Track Times Today - With Bernie Dickman - Racing, Breeding, Pari-Mutuels

spirit

Sunday, November 23, 2025

HALLANDALE BEACH - Peachtree Stable homebred Spirit Doll, dominant in her grass...

HALLANDALE BEACH - Peachtree Stable homebred Spirit Doll, dominant in her grass debut last month, is among seven last-out winners and one of three entries from four-time defending Championship Meet leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. in the $100,000 Wait a While on Thursday’s opening day program at Gulfstream Park.

The eight-race Thanksgiving Day holiday program has a special post time of 11:15 a.m.

For 2-year-old fillies on Gulfstream’s newly refreshed turf course, the 7 ½-furlong Wait a While going two turns is the first of 68 stakes, 27 graded, worth $15.2 million in purses during an 84-day Championship Meet that runs through March 29.

Spirit Doll, by Tiz the Law, graduated in debut sprinting six furlongs Aug. 7 at Saratoga, where she next endured a troubled trip finishing sixth in the seven-furlong Spinaway (G1). Joseph brought her back to Florida, stretched her out to a mile and put her on the turf for the Oct. 25 Our Dear Peggy, where she came from off the pace to win by 6 ¼ widening lengths.

“I ran her back quick in the Spinaway but I actually thought she was going to be competitive in that and she didn’t run. I think it was just too quick after the first race,” Joseph said. “She was very impressive the other day and I feel she goes in there, in my opinion, a deserving favorite.

Spirit Doll drew Post 7 with jockey Edgard Zayas at topweight of 122 pounds and is rated the 5-2 second choice on the morning line.

“She has grass pedigree from the dam [Pakhet] and the Tiz the Laws have run on the grass,” Joseph said. “You’re just kind of hoping she takes to the grass but you never envision that kind of performance, especially the way she quickened. I thought it was very, very impressive so the future is very bright for her.”

Averill Racing’s R Slew of Cash (12-1) already owns a win at the course and distance, graduating by 1 ¼ lengths on the same card as Spirit Doll’s stakes victory. She pressed the early pace in her one-mile unveiling before fading to eighth Sept. 4 at Kentucky Downs.

I thought at Kentucky Downs she ran a good race. She looked like she was going to run good and she got tired,” Joseph said. “Last time she tracked and she quickened nicely. It’s the right race for her. I think the distance is ideal, but she’ll have to show she’s good enough. She’s going to need to improve to be competitive but I think she is eligible to improve.”

Micah Husbands, up for the maiden win, rides back from Post 3.

C2 Racing Stable, BAG Racing Stables, Barry Fowler, Charles Deters and Mark Taylor’s Day to Day (12-1) is winless in three tries since joining Joseph over the summer with one grass start, beaten 5 ½ lengths when eighth in the 1 1/16-mile Miss Grillo (G2) Oct. 4 at Aqueduct. Fourth in the Spinaway, she has Edwin Gonzlaez named to ride from Post 8.

“Her grass race wasn’t that bad in the Miss Grillo. She broke well and then kind of lost position and ended up out wide and kind of ran even,” Joseph said. “We’re going to decide closer to the race if we’re going to run.”

The 2-1 program favorite for the Wait a While is Woodslane Farm homebred Sister Troienne (Post 5), the Brian Lynch trainee that joins Spirit Doll and French import Special Wood as two-time winners in the field. Sister Troienne, by Munnings, has won back-to-back starts since being moved to the turf by eight combined lengths, the latter around two turns, and will have the services of regular Kentucky-based rider dual Derby-winning jockey Mario Gutierrez.

Brody Racing’s Devilish Grin (20-1) is another horse with stakes experience, having run third in the Aug. 27 P.G. Johnson at Saratoga third time out before graduating in an Oct. 4 maiden optional claimer at Aqueduct, both going 1 1/16 miles. JSM Equine’s Haute Diva (10-1) has three seconds from five starts with a lone win coming at one mile Sept. 27 on the Gulfstream turf.

Both Amberglen and Slippers step up to stakes company off impressive debut victories. Stonestreet Stables’ Irish-bred Amberglen (Post 1, 8-1) overcame somewhat of a slow start to rally for a three-quarter-length triumph Oct. 23 going one mile on the Keeneland turf for trainer Brad Cox. Following the race she was sent to South Florida where she shows three breezes at Payson Park.

DJ Stable’s Slippers (Post 4, 9-2) fetched $225,000 as a yearling last fall and didn’t launch her career for more than a year, rallying for a popular three-length maiden special weight triumph sprinting five furlongs Oct. 18 on the Gulfstream turf.

“She had always shown talent,” DJ’s Jon Green said. “She was a little slower developing than the rest of the group. Thankfully, the way [Hall of Fame trainer] Mark Casse has his farm set up, they can go in tranches so she didn’t have to get rushed or get ahead of where she was mentally. But once she put it together at the farm, it took her the matter of a month or two before she really started showing it on the racetrack.

“So, going into that first race we were pretty confident,” he added. “Mark is a two-time Hall of Famer. He doesn’t do too much to get a horse ready first time out because as he likes to say, he’s training a horse for its career not its maiden win. Whenever we win first time out it is kind of a pleasant surprise, but we were pretty confident that she had talent going into that first race.”

Slippers has breezed twice over the all-weather Tapeta course since her race, and will have Miguel Vasquez back in the irons.

“We’re going against winners and winners that have run two turns, so it’s a little different scenario than her first asking,” Green said, “but she’s also had that first experience, she’s a little more mature, and we don’t have to ship her anywhere. For all intents and purposes the majority of the field is in the same boat as we are … a-other-than allowance types running for black-type on opening day.”

Casse also entered Lighthouse Racing’s Backgammon (Post 9, 30-1), a front-running maiden winner going one mile Oct. 18 at Keeneland in her fifth start. Completing the field are Special Wood (Post 10, 20-1), making her North American debut after winning two of three starts in her native France; and the also-eligible Girvana (Post 11, 30-1).

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Marin Is on Fire After 2 Days of Racing at Tampa

Saturday, November 22, 2025

Last year's leader has won six races . . .

OLDSMAR - Based on the first two days of the 2025-26 Tampa Bay Downs meet, Samuel Marin isn’t going to have a whole lot of spare time this season between races.

Last season’s leading jockey, who won two races from eight mounts on Wednesday’s Opening Day card, competed in all nine races today, winning four. With six victories the first two days, he’s off to the kind of start his agent Mike Moran hoped for.

“He’s in the zone. He’s riding awesome, and it seems like he’s just out in the right spots on the track and gives every horse he’s on a chance to win,” Moran said after the 24-year-old Venezuela product rode four winners today. “His timing is good and it just seems like he’s having fun out there.
“You can just tell he has so much confidence,” Moran added. “And he wants to ride all of the (races). Hey, he’s young. I’m 65 and I’m tired watching him, but he’s doing awesome. We just have to keep him healthy and get him pretty decent horses, and he does the rest.”

Over the first two days of the meet, which resumes Wednesday, Marin has ridden in 17 of the 18 races. The only race he sat out was the second on Opening Day, when his mount Answer the Call was scratched after failing to draw into the field from the also-eligible list. Marin will travel to Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach on Sunday morning to ride six races and is named on seven horses back in Oldsmar on Wednesday.

“Hopefully my agent keeps me real busy,” Marin said. “I love riding, I’m fit and I want to ride a lot more races. Today was a great day. I thank God for everything, and I’m grateful for all the support I’m getting from everyone here.”

After finishing second in today’s first race, Marin won the second on favorite Top Pocket Pick, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly who paid $5.20 to win. He then won the fourth, fifth and sixth races in succession. He captured the fourth on 8-year-old gelding Bear Creek, who paid $11.80; the fifth race on the turf on 3-year-old filly Curlaine, who paid $6.20; and the sixth on Long Gone Sally, a 3-year-old Florida-bred filly who paid $7.40.

Marin’s streak was snapped in the seventh race on the turf when he finished second on 2-year-old filly Mappy, who was passed late by trainer Mark Casse’s juvenile lass Greatest, ridden by Pablo Morales.

Marin will be back to try to continue his winning ways Wednesday.
“It’s always good to ride good horses,” Marin said. “This is an amazing beginning to the meet, and I just say thank you to everyone who has been involved.”

Register for “10 Days of Festivus.”

The “10 Days of Festivus Challenge” Handicapping Contest begins Friday, Dec. 5, and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 24. There is no charge to enter, but players must register by 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 to be eligible. The winner receives a $1,000 cash prize and the runner-up earns $500.

Each day, players are required to select one of two designated CHALLENGE RACES, with results determined from a mythical $2 win-place-show wager on their pick. Players begin with a free lifeline and have an opportunity throughout the contest to purchase five more. Players lose a lifeline if their choice does not finish first, second or third, or if they fail to make a selection on a contest day.

A full set of rules is available at www.festivuschallenge.com , which is also the place to register.

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Sunshine Meet Closes After Sunday's Program

Friday, November 21, 2025

$75,000 Juvenile Sprint set for tomorrow . . .

HALLANDALE BEACH - Gulfstream Park’s fall Sunshine Meet will lower the curtain this weekend with Edgard Zayas looking to reclaim his spot atop the jockey standings and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. chasing a remarkable 14th consecutive track title.

Closing weekend kicks off today with a nine-race program starting at 12:20 p.m. Eleven races are on tap for Saturday, including the $75,000 Juvenile Sprint for 2-year-olds on the main track and the $70,000 Chasie Artie overnight handicap for 3-year-olds and up on Tapeta, with 11 more on Sunday.

Joseph holds a 30-26 lead over Jose D’Angelo in the race for leading trainer with entries in 12 races over the weekend to D’Angelo’s 13. Joseph, a 38-year-old native of Barbados, has won 13 straight meet titles at Gulfstream including last four Championship Meets, the country’s premier winter racing destination that gets under way Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27.

Zayas tops the rider standings with 40 wins, closely chased by Miguel Vasquez (38) and Emisael Jaramillo (34). Zayas is named in 26 races on the weekend including the entire Saturday program, while Vasquez is named in 22 and Jaramillo in 20.

A finalist for the 2013 Eclipse Award as champion apprentice, Zayas, 32, has been a year-round force in South Florida since his arrival from Puerto Rico. He owns nine riding titles at Gulfstream including the Sunshine Meet in 2021 and 2023 as well as the 2024 and 2025 Royal Palm Meet.

Joseph has both Strategic Reserve and Hammond entered in the Juvenile Sprint, with Zayas named on the latter. Vasquez is set to ride Thunder Chuck for trainer Jorge Delgado with Jaramillo on Camigol for Antonio Sano.

Neither leading trainer entered a horse in the Chasie Artie. Zayas will ride And Uwish for trainer Joe Orseno, Vasquez is named on Full Disclosure for Mohamed Jehaludi, and Jaramillo has the call on Roar Ready for Victor Barboza Jr.

Jockey Rajiv Maragh enters closing weekend with 1,997 career victories. He is named in three races Saturday and five races Sunday.

Jose Castro’s JC Racing Stable leads the Sunshine Meet owner standings with eight wins, two more than Michael Yates’ Shadybrook Farm. Castro has entries in four races over the weekend, while Yates has none. Bruno Schickedanz, Arindel, D. J. Stable and In Front Racing Stables have four wins apiece.

Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $150,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is estimated at $150,000 when the Sunshine Meet resumes today with a nine-race program to kick off closing weekend. First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

The multi-race wager has gone unsolved for six racing days following multiple mandatory payouts of $7,316 on Nov. 2.

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Enthusiasm Abounds at Tampa Bay Downs Opener

Thursday, November 20, 2025

More than 4,000 show up on-track . . .

OLDSMAR - Dennis Petrucelli, a former rider who has overseen the Tampa Bay Downs jockeys' room as the track’s Clerk of Scales for 15 years, feels a surge of familiar energy every Opening Day.
The first card of the Oldsmar oval’s 100th anniversary season today in front of a crowd of 4,021 was no different. The all-sources handle reached $3,790,951.
“You get to see all the people who rode here the year before, and you get to meet some new guys who are up-and-coming future stars,” Petrucelli said. “Maybe when they leave they’ll go someplace up north and get lucky and keep going.
“You can’t beat Opening Day here. The money has gotten so good for a smaller track, and you look at the crowd. Free admission on Wednesday is a great idea, and people end up betting it back at the windows.”
From a personal standpoint, it’s especially meaningful for the 80-year-old Petrucelli to be back at work after a six-month offseason. “All I’d be doing otherwise is sitting at home watching TV,” he said.
Antonio Gallardo began riding here about the same time Petrucelli took charge of the room. The 38-year-old Gallardo, who won today’s third race on 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding Issano for owner-trainer Justin J. Nixon, loves returning to Tampa Bay Downs to renew friendships and spirited yet friendly rivalries.
“It seems like there’s a little more energy on Opening Day,” said Gallardo, who won the riding title at Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania this year. Before today’s assignments, Gallardo last rode on Oct. 23.
“It’s weird – you stay at home for so long, it gets a little boring. You need some action. Opening Day gives you a different vibe. You see how many people are here, and they’re saying ‘Antonio, it’s nice to see you, how you doing?’
“You can feel the adrenaline, because you’re back competing against a lot of people you haven’t seen for six months.”
On Wednesday’s card, 24-year-old defending jockey champion Samuel Marin and 61-year-old kid-at-heart Jose Ferrer each rode two winners and will begin Saturday’s action tied at the top of the jockey standings. In what other sport, besides an occasional golf tournament, can you watch the generations come together like that?
“It (Opening Day) is completely special here, and then when you win a race right away you feel confident and comfortable being back,” said Ferrer, who began his career in 1982. “The crowd here might not be big for some tracks, but this being a small grandstand it feels like there are a lot of people here and you are close to them.
“It’s nice to be back and it’s great to be around all the fans in Tampa again,” added Ferrer, who has won more than 4,800 races.
Trainer Gregg Sacco, who just turned 60, knows how racing can bring people of all ages and backgrounds together. His late father William J. Sacco trained horses here in the early 1950s when the track was known as Sunshine Park, and his uncle Johnny was a jockey at the same time.
Nowadays, Sacco’s son Will – who turns 25 next week – manages the stable’s New York string while Gregg is in Oldsmar. No matter where he is stationed, though, the memories come flooding back every Opening Day.
“It’s a blend of old faces and new faces, of horsemen and jockeys coming from all over. Opening Day is exciting for everybody, including the fans,” Sacco said. “This is my fourth season here and Tampa has some of the greatest fans in the country.”
Sacco has been training 35 years. In a sport that is often fragmented, he knows what it means to compete at a track that first opened for business in 1926. “It’s kind of crazy – my dad and my uncle Johnny won races here in 1951, and here I am today,” Sacco said. “Every year, it looks like Tampa does something new, whether it’s in the clubhouse or the grandstand or the eateries. They keep changing with the times, which you need to do to attract the younger generation. You look at the picnic area for families on the other side of the paddock – it’s just a very comfortable track for everybody of every age group.”
Schedule info. Day 2 of the 2025-26 meet is Saturday. Beginning next week, Tampa Bay Downs will race on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday schedule through Dec. 20, with Sundays added to the mix on Dec. 21.
The track – including The Silks Poker Room and The Downs Golf Practice Facility – is closed in its entirety on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27, and on Christmas, Dec. 25.
Register for “10 Days of Festivus.” The “10 Days of Festivus Challenge” Handicapping Contest begins Friday, Dec. 5, and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 24. There is no charge to enter, but players must register by 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 5 to be eligible. The winner receives a $1,000 cash prize and the runner-up earns $500.
Each day, players are required to select one of two designated CHALLEGE RACES, with results determined from a mythical $2 win-place-show wager on their pick. Players begin with a free lifeline and have an opportunity throughout the contest to purchase five more. Players lose a lifeline if their choice does not finish first, second or third, or if they fail to make a selection on a contest day.
A full set of rules is available at www.festivuschallenge.com , which is also the place to register.

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Steal Sunshine Finally Made It

Wednesday, November 19, 2025

First victory in 8th start this year . . .

HALLANDALE BEACH - Winless in seven starts this year that included three tries on turf and a trip to the Middle East, Michael and Jules Iavarone’s Steal Sunshine swept past fellow multiple stakes winner Lure Him In in mid-stretch and edged clear by a length in the $70,000 Finallymadeit overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

Ridden by Edgard Zayas for trainer Bobby Dibona, 6-year-old Steal Sunshine ($4.40) completed 1 1/16 miles over a fast main track in 1:44.59 for his fourth career stakes win and eighth overall, pushing his purse earnings over $800,000 in 32 starts.

“It’s great to get him back in the winner’s circle,” Dibona said. “I got a chance to prepare him for this like I have since day one. I know my horse, and he was ready today.”

Steal Sunshine ran sixth in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) and second in defense of his 2024 victory in the Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) to open this year before finishing fourth in the Godolphin Mile (G2) at Meydan Racecourse. After more than two months away he returned in mid-June to be second behind Beach Gold in an optional claimer on the Gulfstream turf, then was back home after an unsuccessful trip to Kentucky Downs for the Mint Millions (G3).

“We got faked out a little bit because he ran big on the turf coming back from Dubai. The horse that beat me a neck went on to win a Grade 2. He probably was better that day, so we thought we found a new home,” Dibona said. “We went to Kentucky and that’s a tough place. Things came a little unwound.”

Steal Sunshine got shuffled back breaking from Post 4 and Zayas shifted to the rail on the first turn, tracking in fifth as 21-1 longshot Swashbuckle and Lure Him In battled up front through a quarter-mile in 23.50 seconds and a half in 47.17. Zayas tipped outside to launch their rally midway around the far turn and Steal Sunshine responded, moving up on even terms with Lure Him In at the head of the lane before surging past.

Lure Him In held second, a length on front of Lightning Tones, followed by Awesome Train, Swashbuckle, Single Dot Yaht and Virginia City.

“I got bumped out of there. I wanted to be a little closer,” Zayas said. “I kind of used him a little on the first turn and not leave him too much to do. He got in a perfect spot. The longer distance is good for him. He loves the two turns.”

Florida homebred Finallymadeit won 16 of 47 starts and more than $1 million in purse earnings from 2006-09. Among his victories were 12 stakes including the 2008 Fred Hooper Handicap (G3) and 2009 Memorial Day Handicap (G3) and Skip Away (G3).

Friday’s Rainbow 6 Jackpot Pool Estimated at $150,000

The 20-cent Rainbow 6 jackpot pool is expected to grow to an estimated $150,000 when racing resumes Friday. The multi-race wager went unsolved Sunday the sixth racing day following a mandatory payout.

Notes: Jockey Joe Bravo doubled Sunday aboard Justin Smiles ($9.60) in Race 2 and Racing Driver ($8.60) in Race 7 … Jockey Rajiv Maragh picked up career win No. 1,997 with Flying Liam ($4.80) in Race 4 … Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. strengthened his hold on first place in the Sunshine Meet standings with Drama ($2.60) in Race 3 and Mystical Belle ($6.40) in Race 8, giving him a 30-26 advantage over Jose D’Angelo with three racing days remaining … Mystical Belle pushed Edgard Zayas past Miguel Vasquez in the jockey standings, 39-38. Zayas made it a two-win cushion with Steal Sunshine in the $70,000 Finallymadeit overnight handicap.

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