Special Princess Launches Kentucky Oaks Dreams In Saturday’s Suncoast Stakes

Florida-bred 3-year-old filly Special Princess has spent much of her brief career proving the naysayers wrong. Her next opportunity to confound the experts comes in Saturday's $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, part of a lucrative Festival Preview Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South card at Tampa Bay Downs.

The mile-and-40-yard Suncoast on the main track is the ninth race on a 12-race card beginning at 11:50 a.m. Special Princess, who dead-heated for the victory in the 7-furlong Gasparilla Stakes on Jan. 16 with Adios Trippi, will break from the outside No. 10 post position under jockey Ademar Santos.

Special Princess is owned by her breeder, Jim DiMare's J D Farms, and trained by Walter Woodard. The daughter of Bahamian Squall-Indy Crown, by Shaniko, breezed 3 furlongs Tuesday over the Oldsmar strip in 37 1/5 seconds with Santos aboard.

“We just blew her out a little to keep her on her toes,” said the 58-year-old Woodard, who began training on his own in 1998. “She has enough miles on her and enough bottom that she didn't need to go any farther. She is a very easy filly to train, and she's done everything I've asked her to do.”

The Suncoast Stakes is a “Road to the Kentucky Oaks” race, awarding qualifying points to the first four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 scale for the April 30 Longines Kentucky Oaks. The Suncoast is one of four stakes worth a combined $750,000 in purse money.

Saturday's other stakes, all Grade 3 events, are the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race for 3-year-olds going a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track; the $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes, for horses 4-years-old-and-upward racing a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; and the $175,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes, for fillies and mares 4-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf.

Just where Special Princess fits into the proceedings will be revealed, but Woodard knows the Suncoast will provide the toughest competition, top to bottom, of her career. She is 8-1 on the morning line, with Gulf Coast, from the barn of Rodolphe Brisset, the 5-2 favorite.

Besides Gulf Coast, who won the Cash Run Stakes on Jan. 1 at Gulfstream Park after finishing second here on Dec. 5 in the Sandpiper Stakes, likely contenders include trainer Ken McPeek's well-regarded Roll Up Mo Money, to be ridden by Samy Camacho; Feeling Mischief, a Michael Campbell-trainee who won the Sandpiper Stakes and was third in the Gasparilla; Il Malocchio, another McPeek charge who won the Victorian Queen Stakes on turf last September at Woodbine; and trainer Eddie Kenneally's Honorifique, second in the Cash Run.

And, that's not even mentioning entrants trained by Hall of Fame members Bill Mott and Mark Casse.

But it's horse racing, and Special Princess might have another surprise in store. The bettors ignored Special Princess in her career debut in August at Gulfstream Park, where she finished third in a nine-horse field at odds of 54-1. She was 24-1 when she broke her maiden on Oct. 28 at Gulfstream Park West. And she was mostly an afterthought in the Gasparilla, going off at 13-1. Adios Trippi appeared to have the race won before Special Princess staged a furious rally on the outside to create the deadlock.

“Saturday is a lot tougher race, because this starts the push toward the Kentucky Oaks,” Woodard said. “But this is what you have to do in life – keep stepping up. I'm confident she can run with this bunch. She wouldn't be there if I didn't think she belonged.

“I know she beat some nice horses (in the Gasparilla). I think she is definitely going to be able to run longer, and that Ademar will be able to settle her on the backside, get her motor revved up and come running. Everybody is going to know she is there, I'm pretty sure,” Woodard said.

The Gasparilla was Woodard's first stakes victory as a trainer. “I'm the small-town guy going in. But I grew up with Mark Casse when I moved to Florida (from Marietta, Ga.) out of high school to work for his father, Norman Casse, at Cardinal Hill Farm (in Ocala).” Woodard said. “I've been around these guys at the sales and big racetracks, and they wake up at 4 a.m. just like I do, so that doesn't bother me.”

Woodard, who also worked at Ocala Stud Farm for about 6 or 7 years before heading to the racetrack in 1998, has a quick reply when asked how he has managed to stay in the profession with only a few dozen victories to show as his on-track accomplishments.

“ 'Cause this is what I do for a living, and it's the greatest game in the world,” he said. “Forget my record. I've been doing this my whole life. I've worked on horse farms, galloped horses, then I got into pinhooking (buying weanlings or yearlings, developing them and selling them for a profit). I've been doing this my whole life, I'm still in the business and I'll be in the business until the end.

“I hustle and work hard, and racing has treated me very well.”

Woodard manages a 12-horse stable at Tampa Bay Downs. On Jan. 16, in the race before the Gasparilla, he sent out another J D Farms-owned 3-year-old filly, Peaceful Way, to win a maiden claiming event with Santos aboard. Peaceful Way is entered in Friday's first race.

From sheer, unadulterated joy to the mountaintop. So what if he had to share the view?

“Special Princess is probably the best horse I've trained,” Woodard said. “She makes my job real simple. I'm just fortunate to get to train her.”

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Tampa Bay Downs: Union Rags Colt Nova Rags Rallies To Win Pasco For Mott

Leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Samy Camacho welcomed the chance to ride the Pasco Stakes favorite, 3-year-old colt Nova Rags, for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. But when 16-1 shot Newyearsblockparty took the lead turning for home, Camacho realized translating opportunity to success was no easy bargain.

“I was a little worried at the three-eighths pole, because (Newyearsblockparty) was going between horses and I had to start working,” Camacho said after posting a 2 ¾-length victory aboard the 13-10 favorite at the Oldsmar, Fla., track. “But I hit him once at the top of the stretch and he responded, and when he switched leads in the stretch it was 'Bye.'”

Nova Rags completed the seven-furlong distance of the $125,000 Pasco Stakes in 1:24.55 on a fast track. Newyearsblockparty continued on willingly under jockey Jose Ferrer, finishing three-quarters of a length ahead of Foreman in the 23rd running of the 3-year-old event.

The victory was the second from three lifetime starts for the Michael Shanley-bred and owned Nova Rags, who showed signs he will enjoy going even farther as he continues his development.

Nova Rags' performance was one of numerous highlights on a partly sunny, windy Skyway Festival Day afternoon. In the previous race, the 37th running of the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, Special Princess staged a whirlwind rally on the outside to forge a dead heat with pace-setter Adios Trippi.

Both Special Princess and Adios Trippi are Florida-breds, meaning both earned $32,500 through additional money provided by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association. Special Princess, bred and owned by J D Farms and trained by Walter Woodard, was ridden by Ademar Santos.

Adios Trippi, who is owned in partnership by Paradise Farms Corp., Brian Hanley, Greg Boyer, Scott Estes and Walder Racing, is trained by Peter Walder and was ridden by Antonio Gallardo.

The co-winners finished in a time of 1:24.89. Feeling Mischief, the betting favorite, flattened out through the stretch, finishing third.

In the third main-track stakes on the card, the 37th running of the $50,000 Wayward Lass for older fillies and mares, heavy favorite Lucky Stride wore down her competition to post a 2 ¼-length victory from On the Town. Estilo Talentoso finished third.

Gallardo rode Lucky Stride for owner Sonata Stable and trainer Michael Trombetta. The winner's time was 1:44.24, .97 seconds off the stakes record set in 2019 by Tapa Tapa Tapa.

Meanwhile, the Pasco victory by Nova Rags, a son of Union Rags out of the Smart Strike mare Wishful Splendor, should open more doors for the colt who finished fourth in his previous start, the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct in November. “It's what we were hoping for,” said Mott's assistant, Mark Schreiber. “His last race was a little disappointing, but he was kind of shying from horses on the outside of him and he needed to mature a little.

“Samy rode him perfectly today and it looks like he will stretch out. All along, Bill (Mott) saw a lot in this horse,” Schreiber said.

All of the winning connections were ecstatic after the Gasparilla, even though a solo victory is always preferable. The victory was the first career stakes triumph for Woodard and the first stakes triumph at Tampa Bay Downs for Santos.

“This puts me on the map,” Woodard exulted. “I told everyone before the race they were going to know (Special Princess) was there, and Ademar did a hell of a job. She's really come into herself and I was very confident coming into the race.”

Santos was riding Special Princess for the first time, but he'd noticed she had started slow in her two previous Oldsmar starts and suggested to Woodard they work her from the starting gate a few days before the race to put more speed into her. “She broke a lot better today and got the job done,” Santos said. “I thought we beat (Adios Trippi), but it feels good because you don't have too many chances to ride this kind of horse. I told the pony rider to turn her loose in the post parade and she put her head down and got busy, and I knew she had her mind on business.”

Woodard and Santos had teamed to win the previous race on the card, the fifth, with 3-year-old claiming filly Peaceful Way, also owned by J D Farms.

Walder, who engineered the private purchase of Adios Trippi after her impressive maiden score Oct. 5 at Parx Racing in Philadelphia, was, like Woodard, just this side of over the moon after the result was posted.

“This is the happiest I've ever been for a dead-heat. I thought (Special Princess) nailed her, but my filly ran an awesome race because she took the beating up front (posting demanding fractions of 22.57 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 45.65 for the half),” Walder said.

“She just ran against a tough group at Gulfstream two weeks ago (finishing third in the Cash Run Stakes) and it was kind of a quick turnaround, but I liked the idea of wheeling her back from a mile to seven furlongs. She's getting better with each race,” Walder said.

Gallardo shared Walder's excitement. “She did the job, and it's better than second,” he said.

Lucky Stride improved to 9-for-16 with her Wayward Lass victory. “She hasn't done a darn thing wrong since we got her,” said Trombetta, who watched from Gulfstream Park. He had taken over her training last summer but had yet to win with her in four starts, all in stakes competition. “We tried her on turf a couple of times and she did fine, but we'd put this race on the calendar a while back and it worked out.”

Lucky Stride, who trailed by as much as 11 or 12 lengths in the early going, benefited from a quick pace set by long shot No Mercy Percy (who held on well for fourth), but Gallardo wasn't sure if she would get the job done as On the Town and Estilo Talentoso both finished with good energy. “I had to work with her. Michael told me she was kind of a one-paced horse, and I had to stay on top of her the whole time. But when I put her in the clear, she finished strong,” Gallardo said.

“She got floated out so wide on the turn, I was worried she wouldn't be able to get there,” Trombetta said. “It was very nice to see her finish so well.”

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