Night Jumper could be a work short for return
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Like most trainers at Tampa Bay Downs this winter, Mike Dini will be staying put the next month or so until moving along. With no more stakes remaining at the 2022-23 meet, some stables are already vacating the Oldsmar, Fla., track for New York or Kentucky, but Dini will help to keep filling races at a Tampa meet that effectively runs through Kentucky Derby Day, May 6.
“I’ll probably start sending some horses up to Monmouth around the end of April,” said Dini, who through last weekend had achieved a career best of more than $350,000 in meet earnings at Tampa, where he has wintered off and on since 1997.
Dini, the president of the local division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, wonders whether he has Night Jumper tight enough for the $25,500 Friday feature at Tampa. The 4-year-old colt was transferred into Dini’s care over the winter after finishing well back in his most recent start, the Tropical Park Derby on Dec. 26 across the Florida peninsula at Gulfstream Park.
“I would’ve liked to work him one more time, probably,” Dini said. “He’s only breezed three times for me here, although he does work fast. I can’t say he’s dead-ready, but he might be the kind that doesn’t lose much [fitness] after being away. We’ll go in there looking to win.”
Night Jumper, with leading jockey Samy Camacho riding, will break from post 5 in a field of six older horses in the fifth of nine races, a second-level allowance going a mile on turf. Kent Sweezey had been training him for the Darsan Inc. of Daryl and Sandy Clark, but problems with the Palm Meadows racing surface in late January and early February ultimately led Daryl Clark to redirect the colt elsewhere.
The Clarks are perhaps best known as the breeders of World of Trouble, a top turf sprinter of a few years back who they sold as a 2-year-old.
Night Jumper, in Sweezey’s care, won 3 of 6 starts, with his most notable triumph coming last fall in the Showing Up Stakes over the Gulfstream all-weather surface. His peak Beyer Speed Figures (84, 83, 84) make him an obvious contender in this nominal feature, as does his status as the lone stakes winner in the field.
Obiwan (post 1, Ricardo Feliciano) and Harpoon Harry (post 2, Jose Ferrer) look like the main opposition. Obiwan shows a two-back 88 Beyer when fourth under these same conditions, while Harpoon Harry earned a career-best 84 as a last-out runner-up over the local turf. Both are entered for an optional $32,000 tag, as is one of the longer shots in the lineup, Driftwood (post 4, Scott Spieth).
The purse listed here does not include an additional $2,500 in Florida-bred bonuses for which only Night Jumper is eligible.
Sunshine and highs in the mid-80s are in the Oldsmar forecast for Friday, meaning the turf once again should be very firm. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern. Maiden and/or claiming races fill out the balance of the card.
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