King Guillermo will train up to Kentucky Derby

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Fourteen of the last 20 winners of the Tampa Bay Derby have run back in the Kentucky Derby. Destin in 2016 was the only one of them not to have a race in between, and he finished sixth behind Nyquist prior to losing a tight photo in the Belmont Stakes.

Trainer Juan Carlos Avila, a relative newcomer to the American racing scene, will be looking to do even better when King Guillermo goes eight weeks without a race. The Uncle Mo colt will train into the May 2 Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs after posting a runaway victory Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.

:: KENTUCKY DERBY 2020: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more

King Guillermo, ridden by Samy Camacho, earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure when cruising to a 4 3/4-length score in the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, finishing 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.63 over a fast track. His winning odds of 49-1 were the second-highest in 40 runnings of the Tampa Bay Downs showcase, after Bold Southerner (88-1) in 1984.

King Guillermo is owned by retired Major League Baseball star Victor Martinez, who told Tampa publicity on Sunday that he fully intends to make the colt eligible to the Triple Crown by paying a $6,000 late fee prior to the March 30 deadline. Martinez was in the middle of an extraordinarily joyful celebration of several dozen family and friends that erupted in the aftermath of a breakthrough effort from the colt he named for his late father, who died when Martinez was only 6.

Avila said Sunday that King Guillermo will train at his home base of Gulfstream Park prior to being sent to Kentucky. Avila, 56, speaks little English, having moved a little more than two years ago to the United States from his home country of Venezuela. Martinez also hails from Venezuela, and the men first entered business together when Martinez bought King Guillermo for $150,000 at the April 2019 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s 2-year-old sale.

Through a close friend, jockey agent Tito Fuentes, Avila said he has trained for 30 years and had close to 100 stakes wins in Venezuela. His first two U.S. stakes wins came Saturday at Tampa, first with Trophy Chaser in the Grade 3 Challenger, followed nearly two hours later by the King Guillermo stunner. Avila has about 20 horses stabled at Gulfstream and a smaller string at Tampa. His first of 41 winners in the U.S. came on March 23, 2018, at Gulfstream.

King Guillermo earned 50 qualifying points toward the Derby with his win, while the runner-up and 3-2 favorite Sole Volante earned 20 points, giving him a total of 30. The majority owner of Sole Volante, Dean Reeves, said Sunday through his racing manager, Jay Stone, that the Karakontie gelding could make his next start in the April 4 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct if it appears he will need more points to be assured of a spot in the Derby gate.

From 39 prior runnings, the only Tampa Bay Derby winner to go on to capture the Kentucky Derby was Street Sense in 2007.

Ontrack attendance was 10,021 and all-sources handle was $13,155,021 on the 12-race Saturday card, which included four other stakes.

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Flores back in saddle

David Flores, the former star jockey who turned to training in Ocala, Fla., in July 2017, finished fifth aboard one of his trainees, Calypso Key, in the sixth race here Sunday in his first ride since his retirement.

Flores said he isn’t launching a comeback but does intend to occasionally ride some of his own horses. He said he exercises up to 10 horses daily at the Classic Mile training center in Ocala.

Flores, 52, won more than 3,600 races and had nearly $154 million in mount earnings in his 34-year riding career.

◗ A memorial service was to be held Wednesday in Decatur, Ind., for Steve Elzey, the longtime jockey agent who died last week in Tampa at age 64.