Shesgoldincolor heads turf sprint

OLDSMAR, Fla. - Shesgoldincolor, fresh from a strong come-from-behind victory over the local turf course, meets south Florida invader My Velvet Revolver in Saturday's feature race at Tampa Bay Downs. The optional claimer will be run at about five furlongs on the grass and drew a well-matched field of 10.

Last time out, Shesgoldincolor came from next to last to run down the leaders late for her first turf win. That effort followed a sixth-place finish in which she had traffic problems in the stretch.

Shesgoldincolor, trained by John Shaw, made her only other turf start at Calder last spring, leading late in a five-furlong maiden claiming dash before settling for second in a race run in 56.38 seconds.

Sally Mitchellhill will ride Shesgoldincolor from post 1 at 115 pounds, which includes her seven-pound apprentice allowance.

My Velvet Revolver won on the turf at Calder last December following a maiden win on the grass there last October.

Leading rider Daniel Centeno will handle My Velvet Revolver for trainer Kathleen O'Connell at 118 pounds.

Scace takes aim at title

Trainer Lynn Scace, who took the training title here in 2003-04, has started to put a little distance between herself and the field in the race for leading trainer. Through Thursday, Scace had won 27 races, three more than Gerald Bennett. Jamie Ness is having another good meeting and has sent out 22 winners, one more than Tom Proctor, who leads the top 10 trainers in winning percentage at 39 percent.

The record for wins at a meet here is 44, set by eight-time leading trainer Don Rice in 2001-02.

The riders' race is a runaway at this point as Daniel Centeno has 116 winners through March 26, seven shy of the all-time mark of 123 set by Willie Martinez Jr. in 1991-92 and tied the next season by Bill Henry. That record may be safe, as it's still uncertain how long Centeno will continue to ride at this meeting. He has announced plans to move to south Florida for a short time before heading to New Jersey this summer.

Jose Lezcano is second with 80 wins, followed by Carlos Montalvo (70) and Luis Gonzalez (67).

The hottest rider of late has been Jesse Garcia, who posted a double on Sunday and a four-bagger Tuesday, giving him 30 winners for the meeting.