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Strategic Bird Takes Sandpiper Stakes At Tampa Bay Downs

After Strategic Bird won her career debut on Nov. 13 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., by 12 ¾ lengths, it was fair to ask how she might handle a challenge in today's $100,000-guaranteed Sandpiper Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in Tampa, Fla.

The Florida-bred juvenile filly answered the question in resounding fashion, turning back Devine Charger by a neck after a stretch-long duel to win the fourth-fastest Sandpiper in its 44 runnings.

“That was something incredible,” said winning jockey Antonio Gallardo after the daughter of Noble Bird-Strategize, by Afleet Alex, held firm to the wire, completing the six-furlong distance in 1:10.05. “At one point I was like, 'Oh, —-.' I was getting a little worried because she felt the pressure from that gray horse, but she's a feisty filly.”

The Sandpiper and the Inaugural were part of the Oldsmar oval's annual Cotillion Festival Day card, consisting entirely of races for 2-year-olds turning 3 on Jan. 1.

Owned by Gary Barber and trained by Hall of Famer Mark Casse, Strategic Bird paid $4.00 to win after many of her backers nearly lost control rooting for her to hang on. “I had a couple of people with me who said 'This race is over,' ” said Casse assistant Jimmy Miranda of Devine Charger's challenge, “but I said 'No, not yet.'

“She laid down some good fractions (:21.93 for the quarter-mile and :44.91 for the half) and won, so we're really happy with the result. When you get one who wins first time out like she did, you just want to see if they'll take the next step, and she handled everything well today. She's a good-minded filly.”

Chasing Happiness finished third in the 10-horse field, seven lengths behind Devine Charger.

Although Strategic Bird broke a step slow from the No. 1 post, Gallardo was unconcerned, and for good reason. She moved quickly to the lead on her own, giving the rider a chance to give her a breather on the far turn, which doubtless contributed to the victory.

“I tried not to rush her too much because I knew she has a lot of natural speed,” Gallardo said. “She broke a little slow and still set those fractions like it was nothing. Having the No. 1 post was perfect, and after I gave her a chance to relax, she dug in and never quit.”

Bred by the John Oxley Living Trust, Strategic Bird collected $30,000 from the total purse since she was not Florida Sire Stakes-eligible, a requirement to compete for the $50,000 winner's-only bonus.

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Pair Of Juvenile Stakes Headline Saturday’s Card At Tampa

Saturday's $100,000 Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-old colts and geldings and the $100,000 Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies each attracted 10 entrants and are part of Tampa Bay Downs' 10-race card that begins at 12:10 p.m.

Heading the field for the Inaugural, which is the ninth race on the card, is the gelding Concrete Glory, a Pennsylvania-bred son of Bodemeister who has won three races in a row by a combined margin of 20 lengths. Owned by Carl L. Hess, Jr., and trained by Gerald Brooks, Concrete Glory will be ridden by Antonio Gallardo while breaking from the outside No. 10 post.

Inaugural bettors will also pay close attention to Optigogo, a colt who finished third in the Display Stakes in his most recent start on Oct. 30 at Woodbine. Rocco Bowen is named to ride for owner Calumet Farm and trainer Eoin Harty.

The Sandpiper is the seventh race on the card. Gallardo appears to have another top contender in Florida-bred Strategic Bird, who broke her maiden by 12 ¾ lengths last month at Gulfstream for owner Gary Barber and Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Strategic Bird drew the inside No. 1 post.

Also looking tough is trainer David Fawkes's Florida-bred filly Chasing Happiness, who will break from the No. 4 post under Pablo Morales.

Saturday also marks the start of the “10 Days of Festivus Challenge,” an online handicapping contest that runs from Saturday through Dec. 24. There is no cost to enter and handicappers of all experience levels get to test their skills against some of the best.

The contest is a lot of fun and offers a first-place prize of $1,000. Each player begins the “10 Days of Festivus Challenge” with a free lifeline, and players who get off to a slow start may purchase additional lifelines as the contest moves forward.

Participants must register by 10:30 a.m. on the first day of the contest. All wagers are mythical, and players select one horse in one of each day's “Challenge Races,” with results determined from a $2 mythical win-place-show wager on their pick.

A full set of rules is available on the contest website, which can be accessed at www.tampabaydowns.com (click Festivus Challenge on the home page, then click “Create an account” near the top right of the contest page).

The contest focus is on picking winners, so it is likely to produce several “diamond-in-the-rough” contenders who know how to map out a race and factor in all the variables that make handicapping such a fun and challenging endeavor.

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Inaugural, Sandpiper Kick Off Stakes Calendar At Tampa Bay Downs

Promising 2-year-olds, some whose connections have designs on tackling bigger challenges in 2022, will step into the spotlight on Saturday, Dec. 4 when Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., launches its stakes schedule with a pair of $100,000 six-furlong sprints.

The 36th running of the Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-olds and the 44th edition of the Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies begin a progression of Oldsmar stakes races that could lead the best of the bunch to a date with equine destiny in more lucrative engagements as 3-year-olds next year (for record-keeping purposes, all Thoroughbreds are considered to age a year on Jan. 1).

The Inaugural has drawn 28 nominations, while the Sandpiper has attracted 33 nominations. The Inaugural, for colts and geldings, is designed as a precursor to the $125,000 seven-furlong Pasco Stakes on Jan. 15. The next steps for the most talented of the males include the $250,000 Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on Feb. 12 and the $400,000 G2 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 12.

Both the Sam F. Davis and the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby are “Road to the Kentucky Derby” races, awarding points to the first four finishers toward qualifying for a spot in the starting gate at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., in the Run for the Roses on May 7.

Gerry Stanislawzyk, the Tampa Bay Downs Stakes Coordinator, said possible Inaugural starters include the gelding Captain Cajun, who broke his maiden on Oct. 3 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla. The son of Cajun Breeze is trained by Michael Yates, who won last year's Inaugural with Poppy's Pride.

Other Inaugural possible include gelding Concrete Glory, whose three career victories for trainer Gerald Brooks have come at different tracks; Little Vic, a maiden winner at Gulfstream from the barn of trainer Juan Carlos Avila; Viva Victory, a winner on turf at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., in his only start for owner-trainer Arnoud Dobber; and Whistlewhileyoumow, who broke his maiden earlier this month at Hawthorne Race Course in Stickney, Ill., for trainer Jon Arnett.

The next step after the Sandpiper for the fillies is the $125,000 seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes on Jan. 15. Those showing sufficient talent and desire could then advance to the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, a mile-and-40-yard contest on Feb. 12.

The Suncoast is a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” race, awarding points to the first four finishers toward earning a spot in the May 6 Kentucky Oaks.

Sandpiper possibles, according to Stanislawzyk, include Last Leaf, whose three victories from six starts for trainer Ron Spatz include a score in the Hollywood Beach Stakes on the turf on Sept. 25 at Gulfstream.

Other possible entrants include Strategic Bird, who broke her maiden by 12 ¾ lengths in her career debut on Nov. 13 at Gulfstream for trainer Mark Casse; Chasing Happiness, a David Fawkes-trainee who broke her maiden at Gulfstream earlier this month by 6 ½ lengths; and She's My Warrior, who won the Northern Lights Debutant Stakes in September at Canterbury Park in Shakopee, Minn., for trainer Tim Padilla.

The Inaugural and the Sandpiper are part of what is certain to be a December to remember as action at Tampa Bay Downs heats up approaching the holiday season.

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‘Looking Forward To Running Her Longer’: Gulf Coast Gets Class Test In Friday’s Cash Run Stakes

WinStar Stablemates Racing's Gulf Coast, stakes-placed in one of two juvenile starts, will step up and stretch out for her sophomore debut in Friday's $75,000 Cash Run at Gulfstream Park.

The one-mile Cash Run for 3-year-old fillies is among three $75,000 stakes on the New Year's Day program along with a pair of five-furlong turf sprints, the Abundantia for fillies and mares 4 and older and the Janus for 4-year-olds and up featuring the 7-year-old debut of multiple graded-stakes winner Imprimis.

First race post time is 12:05 p.m.

Gulf Coast, a bay daughter of 2012 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Union Rags, will be racing beyond six furlongs for the first time in the Cash Run, her second straight stakes after running second in the Sandpiper Dec. 5 at Tampa Bay Downs, overcoming some early trouble to get within two lengths of the winner.

The Sandpiper came barely three weeks after Gulf Coast debuted with a come-from-behind half-length maiden special weight triumph at Indiana Downs.

“She ran huge there. She wasn't settled perfectly in the gate and broke maybe a step slow and got bumped pretty hard,” trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. “We don't think the six furlongs is what she wants to do but, at that point, the black type is very attractive.

“She's very well-bred and she was showing all the signs she was ready to run again,” he added. “We decided to go in there and had a rough trip. Were we the best? Maybe, but I think she showed us that she can take the kickback [and] she can come from out of it, so we're really looking forward to running her longer.”

Purchased for $240,000 as a yearling in September 2019 and sold again for $300,000 as a 2-year-old in training in March, Gulf Coast began her career on the West Coast with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. Out of the Candy Ride mare Sweet Success, she trained at Los Alamitos and Santa Anita before being sent to Brisset in Kentucky.

“She seemed like she was working OK when she was at Los Alamitos and when [Baffert] moved back to Santa Anita maybe she didn't like the track, but it didn't look like she was working good enough to run there. So, the ownership and Mr. Baffert decided to send her to us,” Brisset said.

“She actually arrived at our Turfway Park division first, thinking maybe we would run her there,” he added. “I worked her on the synthetic and I don't think she really cared for it, so we just decided to run her at Indiana and she won first time out pretty impressive.”

Brisset said despite her belated start, he wasn't surprised that Gulf Coast won first time out.

“Her works at Santa Anita were good enough where she was fit enough off the plane. I just worked her once and she went an easy three-eighths and just went in,” he said. “She just was showing every sign she was ready to run. Where she belonged we did not know and Indiana was a really good spot. We gave her a chance to show what she can do and she did it. She won pretty nice.”

Brisset was aboard when Gulf Coast breezed four furlongs in 48.55 seconds Dec. 23 at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, the fastest of 11 horses. Two-time defending Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has the mount in the Cash Run from Post 2 in a field of nine.

“We were keeping all our options open in the coming stakes for 3-year-olds. Actually the Cash Run was not really in the plans at first, but when the nominations came out, we thought we were pretty competitive in there,” Brisset said. “Then we worked her and she worked extremely good, and she came out of the work in good shape. We've got Irad, so all the signs are going where we should run. When you have a good jock and you have a horse show you she's doing good I just think it's time to go.”

Brisset said the Cash Run, named for the multiple graded-stakes winning mare whose victories included the 1999 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Gulfstream, is an ideal spot to launch Gulf Coast's season.

“We even feel like she got bigger and stronger and the extra time has been really good for her. I think we're going to bring her there with some confidence and see where she belongs,” he said. “If we think the added distance is going to be good for her, we kind of want to find out in the next two months where to point after that. So, Friday is going to be a good test distance-wise and probably quality-wise, too. She's going to have to face some better fillies, I'm sure, but we will bring her there and see what happens.”

Gulf Coast will face a pair of stakes winners in Quinoa Tifah and the undefeated Shea D Summer. Arindel's Quinoa Tifah won twice in two starts over Gulfstream's main track in 2020 including the seven-furlong Our Dear Peggy in front-running fashion Sept. 26 over Con Lima, who is being pointed to the $75,000 Ginger Brew on turf Jan. 2 at Gulfstream.

Luis Saez rides Quinoa Tifah for trainer Juan Alvarado from Post 6 at co-topweight of 122 pounds.

Shea D Boy's Stable's Shea D Summer, by Summer Front, will try open company for the first time after winning her only two starts of 2020, both against fellow Florida-breds at Gulfstream Park West. She debuted Oct. 7 with a one-length triumph going six furlongs and returned to capture the 6 ½-furlong Juvenile Fillies Sprint Nov. 14 over a sloppy track.

Jose Ortiz gets the riding assignment on Shea D Summer from Post 1.

Rounding out the field are last out maiden special weight winners Adios Trippi, Gladys, Honorifique and Orbs Baby Girl; Lucifers Lair, unraced since running last of five in the Adirondack (G2) Aug. 12 at Saratoga; and Sky Proposal, most recently third to Shea D Summer in the Juvenile Fillies Sprint.

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