Terranova forced to switch gears and surfaces with Our Shot
John Terranova went shopping for a spot, only to find the item had changed once he got to the checkout line.
“They announced the night before entries that this race in the [condition] book was going to be run on dirt, not turf,” Terranova said of the featured eighth race Friday at Tampa Bay Downs, where the 52-year-old trainer will run Our Shot as one of the favorites. “Our horse definitely prefers the turf, I’d say, but he’s won on the dirt and has been training well over it, so we went ahead and entered.”
Our Shot, with leading jockey Samy Camacho aboard, will break from post 2 in the $25,500, second-level allowance, which anchors a nine-race card that starts at 12:20 p.m. Eastern. A field of seven older horses will go 5 1/2 furlongs over the main track on what is expected to be a warm and windy afternoon in Oldsmar, Fla.
In his most recent start, Our Shot was fourth with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in a wild finish in a Jan. 19 turf sprint at Gulfstream Park. The top six finishers in that race were separated by less than a length, with Our Shot beaten just a head by the winner. Chess Master, an eventual 4 3/4-length winner of the Tampa Turf Dash with a 100 Beyer Speed Figure, was sixth in the same race.
“Obviously, our play going forward will be to run him on turf, maybe in Kentucky,” Terranova said. “But the Tampa dirt is a little different than some other tracks, and this spot looks okay for him. We really didn’t have anywhere else to run him anyway, and this is kind of a spacing issue. I’d like to get him in top form going into the spring for some of these other races with bigger purses.”
Our Shot, a 4-year-old Kantharos gelding, has won 2 of 5 starts while developing a solid closing kick. His main opposition appears to be In the Loop (post 4, Jose Ferrer), from the barn of perennial leading trainer Gerald Bennett, and Palm Meadows shipper Living Water (post 3, Marcos Meneses), both of them with career-best 90 Beyers. In the Loop is one of five in here entered for an optional $32,000 claiming tag. Our Shot and Living Water run under the allowance condition.
Terranova, who currently has his stable split between Tampa and his year-round New York base, said he also is hoping for productive years from stakes-caliber runners such as You’re My Girl, Freedom Trail, and Midnight Stroll. One other, Union Lake, recently was retired after exiting the Barbara Fritchie last month with what Terranova described as a minor issue.
Nominations in for Derby
Nominations have been released for the annual marquee event at Tampa, the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby. It’s one of five stakes to be run on Festival Day next Saturday (March 11), along with the Grade 2 Endeavour, Grade 3 Florida Oaks, Grade 3 Challenger, and the Columbia.
Fifty-five 3-year-olds have been nominated to the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, a 100-point qualifier (50-20-15-10-5) to the Kentucky Derby on May 6. Entries for all Festival Day races will be drawn Wednesday.
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