Post shift might favor Pins and Needles

Like most every other trainer at Tampa Bay Downs, Kelsey Danner wonders where she’ll wind up next. In the meantime, she’ll keep training her horses every morning and hoping for the best in the afternoon.

Danner will saddle one starter Saturday at Tampa, a New York-bred named Pins and Needles, and she’s optimistic the 5-year-old mare can turn the tables on a familiar rival.

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Pins and Needles, with Scott Spieth riding from post 3, will break alongside Tracy Ann’s Legacy (post 4, Raul Mena) in the Saturday feature, a five-furlong turf allowance for fillies and mares. The $18,000 race is the third of nine on a card that starts at 12:15 p.m. Eastern and otherwise comprises maiden or claiming events.

When last they met in a similar race three weekends ago at Tampa, Tracy Ann’s Legacy led throughout, with Pins and Needles giving closest chase for much of the way before settling for third.

“She got inside position on us that day,” Danner said by phone this week from the Oldsmar, Fla., track. “Maybe with us being inside this time, the results will be different.”

Tracy Ann’s Legacy, trained by Juan Arriagada, surely will be favored in a field of eight in the feature. The 4-year-old Florida-bred filly remains eligible for this condition by way of an optional $16,000 claiming tag, one of five in the lineup entered under that provision.

Meanwhile, as the coronavirus crisis dominates every aspect of life on the racetrack and elsewhere, Danner is anxious about where she will ship her 30-horse stable next.

“Normally, I’d be getting ready to go to Monmouth Park,” she said.

But with the New Jersey track having delayed its opening until at least July 1, Danner said she’s “trying to get into Palm Meadows and Churchill Downs.”

“For now, we’re just going about our business here at Tampa, hoping we can get back to normal before too long,” Danner said.

Tampa is scheduled to effectively end its 2019-20 meet on May 3. Horsemen were to meet among themselves Friday morning to discuss whether to ask track management to consider running more dates while accommodating horsemen’s stabling needs until they can firm up shipping plans.

Pick five draws big play

Stay-at-home horseplayers flashed their collective wagering muscle for a second straight day when betting nearly $1.7 million Wednesday into the late pick five at Tampa. The handle of $1,688,089 on the late pick five, which spanned races 4-8, came in pursuit of a relatively modest carryover of $81,240 from the previous racing day.

The quarantine situation combined with most other tracks being shuttered were obvious factors in the major handle jump. Total wagering on the eight-race Wednesday card was $6,993,182, more than double the $3,087,404 handled on a comparable nine-race card on April 10, 2019.

Favorites dominated the sequence, with perfect 50-cent tickets returning just $268.05. The winners’ odds were 2-1, 3-5, 3-1, 7-5, and 3-1.

On Tuesday, off-site bettors poured more than $3.6 million into a pick five at Fonner Park in Nebraska, where a $497,811 carryover was subject to a mandatory payout.

◗ Tampa will be dark Sunday because of the Easter holiday, with a four-day race week resuming Wednesday. The track has had a no-spectator policy in effect since March 18.