Summer Festival of Racing set for Friday, Saturday

OLDSMAR, Fla. – What kind of odds would you demand on an 8-year-old first-time starter with no pedigree and only a handful of published works in the past year and a half? Bettors can answer that handicapping question Friday at Tampa Bay Downs, where Sweet Chief finally will make his career debut in the fifth race on an eight-race card.

Friday’s card opens the fifth annual Summer Festival of Racing and Music, which features two cards consisting mainly of low-level turf races followed by concert performances. The festival allows Tampa Bay Downs to qualify as a year-round racetrack for simulcasting purposes. Friday’s card technically wraps up the 2016-17 meet, which was held in earnest from late November until early May. Saturday’s card technically opens the 2017-18 meet, which will resume in late November.

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No meet titles are on the line, as trainer Gerald Bennett, jockey Daniel Centeno, and owner Ridenjac Racing are well ahead in the standings.

Sweet Chief goes in Friday’s featured turf mile, a $20,000 maiden special weight race, and it’s anyone’s guess as to what to expect. The horse was a $1,500 purchase as a 2-year-old at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. way back in 2011, and his sire, Chief Seattle, was standing for $2,500 in Indiana when he died that year. Sweet Chief’s dam, the Kokand mare My Sweet Elizabeth, won twice and earned $37,260, and her best foal is the two-time winner Prima Tesoro, who earned $12,036.

Sweet Chief did not breeze in 2016 and shows five slow breezes in preparation for Friday’s race. Trainer Margaret Wetherington declined to comment on her horse Wednesday, saying she would have to speak with owner Thomas L. McGhee Jr. first.

The field of seven includes five first-time starters. Watch Captain, trained by Chad Stewart, should be favored after finishing fourth in a similar race two starts back here in December.

Six of the card’s eight races are scheduled for turf, including four at the maiden $16,000 claiming level.