LLP Performance Horse and trainer Carlos David.

“That was awesome,” David said after watching from Gulfstream Park. “Samy told me the horse was able to relax on the lead and have enough left for the finish. This horse is a fighter, and he wasn’t going to let that other horse past.”

It was the third straight Pelican win for Camacho, who won the 2019 and 2020 runnings on Killybegs Captain.

Meanwhile, Camacho has pulled slightly ahead of Antonio Gallardo in their ongoing duel atop the local jockey standings at a five-month meet that began Nov. 25. Camacho rode eight winners last week while Gallardo rode six, giving Camacho a 59-57 edge into Wednesday.