Thissmytime sets track mark that might last forever

MIAMI – Late Sunday afternoon, in relative anonymity competing in front of only a handful of onlookers over a sloppy racetrack, a 3-year-old filly called Thissmytime ran seven furlongs faster than any horse had ever covered the distance since the track formerly known as Calder Race Course opened nearly 50 years ago.

Thissmytime completed seven furlongs over the main track in 1:21.40 while capturing the $60,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Preview by 11 3/4 lengths under Joe Bravo. The race that had been postponed from eight days earlier due to the soggy condition of the turf course, and it was decided over the main track as a result of heavy showers that passed through the local area Sunday.

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Thissmytime shattered the old track mark of 1:21.82, set 24 years earlier, and received a career-best 96 Beyer Speed Figure. She had entered the race with two wins in seven starts, including a second-place finish in the seven-furlong Sheer Drama Stakes on Sept. 6 at Gulfstream Park. In between the Sheer Drama and the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Preview, Thissmytime was eased in a one-mile allowance race after being fractious in the gate, then checked, and taken up on the first turn.

A daughter of Carpe Diem, Thissmytime is trained by Kathleen O’Connell for Windylea Farm Inc.

“She’s been pretty special all along if you put a line through the previous start, which was a complete disaster,” O’Connell said Monday. “She has a high cruising speed, and seven furlongs to a one-turn mile is perfect for her. A lot of things worked in her favor yesterday. She was able to go a shorter distance against lesser horses in a race taken off the turf with the field cut down in both size and quality. She can be a bit of a quirky horse to ride, but Joe rode her perfectly.”

O’Connell said it’s too early to even speculate when Thissmytime might run next.

“I like to make sure they come out of a race well and go back to the track okay before thinking about any future plans,” O’Connell said. “She’s still a lightly raced 3-year-old, but we won’t be looking to set the world on fire with her right away. Timing is everything, though, and it is a shame she missed some of the 3-year-old stakes earlier this year.”

Thissmytime’s performance will help temper some of the emotions O’Connell and many of her colleagues locally will be feeling here late Saturday afternoon when Calder Race Course, now known as Gulfstream Park West, will run for the final time.

“I first came here in 1990 because I was given the opportunity to train for Mr. Campbell,” O’Connell said, referring to prominent Florida owner-breeder Gil Campbell. “Two-year-olds have been my lifeblood for the past 30 years, and this was the baby showcase of the world for most of that time. It was the mega-track to run 2-year-olds. Add that to Calder always having the most beautiful, kindest surface you could ever find to train over, and you can understand why, barring another reprieve, seeing this place close is so devastating for me. Both emotionally and professionally.”

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O’Connell, one of the leading trainers in Calder/Gulfstream Park West history, and her colleagues still stabled at the facility will be allowed to train here through the winter, but must vacate the grounds by April 1.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do once they close the barn area down,” O’Connell said. “I’ve been blessed the last five or six years because it’s been like being at a private training center, with only 450 or so horses on the grounds. And like I said, the surface is so kind. That’s one reason many of the horses I had here at 2, I still had at 5 and 6. There will never be another place like it.”

◗ Miguel Vasquez and Edgard Zayas will enter Wednesday’s program tied atop the jockey standings with 39 victories apiece. Vasquez forged that dead heat by posting four wins Sunday, although he will sit out the remaining three days of the session and not ride again until the opening of the 2020-21 Gulfstream Park Championship meet next Wednesday.

Rohan Crichton holds a 17-15 advantage over Antonio Sano with defending Gulfstream Park West titleholder Saffie Joseph Jr. another win further back in the quest for the meet training title.