Shippers Shivaree, Heiressall ones to beat in sprint stakes co-features

Must be a Florida thing on this second Saturday in February.

Tampa Bay Downs is hosting a pair of sprint stakes for older horses as its co-features, just as its down-south rival, Gulfstream Park, does the same. The result for both tracks is short fields, with cross-entries promising to further water things down. Nonetheless, the show goes on, with Tampa running the $50,000 Minaret early (as race 3) on a 10-race card while positioning the $75,000 Pelican in the customary race-9 feature slot. Both go at six furlongs.

First post is 12:19 p.m. Eastern, with the Oldsmar, Fla., forecasters calling for a 50 percent chance of showers and a high of 75.

Unlike most other tracks amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Tampa continues to admit ontrack spectators willing to adhere to strict health protocols.

Pelican Stakes

Shivaree is one of three cross-entries among eight in the 37th Pelican, along with Admiral Lynch and Edgemont Road. As a two-back winner of a Dec. 12 stakes at Tampa restricted to Florida-breds, trainer Ralph Nicks knows Shivaree likes the Tampa surface.

He also knows that dodging heavily favored Mischevious Alex in the Gulfstream Park Sprint is probably a good way to avoid defeat.

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Running at Tampa “is the only way I know to win,” joked Nicks.

Shivaree, with Roberto Alvarado Jr. riding from post 5, was a decent fourth behind the highly regarded Performer in his latest start, the one-mile Fred Hooper on the Jan. 23 Pegasus World Cup card at Gulfstream. Nicks believes six furlongs might be a tad short for Shivaree, a 4-year-old Jacks or Better Farm homebred, but the colt appears to match up favorably with the competition and also is eligible for an additional $25,000 win-only bonus, along with the two other Florida-breds in the lineup, Souper Stonehenge and He’s Smokin Now.

Another cross-entry deemed likely to make the trek from Gulfstream is Admiral Lynch (post 3, Daniel Centeno), a last-out claim for Victor Barboza Jr., but Edgemont Road (post 6, Hector Diaz Jr.) is more likely to scratch and stay put on the other coast.

One more Gulfstream shipper, Cool Arrow (post 2, Antonio Gallardo), surely will be among the favored mix for trainer Terri Pompay. The hard-trying 7-year-old gelding has been first or second in exactly half his 28 career starts while racking up 10 wins.

Minaret Stakes

Pompay will be shipping another of her stable stars, Heiressall, across the peninsula from her Gulfstream base when the 6-year-old faces five other fillies and mares in the 40th Minaret.

Heiressall (post 1, Gallardo) dominated Florida-breds in winning a Dec. 12 stakes in her only prior trip to Tampa, and she’s back for more following a steady series of works. Bred and owned by Pompay’s longtime client, the My Purple Haze Stables of Wanda Polisseni, Heiressall has held form despite her advancing age, with 2020 having been her most productive season yet.

Heiressall and a second Gulfstream shipper, Bronx Beauty, figure to vie for favoritism with a local filly, The Goddess Lyssa, a winner in 4 of 6 career starts for leading trainer Gerald Bennett.

Bronx Beauty (post 2, Isaac Castillo) was unlucky not to register her first graded victory when just a head shy of Lady’s Island two starts back in the Grade 3 Sugar Swirl at Gulfstream. Trained by Anthony Margotta, the gray Pennsylvania-bred mare owns eight ungraded stakes among her 10 career wins.

The Goddess Lyssa (post 4, Centeno) set the pace before fading to third behind Heiressall in the key Dec. 12 race in her lone prior stakes attempt. In the meantime, the speedy 4-year-old filly has raced once, earning a career-high 88 Beyer Speed Figure in a 10-length allowance romp.