My Boy Lenny can yield quick dividend off claim

Timing is a key factor in the claiming game, and it’s a major reason My Boy Lenny is the horse to beat Wednesday in the $21,000 allowance feature at Tampa Bay Downs.

Trainer Darien Rodriguez, on behalf of Acclaimed Racing Stable and Gumpster Stable, claimed My Boy Lenny for $32,000 from a 6 1/4-length romp on Feb. 22 – and a little more than a month later, the 5-year-old gelding resurfaces in an identical spot.

My Boy Lenny will have leading jockey Antonio Gallardo aboard when he looks to strike while the iron is hot in the fifth of eight Wednesday races. The second-level allowance also carries a $32,000 claiming option, and My Boy Lenny is one of four in a field of eight older horses entered for that tag.

Among the top challengers is Town Classic, trained by Gerald Bennett. In a plot twist to their matchup, Rodriguez claimed My Boy Lenny from Bennett, while Bennett claimed Town Classic from Rodriguez for $16,000 out of a Feb. 9 victory.

First post Wednesday is 12:40 p.m. Eastern. A no-spectator policy and a multitude of other precautionary measures remain in effect at Tampa in Oldsmar, Fla., where public-health officials continue to urge citizens to adhere to social distancing to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Apart from the feature, the other seven races are maiden or claiming events. The race-8 finale, for $16,000 maiden-claiming turf milers, will have David Flores riding his own trainee Calypso Key. Flores, who rode 3,608 winners from 1984-2017, trains a small stable in Ocala, Fla.

Florida Cup is canceled

The Florida Cup, which was to be run Sunday as the final stakes of the 2019-20 meet, which runs through May 3, has been canceled.

Even though Tampa has continued to race uninterrupted since the onset of the coronavirus crisis, and there were no plans to stop as of Monday, management deemed the cancellation necessary mostly because of a downturn in revenue stemming from substantially diminished wagering handle on recent programs.

This was to be the 18th running of the Florida Cup, a six-race, $660,000 series for registered Florida-breds.

According to a track release, general manager Peter Berube said a portion of the Florida Cup purse money will be allocated to the overnight purse account, enabling the meet to continue beyond this week, as circumstances allow.

Sienkewicz calls it quits

Bill Sienkewicz has abruptly stopped training after more than 40 years, saying his retirement has nothing to do with the pandemic nor economic challenges.

“It was just time,” said Sienkewicz, 66. “I’m leaving this game without owing one person one dime, and I’m proud of that.”

Sienkewicz won with his first starter, a 17-year-old gelding named Golden Arrow, at Narragansett Park in Rhode Island in 1978. He went on to win 255 more races. His final starter, Smarty Cat, finished eighth in the sixth race Saturday. Sienkewicz said he is turning over his four horses to Ned Allard, a fellow New Englander.

Foot injury sidelines Morales

Pablo Morales, fourth in the jockey standings with 56 wins, will be out indefinitely to recover from a foot fracture suffered in a starting-gate accident during March 14 training hours. Morales actually rode one race Friday, winning aboard Dreaming Diamonds, before a subsequent X-ray yielded the diagnosis.

Morales, who began riding in the United States in 2005, is just four wins from reaching the 2,000-win milestone.