Tampa Bay Derby draws a full field as accomplished runners take on each other for graded stakes earnings
A full field of 12 3-year-olds is ready to go in the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, which is run over a distance of 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Tampa Bay Downs’ dirt course on 10 March, 2012.
Trainer Todd Pletcher is well represented for the Tampa Bay Derby, as the veteran trainer will send out his lightly raced colt, but still undefeated, Spring Hill Farm. George Bolton’s newly turned three-year-old is a Virginia bred son of Smart Strike, out
of mare Colonial Minstrel by Pleasant Colony, and the colt is undefeated in 2 career starts.
He broke his maiden this year at first asking over a distance of seven furlongs on 14 January, and covered the distance in 1 minute and 24.51 seconds, under John Velazquez over at Gulfstream Park’s dirt course.
Staying at Gulfstream Park’s dirt course, Spring Hill Farm stretched out in distance to a mile, but that didn’t faze the colt as he bagged an allowance/optional claimer on 11 February, 2012, defeating Unbridled Minister in second and Vee One Rotate in third,
while he covered the distance in 1 minute and 39.47 seconds.
He will be stretched out in distance again in the Tampa Bay Derby, but the distance will be least of his worries as Patrick B. Byrne sends out his 3-year-old trainee in the Tampa Bay Derby mix, Take Charge Indy, who is not more accomplished than Spring Hill
Farm, but certainly more experienced.
The son of A. P. Indy made his seasonal debut in an allowance/optional claimer at about 1 1/16 miles at Gulfstream Park, and finished a strong second to El Padrino.
The colt is a Breeders’ Cup participant, as he finished fifth after a troubled ride in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
The top 2 finishers of the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes are also in the lineup, Battle Hardened who finished first and Prospective who finished second. These two are the standouts of the mile and a sixteenth Tampa Bay Derby.
The top finishers of the Tampa Bay Derby will have a strong case for the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, and some with their performances will persuade their connections to consider them for the Triple Crown.
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