Four-year-old colt Emmanuel surged through the stretch and captured the $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes (G3) by 1 ¾ lengths from pacesetter Winfromwithin, setting a turf course record.
Emmanuel's time of 1:39.65 eclipsed the previous Tampa Bay Downs mark for the distance of 1:39.65 set by Legs Galore in the same event in 1999, the second year of racing on the Oldsmar oval turf course.
“I'm very pleased. It was an excellent comeback,” trainer Todd Pletcher said via text message about Emmanuel's first start since early August. “(The course record) makes it even more impressive.”
Winning jockey Javier Castellano was more expansive in describing things.
“(Coming off the pace today) really was the game plan,” Castellano said of Emmanuel, who had won the Pennine Ridge (G2) on June 4 at Belmont in front-running fashion. “I thought there would be a lot of speed in the race, and (Winfromwithin) had the speed to dictate the pace. We saved ground as best we could and when I tipped him outside, he responded.”
Castellano said he benefited from working Emmanuel last week at Pletcher's Palm Beach Downs base in south Florida. “It seemed like he was relaxed today. It was a beautiful trip, and I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time,” Castellano said.
Jose Batista, on Winfromwithin, had no complaints with his horse's effort. The 5-year-old hung on gamely to edge Golden Alchemist by a neck for second, with Verbal fourth in the 12-horse field.
Emmanuel, who paid $14.60 to win, had been on the Triple Crown trail last year, with an impressive 4 ½-length victory in his second career start on Jan. 30 on the Tampa Bay Downs dirt creating Kentucky Derby fever among many of his followers.
But Pletcher switched gears after a fourth in the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) and a third in the Toyota Blue Grass (G1) , and the son of More Than Ready out of Hard Cloth, by Hard Spun, seems to have found a new niche.
Owned by WinStar Farm and Siena Farm, he is now 4-for-7, with career earnings of $362,100.
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