Owen Almighty expected for 3-year-old debut in Pasco

Owen Almighty, one of the more impressive 2-year-olds of midsummer 2024, will make his 3-year-old debut in Saturday’s Pasco Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. The purse of the seven-furlong Pasco is $150,000, though only Florida-breds or progeny of Florida stallions run for the entire purse.

Owen Almighty, a son of Speightstown, won his maiden in June at Churchill and then came back to win the Ellis Park Juvenile by 4 3/4 lengths. Several weeks after finishing second to Jonathan’s Way in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs in mid-September, Owen Almighty developed a gastrointestinal issue that forced trainer Brian Lynch to stop on him.

“He had the equine version of irritated bowel syndrome,” Lynch said. “We had to treat that for awhile, get that to where we were happy with him. It gave him a chance to have a good freshening, now he’s ready to go.”

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Owen Almighty has had six workouts since Nov. 30 including a half-mile move in 47.60 seconds out of the gate on Saturday at Palm Meadows.

“He’s come back great, all his works have been very encouraging,” Lynch said. “We popped him out of the gate over the weekend, Irad [Ortiz Jr.] is going to go over and ride him.”

Ortiz was aboard Owen Almighty for the Iroquois.

Lynch is hoping a good performance by Owen Almighty on Saturday will lead to him Tampa’s two Kentucky Derby qualifying points races, the Sam F. Davis on Feb. 8 and the Tampa Bay Derby on March 8. In 2022, Lynch won both of those races with Classic Causeway.

Entries for the Pasco will be taken Wednesday. Others mentioned as likely to run include Cockeyed, Juan Colorado, Latch the Hatch, Naughty Rascal, Normandy Coast, Rolando, Rookie Card, and Very Bold.

Lynch said that Donut God, who won the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa on Dec. 7, will make his next start in the $150,000 Swale Stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 1.

On Saturday, Lynch will also send out Mrs Worldwide, the likely favorite in the $150,000 Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. Mrs Worldwide has won her last two starts, including the Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa on Dec. 7. Another Cleeshay, Dancing Magic, Fontana Di Trevi, Tessitura, and Vuela Paloma are expected to face Mrs Worldwide.

De Regreso, a stakes winner on turf and synthetic, will try to add a stakes win on dirt to her résumé in the $100,000 Wayward Lass at 1 1/16 miles. De Regreso, a daughter of Audible trained by Antonio Sano, is coming off a third in the Tropical Park Oaks on turf on Dec. 14. Others expected for the race include Abundancia, America’s Vow, American Retro, Dream Concert, Easy Come Easy Go, Little Jamie, and Peignoir.

Cox with rare Tampa starter

Brad Cox has started just two horses at Tampa Bay Downs, both resulting in third-place finishes in stakes races at 2019.

Wednesday, Cox will seek that signature first Tampa victory when he runs the 3-year-old colt John Hancock in a six-furlong maiden race that goes as the eighth on a nine-race card. The race drew a nice field of 10.

Cox has a large contingent of horses based at Payson Park this winter, affording him the opportunity to run at Gulfstream and Tampa more frequently than he has done in the past. John Hancock, by Constitution, is a half-brother to the Grade 1 winner Speech. John Hancock has been working at Payson since early November and seems to have a strong foundation under him leading to his debut.

Samy Camacho rides John Hancock from post 2.

Only three of the 10 entrants have made starts, with American Direction’s narrow third-place finish at odds of 86-1 in a maiden turf race at Gulfstream on Dec. 6 the best result.

Honor the Bull, by Flatter, debuts for trainer Gregg Sacco, who won races Friday and Saturday at Tampa, including one with the first-time starter Admiral Mo in a maiden $16,000 claimer.

Tim Hamm sends out two in this field including First Act, who finished fourth as the favorite in a Dec. 7 maiden race at Tampa and Mr. Sweets, a first-time starter by Candy Ride.

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