Lots for bettors to consider in maiden turf race

The Friday finale at Tampa Bay Downs not only is the richest of eight races on a card that starts at 12:45 p.m. Eastern, but probably the most interesting, too. Nine maiden fillies will vie for a $20,000 purse in a one-mile turf race that brings together a variety of intriguing angles.

Parish Poet (post 1) will get Lasix for the first time when she makes her first start in North America for noted turf trainer Christophe Clement, who began this week just two shy of the 2,000-win milestone.

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Gesture (post 4) stretches out from her career debut in a dirt sprint for Jonathan Thomas, who shows a positive return on investment with maidens in their second start ($2.11), first-time turf starters ($2.08), and overall turf starters ($2.03).

Lipstikliesnlovers (post 6) exits a pair of tough Gulfstream Park maiden-specials and gets the meet’s leading jockey, Antonio Gallardo, and therefore might come favored in a well-matched field.

Irish Intuition (post 9), adding blinkers, represents a rare Tampa runner for her new trainer Joe Sharp, whose only two prior starters at Tampa ran in $5,000 races in January 2016.

But that’s not all.

The lineup also includes a pair of 4-year-olds in Vi Haines and Flying the Colors, who surely have crossed paths before at the Fair Hill Training Center in northern Maryland, where they both trained at 2.

Vi Haines (post 2), a $550,000 purchase by the Lael Stables of Barbaro fame, “has had some problems,” trainer Arnaud Delacour said. She has raced only three times – once in 2018, once in 2019, and on March 6 in a 1 1/16-mile maiden turf race at Tampa.

“It’s been a bit of a struggle to get her racing sound,” Delacour said.

In her most recent start, Vi Haines led much of the way before settling for third. The daughter of Candy Ride will not be equipped with blinkers for this race, as she was in her first three starts.

“I thought her last race was promising,” Delacour said. “She was too aggressive with the blinkers, so we are taking them off. She should run well on a firm turf.”

Flying the Colors (post 7), trained by Graham Motion, will be making her first start in 16 months. The daughter of War Front was edged in a photo for win in her October 2018 debut on the Churchill Downs turf, then was not a factor when favored in her lone subsequent start, which came on the Aqueduct turf.

“She had minor surgery after that second race,” Motion said. “I’ve finally got her ready again.”

Motion said he had a race picked out for her at Aqueduct before the track canceled racing indefinitely because of the ongoing coronavirus crisis.

“She’s a filly we’ve liked a lot and I’ve been anxious to get her in,” he said. “I sure didn’t want to sit on her for two months. This ought to be a good spot for her.”

All preceding races Friday at Tampa are for claiming horses. A no-spectator policy and a multitude of other precautionary measures remain in effect at the track, located in Oldsmar, Fla.