Stidham gets first Tampa winner
Mike Stidham has won nearly 1,800 races in a training career dating to 1979. One of those came last Friday at Tampa Bay Downs when Meilleur went wire to wire in a maiden-claiming turf mile, giving Stidham his first-ever victory at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.
There will be more. Stidham has split his stable for the first time between Tampa and his longtime winter base, Fair Grounds. He has four entered Friday at Tampa, including Birdsnest Party (race 2) and Hay Baby Girl (race 5) as heavy favorites to get through their maiden conditions.
Stidham told Tampa publicity several weeks ago that his stable had grown to the extent that he needed to have a second winter string and that Tampa was the logical spot. He has about 30 horses in Barn 14 with Ben Trask as his on-site assistant.
“It’s a beautiful turf course,” he said. “To me, it looks like one of the better ones in the country. And friends who train there say the dirt track is a good, safe surface to train on.”
Stidham, who will turn 60 on Dec. 18, said he worked at Tampa as an assistant to his father, George Stidham, in 1979, “when the track was still called Florida Downs,” he said. “He sent me there with about eight horses and told me to learn something.”
Hinsley off to perfect start
With David Hinsley having sold his longtime stable star, You Bought Her, last month at Keeneland for $250,000, the veteran trainer is doing his best to supplant her earning power.
Hinsley was perfect with his first three starters at this meet, winning one race last Friday and two Saturday. They were his first horses to race since he left Keeneland in late October, as he took all of November off to set up shop at Tampa. Neuqua, an allowance winner Saturday, typified that custom-made scheduling as she had three recent breezes over the local surface.
You Bought Her, winner of the 2015 and 2016 Minaret at Tampa, earned $530,185.
“She was a dream to be around,” Hinsley said.
Noms out for four stakes
There will be an unmistakable emphasis on Florida-breds when the first four stakes of the five-month Tampa meet are run Dec. 16.
Twin six-furlong stakes for 2-year-olds, the Inaugural and Sandpiper, both offer $100,000 purses, with half of each purse restricted to horses meeting Florida-bred eligibility requirements. Twin seven-furlong stakes, the City of Ocala and the Marion County, are $125,000 races for 3-year-old Florida-breds.
Cicatrix, one of 41 fillies nominated to the Sandpiper, is expected to bypass the race. The Ian Wilkes-trained filly was a 7 1/4-length winner of her career debut last month at Churchill Downs.
Ferrer back in action
Jockey Jose Ferrer returned to the saddle last weekend after missing 2 1/2 months with fractured ribs and a collapsed lung suffered in a multi-horse spill Sept. 14 at Delaware Park.
Ferrer had just one mount last Friday and Saturday as he eases himself back into action. The 53-year-old native of Puerto Rico is a former Tampa riding champion with nearly 4,200 career victories.
Main track playing fairer
Closers stood a much better chance on the dirt last weekend at Tampa than during the first couple of days of the meet when only three winners from nine races were first or second at the opening call. Early speed had dominated dirt racing during the first two cards, when all twelve main-track winners were first or second at the opening call.