No Dozing fires bullet workout for Tampa Bay Derby

OLDSMAR, Fla. – It was anything but a lazy Sunday for No Dozing, who turned in a bullet workout at Tampa Bay Downs to remain under consideration for the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby here on March 11. No Dozing breezed half a mile in 47.80 seconds, the fastest of 62 works at the distance here that morning, as he tries to bounce back from a disappointing 3-year-old debut.

No Dozing, the runner-up in the Grade 2 Remsen Stakes to cap his juvenile season in November, began his 2017 campaign with a sixth-place finish behind McCraken in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes here Feb. 11. Trainer Arnaud Delacour said he was expecting a much stronger effort and couldn’t identify a reason why No Dozing failed to show his best, so he would need to see two strong breezes from the horse in order to start him in the Tampa Bay Derby, the key local steppingstone to the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

“After the last race, we needed to see something good and sharp, and he couldn’t have done it any better,” Delacour said of Sunday’s workout. “He finished really strong. I had his last quarter in 23 [seconds], and he galloped out strong, so I was very pleased with that.”

No Dozing, a son of Union Rags and a homebred for Roy and Gretchen Jackson’s Lael Stables, had won his first two starts before finishing fourth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity and then going in the Remsen.

Delacour said No Dozing likely will breeze five furlongs next Sunday or Monday, and if the trainer likes what he sees, the horse will go in the Tampa Bay Derby, where he is likely to face McCraken again. In Pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, which closed Sunday, McCraken had the shortest odds among the 23 individually listed contenders at 6-1, with the field closing as a lukewarm 5-1 favorite.

Also on Sunday, Delacour sent out A. P. Indian for his third breeze of the year, an easy half-mile in 50.20 seconds here. A. P. Indian, who was a finalist for an Eclipse Award as the top sprinter of 2016, most recently was third behind champion sprinter Drefong in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in November, snapping a streak of six consecutive stakes victories that included Grade 1 wins in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and the Forego Stakes at Saratoga.

Delacour said A. P. Indian is likely to begin his 7-year-old season in the Grade 3 Commonwealth Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for older horses at Keeneland on April 8.

“It was his second half-mile breeze, so nothing really fancy for him, and he did great,” Delacour said of Sunday’s workout. “He seemed to be moving very well and was really happy with himself, and we’ll come back and do a little bit more next week.”

Also preparing for a 2017 debut at Keeneland for Delacour is Exaggerated, who will defend her title in the Giant’s Causeway Stakes on April 15. The 5-year-old mare hasn’t raced since June.

Delacour is having a solid meet here, with nine wins from 42 starts (21 percent) and 60 percent of his runners finishing in the money. Last Saturday, he scored a victory with King of Diamonds in a first-level, $20,250 allowance going 1 1/8 miles on turf. King of Diamonds, 4, won by 1 1/4 lengths under leading rider Daniel Centeno to get his second win in six starts. He has hit the board in each of his races.

Delacour said the Pennsylvania-bred King of Diamonds does best when his races are spaced out, so he likely will point to a race at Parx Racing near Philadelphia in April.

◗ No Dozing was among 46 3-year-olds nominated to the Tampa Bay Derby, along with McCraken and 2016 juvenile male champion Classic Empire.

Among the horses targeting the race is The Money Monster, who is perfect in two starts after winning the $53,500 Pasco Stakes at seven furlongs here Jan. 21. The 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby will be the first route race for The Money Monster, a son of Majestic Warrior. The Money Monster also had been considered for the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct or the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, both this Saturday.

“At least he knows the track,” said trainer and co-owner Rohan Crichton. “We don’t have to experiment with shipping all the way to Aqueduct.”

The Tampa Bay Derby is the centerpiece of Festival Day, the biggest day of the meet. The card also includes four other route stakes: the Grade 2, $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older female turf runners; the Grade 3, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on turf; the $100,000 Challenger Stakes for older males; and the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf.

On Festival Day, Tampa Bay Downs will give free umbrellas to the first 7,500 fans with paid admission. The inside lining of the umbrellas is decorated with color photographs of the 2016 Festival Day stakes winners: Tampa Bay Derby winner Destin, Hillsborough Stakes winner Tepin, Florida Oaks winner Baciami Piccola, and Challenger Stakes winner Adirondack King.

– additional reporting by David Grening