Last Promise might get one more shot at the meet

As with most of his colleagues, Tim Padilla would love to know when he can move on to his next outpost. Without moratoriums on racing imposed by the coronavirus, Padilla would be training horses at Canterbury Park in Minnesota by now.

“We’re all in a holding pattern,” Padilla said this week from Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla. “It’s a nightmare, really.”

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In the meantime, Padilla will make do. With the 2019-20 Tampa meet scheduled to end May 3, he hopes to get one more race out of a 6-year-old gelding named Last Promise, who holds the distinction of being the winningest horse of the meet.

Last Promise has won 5 of 7 starts at the meet and remains eligible for a variety of conditions. No other horse has won more than three times.

“He loves his job,” Padilla said. “I’d like to run him in a starter race next.”

Last Promise, a Kentucky-bred by Spring at Last, was trained by the now-retired Bill Sienkewicz during the first half of 2019. After going unraced more than six months, he returned to action in the care of Luis Dominguez, capturing a conditioned $8,000 claiming race in his meet debut Dec. 20.

He then won right back on Jan. 4, and after Padilla’s longtime assistant Efrain Cambray-Diaz bought a majority interest in the gelding, he was turned over to Padilla. Last Promise has gone 3 for 5 in the new barn, most recently winning over turf in an open $25,000 claiming race on March 25.

“He’s won on turf and dirt, so you can do most anything with him,” Padilla said. “You’ve got to like that.”

Through Wednesday, Last Promise was tied for most wins in North America in 2020 with two other horses, Miss Perfecta (based at Turf Paradise) and Sierra Leona (Laurel Park). All have won four times.

Morales on the mend

Jockey Pablo Morales, who suffered a foot fracture in a morning training accident March 14 at Tampa, will be ready to resume riding whenever Presque Isle Downs begins its meet, according to his agent, Paula Bacon.

Morales, a 31-year-old Peru native, is just four wins away from the 2,000-win milestone. He actually rode one race, winning the second race March 20, before the extent of his injury was fully diagnosed. He was third in the Tampa standings with 56 wins when sidelined.

Presque Isle is scheduled to begin a 100-day meet on May 11, but the coronavirus crisis most likely will force the track to postpone the start. Casino operations at the Erie, Pa., racino have been shut down since March 17.

Morales, who began riding in the United States in 2005, has collected more than half his wins (1,096) at Preque Isle, where he is the all-time leading rider.