Raft of changes should help Positive Impact at Tampa

Positive Impact is having several changes made to have a, well, positive impact on his performance as he gets a distance and surface switch, is a first-time gelding, and drops in class for his third career start Friday at Tampa Bay.

The nine-race card is made up entirely of claiming races. Positive Impact and an overflow field of fellow 3-year-olds – 10 in the main body of the field, plus four also-eligibles – will go a mile on the turf in a maiden-claiming race with a purse of $11,500 and a claiming tag of $16,000.

Positive Impact, who has drawn the inside post under Willie Martinez, will need to get away from the gate better than in his first two starts if he is to make an impact. He made his debut going six furlongs in a maiden special weight in September at Belmont, finishing sixth after being forced in at the start and enduring a troubled trip. He re-emerged April 1 at Tampa for another six-furlong tilt for new trainer Eoin Harty, who has taken over from the retiring Kiaran McLaughlin. With Martinez in the irons, he was away slowly and finished 10th off the layoff.

Positive Impact has been gelded as he drops from maiden special weight into maiden-claiming company Friday. He also is stretching out to a mile and trying turf for the first time, and his pedigree suggests those changes could benefit. A $350,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Godolphin, Positive Spirit is by the versatile Hard Spun, sire of multiple Grade/Group 1-winning turf routers. Dam Mystra, by turf influence Lemon Drop Kid, scored her only win at a mile on the turf. She is from the family of turf Grade 1 winner Voodoo Song.

Three others in the main body of the field, Now I’m Broke, Tithed, and first-time starter Proud Deplorable, also are trying turf for the first time, but their pedigrees don’t provide such strong influences. Now I’m Broke, unplaced in two prior outings, is from the first crop of juvenile graded stakes winner I Spent It. His dam, a winner on dirt, is a half to the synthetic stakes performer Dubious Miss. Tithed, by Currency Swap, has been on the board six times in eight starts sprinting on dirt. He is a half-brother to Mr. Dazzle, a minor stakes winner sprinting on dirt at Assiniboia.

Proud Deplorable, by synthetic graded stakes winner Black Onyx, is out of another mare who was a winner on dirt, but two of her three winners have come on turf.

Estilo Peligroso is coming off two runner-up finishes at Tampa and is dropping in class after most recently finishing second in a claiming race with a purse of $25,000 going a mile and 40 yards in an off-the-turf event.