Tight finishes in all three stakes
Zydeceaux earned an 80 Beyer Speed Figure and Opus Forty Two a 76 in their respective photo-finish victories Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs in twin seven-furlong races for 3-year-olds, the $125,000 Pasco and $50,000 Gasparilla.
Zydeceaux held off favored Champions Dream in the Pasco some 90 minutes before Opus Forty Two prevailed in a very tight photo over Charlie’s Wish in the Gasparilla. Between those races, Tap Dance Fever edged Pass the Champagne by a head in the $50,000 Wayward Lass, a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, earning an 89 Beyer.
The disparity in purses in the 3-year-old stakes stemmed from statebred bonuses. Zydeceaux is a Florida-bred who earned an additional $75,000, while Charlie’s Wish, a Florida-bred, missed by just a few inches in earning the same amount when nipped by the Kentucky-bred Opus Forty Two.
Friday at Tampa, Prairie Hawk went gate to wire in a two-turn allowance for 3-year-olds to perhaps earn a spot in the Sam Davis. The two Todd Pletcher-trained favorites, Classic Catch and Point Proven, were a respective third and fourth in a field that scratched down to just four starters.
Prairie Hawk, a bay Curlin colt based at Palm Meadows with Saffie Joseph Jr., earned an 80 Beyer.
Castanon out indefinitely
Veteran jockey Jesus Castanon was scheduled to undergo surgery Wednesday for a fractured fibula suffered recently. Castanon landed awkwardly after being thrown from a scheduled mount in the post parade Jan. 8.
Agent Jose Garcia said he was informed Castanon could be able to return to riding by late February if the surgery goes as scheduled. Castanon had been on a hot streak before the incident, going 3 for 3 at Tampa on Jan. 7, all on turf. Since his first mount in the United States in 1989, the 49-year-old native of Mexico City has won more than 2,700 races, the most notable being the 2011 Preakness on Shackleford.
◗ A pair of two-turn turf allowances are the highlights of a nine-race Wednesday card that starts at 12:29 p.m. Eastern. Never Explain, shipping over from Payson Park for Shug McGaughey, is the 9-5 morning-line favorite in race 5, while Grand Oak exits five straight stakes as the 9-5 program pick in race 7 when getting first-time Lasix for Graham Motion.
Sunshine and a high of 75 are in the local forecast for Wednesday. Turf races were forced to the main track because of wet grounds two days last week before two races were run over good turf Sunday.
◗ Entering another four-day week at Tampa (Thursday is dark), Samy Camacho maintains a comfortable lead atop the jockey standings with 34 wins. Meanwhile, Jorge Delgado and perennial leader Gerald Bennett are tied atop the trainer standings with 17 wins apiece.
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