OLDSMAR - Chris Fountoukis was about 90 minutes from Tampa Bay Downs Saturday morning when his new truck broke down, forcing him to call a tow truck and summon an Uber driver to take him back home to Miami. It wasn’t long before his day turned into seashells, balloons and rainbows.

    Fountoukis, a retired contractor, watched on his cell phone as his 2-year-old colt Solitude Dude demolished five opponents in the 40th running of the $125,000 Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, contested as the second race. Under jockey Edgard Zayas, Solitude Dude defeated runner-up Max Capacity by 8 lengths in a time of 1:09.07 for 6 furlongs, breaking the stakes record of 1:09.13 set last year by Donut God.

    The Tampa Bay Downs track record is 1:08.67, set by It’s Me Mom in 2012. Solitude Dude paid $2.20 to win.

    The Inaugural was one of two stakes races on a 10-race card consisting of nine races for 2-year-olds. In the co-feature, the 48th edition of the $125,000 Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies, Sneaky Good rallied from off the pace under jockey Antonio Gallardo, collaring Evolution at the sixteenth pole and withstanding a late charge from Blazing Brat to win by 2 ¾ lengths. Evolution held on for third, a head in front of My Miss Mo. Sneaky Good paid $4.80 to win as the betting favorite.

    As impressive as Sneaky Good looked, the day’s headlines were reserved for Solitude Dude.
“He’s awesome. I’m all excited,” said Fountoukis, who purchased Solitude Dude through trainer Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., for $300,000 at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s June Sale. “Saffie loves this horse. He thinks he has a good future.”

    Joseph isn’t the only one holding that opinion after the son of Yaupon-After the Party, by Into Mischief, improved to 2-for-2 in his career. Both Joseph, who watched the race from back home in south Florida, and Zayas began the day with guarded optimism that was realized about as well as could be hoped for.

    “He had a very encouraging workout (Nov. 28, 4 furlongs in :46.75 seconds at Palm Meadows Training Center), but he was facing winners for the first time today,” said Joseph, who also trains the third-place finisher, Langvad. “He moved a little early into a fast pace, but he still quickened away when (Zayas) asked him. I think he has a lot of ability and hopefully he will continue to build on it.”

    Joseph said he will consider the Jan. 10 Pasco Stakes at 7 furlongs at Tampa Bay Downs for Solitude Dude’s next start (and first as a 3-year-old), so there is sufficient time for the connections to savor this race (and get Fountoukis up and running again).

    Solitude Dude’s flirtation with the track record “tells a lot about what kind of horse he is,” Joseph said. “He has a lot of gears. That he can go into a fast pace and quicken like he did, we’re grateful to have him. He relaxes very well. His mind is probably his best attribute.”

    Indeed, Solitude Dude appeared to be unfazed as Super Kick broke to a 2-length lead, running the opening quarter-mile in "21.68 seconds. The half went in :44.31, but it didn’t seem to tax Solitude Dude.

    “He’s an amazing horse, a very nice horse,” said Zayas, who was aboard him for the first time. “I’m very excited to see how he runs in the future. It looks like he has a lot of ability. He broke good and I could tell he was a classy horse. He sat second and was on cruise control the whole time until I asked him about the 3/8 pole.

    “Once he got momentum, he opened up a couple of lengths and I let him go all the way to the wire. (The time) was without even using the whip on him. He probably would have broken the track record, but we’re not looking at that. We’re just saving it for the bigger races.”

    A brief rainstorm began about five minutes before post time for the Sandpiper, but had let up by the time the race went off. Sneaky Good, who is owned by NK Racing and LNJ Foxwoods and trained by Brad Cox, asserted her superiority late to improve to 2-for-2.

    Less than an hour earlier, Cox won the Gr. II Cigar Mile at Aqueduct with 5-year-old horse Bishops Bay.

    Sneaky Good’s time of 1:10.70 was 1.35 seconds off Dorth Vader’s 2022 stakes record. “I had a lot of confidence in her, and the race set up perfect,” Gallardo said of the daughter of Into Mischief-Gale, by Tonalist. “There was a lot of speed, and I think the outside (No. 9) post position helped because she had enough speed to be close but she didn’t have to go to the lead.

    “I pushed the button a little early because the track has been playing fast, but not as much for this race because of the rain. I asked her with my mouth,” he said, making a smooching noise, “and she gave me a little kick, so I knew I had a lot of horse left.”

Around the oval - Leading Oldsmar jockey Samuel Marin rode three winners for the second consecutive day. He captured the first race on Teddy Bear, a 2-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by Robert Cotran and trained by Joseph Orseno. Marin and Orseno doubled up in the fifth race with Hades, a 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding owned by D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran. Marin then won the seventh with Lightscape, a 2-year-old filly owned by Glen Hill Farm and trained by Tom Proctor.

    HALLANDALE BEACH - Two-time defending leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr., fellow Eclipse Award winner Tyler Gaffalione and British champion David Egan will make their first appearances of the 2025-2026 Championship Meet when the country’s premier winter stand resumes with a nine-race program today.

 First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

     Ortiz, fresh off topping the Churchill Downs fall meet standings, is named in four races today and seven on Friday to begin the quest for his record-extending seventh Championship Meet title, having broken the mark set by Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, who won five in a row from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016. Ortiz also surpassed Castellano’s single-season standard with 140 wins in 2020-2021.

    A 33-year-old native of Puerto Rico and five-time Eclipse Award winner (2018-20, 2022-23), Ortiz ranked first with 109 wins and $6.6 million in purse earnings last winter at Gulfstream with 12 stakes wins led by White Abarrio in the Ghostzapper (G3) and $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and Mindframe in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2).

    Gaffalione, born and raised in Davie, Fla., is named in three races today and Friday and six on Saturday including Summer Cause for trainer Miguel Clement in the $100,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Handicap scheduled for two miles on the grass.

    Last winter the 31-year-old Gaffalione, the champion apprentice of 2015, was second at the Championship Meet with 74 wins and third with nearly $4.2 million in purse earnings whose stakes wins were highlighted by Spirit of St Louis in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1).

    Based in England, where he was the champion apprentice of 2017, Egan was born in Kildare, Ireland and returns for the third straight winter. He is named in five races today, four races Friday and five on Saturday including stakes-placed I Know I Know in the Jerkens for 3-year-olds and up.

    Egan, 26, won 18 races and $707,450 in purses from 149 mounts at the 2024-2025 Championship Meet before returning for the British season. The winner of several major international Group 1 races including the Saudi Cup, Dubai Sheema Classic, Irish St. Leger and the St. Leger in England, he is a contract rider for Kia Joorabchian’s AMO Racing through 2028.

    Soon to arrive at Gulfstream are Hall of Famer John Velazquez, North America’s all-time leader with more than $513 million in purses earnings, and Corey Lanerie, a lifetime winner of 5,150 races.

    Jockey Rajiv Maragh sits one win shy of 2,000 for his career. He is named in two races today, five on Friday and six on Saturday.

     Spendthrift Farm’s Further Ado (Gun Runner- Sky Dreamer, by Sky Mesa) drew away late to win the Gr. II, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs by 1 ¾ lengths and lead the slate of stakes-winning OBS grads for the week.

    Further Ado verified his 20-length, two-turn maiden win 50 days ago at Keeneland. He earned $242,470 and collected 10 points as part of the “Road to the Kentucky Derby” series, which offered points on a scale of 10-5-3-2-1 to the top five finishers.

    “This was a really good test for him,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He won very impressively last time. Today he had to show a different dimension and really dig down late to get by. It’s very important to get a horse like this started early on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Hopefully he can bring us right back here in the spring.”

    Further Ado was purchased by Spendthrift at the 2025 OBS April Sale for $550,000 from the Six K's Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :21 1/5. 

    At Churchill Downs, Moonlight (Audible- Sundown, by Tapit) rallied past 6-5 pacesetting favorite Dragoon Guard in deep stretch to win the second running of the $249,835 Cherokee Mile by 1 ½ lengths. Moonlight, a 4-year-old son of Audible, earned his first stakes win and third win in five starts at Churchill Downs for trainer Chris Block and owner Kiki Courtelis’ Town and Country Racing.

    Moonlight was purchased at the 2023 OBS April Sale by his owners for $285,000 from the Eddie Woods consignment after breezing in :21.

    At Zia Park, Lookinforbargains (Practical Joke-Mixed Up Kid, by Lemon Drop Kid) won the $100,000 Zia Park Distaff Stakes in her second stakes attempt. Owned by Paul Jenson and trained by Todd Fincher, Lookinforbargains was purchased by H & R Bloodstock for $85,000 at the 2022 OBS April Sale from the Scanlon Training & Sales consignment after breezing in :10.

    The Nov. 25 Zia Park card also saw Bryon Seymore’s A Thousand Miles (Thousand Words – Swiss Army Wife, by Colonel John) take the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks for trainer Bart G. Hone. The daughter of Thousand Words was purchased for $27,000 by Dennis O’Neill out of the Pick View consignment at the 2024 OBS March sale after breezing in :10 3/5.