Two graded grass stakes packaged for Saturday Tampa card
The first two graded stakes of the 2021-22 Tampa Bay Downs meet are set for Saturday with the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Stakes and Grade 3 Endeavour, both at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
Arnaud Delacour has a pair of contenders for the Tampa Bay in Eons and Talk Or Listen. Both 6-year-old geldings were sent through half-mile pre-race works Saturday at the Oldsmar, Fla., track.
“There are a lot of things to like about entering them in this race,” said Delacour. “We’re happy with the way they’ve been training.”
Among the other older horses expected for the 36th Tampa Bay are Shirl’s Speight, Fly Like an Eagle, English Bee, and Carpenters Call, with probably a few more going when Saturday entries are drawn Wednesday.
Chad Brown, who has won three of the last 10 runnings of the Endeavour, intends to send Bleecker Street and In Italian from his Atlantic Coast base, while Lady Speightspeare, scratched Saturday by Roger Attfield from the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf at Gulfstream Park, also will ship over. Other fillies and mares likely for the 23rd Endeavour include Jezebel’s Kitten, Katama Moonlight, Morning Molly, Oyster Box, Pythoness, and Stunning Princess.
The purse for each race is $150,000, with another $25,000 paid to the winner if he or she is a registered Florida-bred.
In prior years, the Tampa Bay and Endeavour had been held on the same day as the Sam F. Davis, which this year is set for the following Saturday, Feb. 12, as a 10-4-2-1 points qualifier for the Kentucky Derby. Now they make up what management has labeled Turf Champions Day, with the Davis undercard consisting of the Suncoast, a Kentucky Oaks qualifier, along with the Pelican and Minaret, twin sprints for older horses.