Strong attendance, record handle for Festival Day

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Tampa Bay Downs officials on Saturday were celebrating a successful Festival Day card during which 10,206 racing fans packed the facility and the program’s four stakes races each were decided by one length or less.

Though the attendance figure did not rank among the top 10 figures in track history, all-sources handle on the 12-race card totaled $12.25 million, easily breaking the track record of $10.95 million set on Festival Day in 2011, the track said. Ontrack wagering on Saturday totaled $815,918.

In the showcased race, the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, Destin outfought Outwork by one length to give trainer Todd Pletcher a one-two finish and a record fourth victory in the biggest race of the meet. Destin, a gray Giant’s Causeway colt owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stables, became the first horse since Burning Roma in 2001 to win both the Tampa Bay Derby and the key local prep for the race, the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes.

Destin, ridden by Javier Castellano, set a track record for 1 1/16 miles in the Tampa Bay Derby, finishing in 1:42.82, one-hundredth of a second faster than Bolt Start’s time in the 2010 Challenger Stakes. Destin ($9.20), the second choice in the field of nine 3-year-olds, was credited with a career-high 100 Beyer Speed Figure, while Outwork got a career-best 98. Destin has won three of his five starts and earned $390,700.

Outwork, a son of Uncle Mo and a homebred for the Repole Stable, was making his stakes debut after winning his first two starts, including a first-level optional $75,000 claiming race here Feb. 13 on the Sam F. Davis Stakes card.

Destin earned 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs, virtually guaranteeing himself a spot in the starting gate. Outwork earned 20 points, while third-place finisher Star Hill got 10 and fourth-place Rafting earned five. Destin will try to become the third horse to win the Kentucky Derby after using the Tampa Bay Derby as a prep race. In 2007, Street Sense won the roses after capturing the Tampa Bay Derby, and in 2010, Super Saver prevailed on the first Saturday in May after running third here.

Pletcher said Destin and Outwork probably will run one more time before the Kentucky Derby, possibly in either the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct, the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, or the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

Brody’s Cause, the 2.30-1 favorite in the Tampa Bay Derby, trailed far back for much of the race and could only finish a nonthreatening seventh. It was his first start since winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity and finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Keeneland last October.

In Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes, the champion mare Tepin unleashed a strong rally to make up more than 18 lengths on the loose-on-the-lead Isabella Sings and score by one length over that rival. Tepin, who won an Eclipse Award as the top female turf runner of 2015, finished the Hillsborough in 1:46.26, bettering the track record for 1 1/8 miles on turf by 0.29 seconds. The old mark was set by Special Envoy last March in an optional claimer. Tepin ($2.80) earned a 107 Beyer Speed Figure on Saturday, which track officials believe is the second-highest mark in track history, trailing only the 108 earned by Fast Flying Rumor in winning the Turf Dash here Jan. 9.

Tepin, ridden by Julien Leparoux for trainer Mark Casse and owner Robert E. Masterson, has won nine of her 17 career starts and earned $2.69 million. Tepin beat males Oct. 31 in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and Masterson said after the Hillsborough that the 5-year-old Bernstein mare likely will take on the boys again in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 15 at Keeneland.

In the Grade 3, $155,000 Florida Oaks on turf, Baciami Piccola made a strong statement in her first U.S. start, rallying resolutely down the stretch to win by half a length over another British filly, Enjoy Yourself. Baciami Piccola ($31), was ridden by Leparoux for trainer Brian Lynch and owner Amerman Racing LLC. The filly was purchased privately last summer after scoring one victory in three races in Europe, including a second-place finish in a minor stakes race at Vichy in France.

Lynch said Baciami Piccola, a 3-year-old Equiano filly, might start toward the end of the Keeneland spring meet but has the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational this summer as her main goal.

Also on Saturday, Adirondack King ($25.20) held off Neck ‘n Neck to win by half a length in the $100,000 Challenger Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile race for older horses. Adirondack King, a 7-year-old Lawyer Ron gelding, has won seven of his 37 career starts and earned $501,574 for trainer John Servis and owner MarchFore Thoroughbreds. Prior to Saturday, he had lost five straight starts since winning the $75,000 Auld Lang Syne Stakes in December 2014, and all of his wins had come at Parx Racing.