Lentenor ran down Beckham Bend in the final yards to win at Tampa Bay Downs
Great ride by jockey Luis Garcia in an allowance/optional claiming race at Tampa Bay Downs on 23 December, 2011, to take Lentenor, the full brother of the 2006 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, to overhaul the loose Beckham Bend and defeat him by one
and a half lengths in the 1 1/16 mile test on turf.
The Kentucky bred son of Dynaformer, out of mare La Ville Rouge by Carson City, the 4-year-old colt is owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson in the name of their Lael Stables. The colt is trained by Leigh Delacour, who raced Lentenor last time on 9 October,
2011, in an allowance race where he finished a dismal seventh at Keeneland going over a distance of 1 1/16 miles on turf.
In the 10 horse field, Lantenor was sent off as the slight betting favourite in the $32,000 allowance/optional claiming race, where Blazen finished third followed by Presumptive, who turned in a fourth place finish on the day.
Luis Garcia was on top of Lentenor, and he said everything came out perfect. “He got a clean trip and we got him to do what we wanted. He was just cruising, cruising, cruising, then I asked him at the end and he did it. I knew I had the horse so I was really
just the passenger. He is a nice, nice horse.”
Lentenor has scarcely participated in the grade stakes races, and in 2010 he went for Grade 1 Florida Derby where he finished fourth to winner Ice Box at Gulfstream Park and then in the same year ran 1 1/8 miles in the Grade 3 Kent Stakes, where he finished
seventh.
Lentenor won for the third time on turf after 12 career starts, and he last won at Parx Racing on 31 July in a conditional claiming race.
“We entered him at Laurel before we came here but the race was off the turf and we scratched him, so this horse has been ready to run for more than a month,” Delacour said. “I think Luis rode a superb tactical race. Congratulations to the Jacksons for being
very patient with this horse. All the parts came together today.”
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