We choose turf races at Tampa for obvious reasons; usually full fields, great grass course and always competitive. We were excited to see special-weight maidens in today’s finale from some top barns. Almost sorry we did; very competitive and tricky reads.
We settled on three of interest. Of course, a Gulfstream shipper going north always gets our attention, this one with an interesting name, Lipstikliesnlovers (7-2).
Her last in Hallandale looked pretty educational, plus steadied first turn, restrained inside down the back, angled out between horses, then finished one-paced, to be expected given her journey.
Gesture (6-1_ is interesting because she had only one run–on dirt–a rapidly run sprint. She was 6-5 but ran nowhere close to that kind of backing. But Jonathan Thomas is very good with turf-debut types and the race she exists produced three next-out winners relatively quickly. Much more value today.
Christophe Clement has a first-time in U.S. runner–not really his thing–but the workline looks serious, he’s batting 38% at the meet by carefully choosing spots and Parish Poet (6-1) goes first-Lasix with Samy Camacho–the team is 2-for-7 hooking up this meet through Wednesday.
But we’re not going to get too fancy. Vi Haines (3-1) sold me on her 4-year-old and season’s debut. Arnaud Delacour runner was much too keen throughout, setting fast fractions in a fast race.
Daniel Centeno tried to slow her without choking her, nearly pulling it off until the filly tired, understandably. Today, the blinkers come off and with that and the recent run should be more settled. Check the Tampa Bay Today replay on the homepage: RACE 9, MAR 6. Think you’ll agree.
We’re taking her to win straight with small key-exotic boxes with those described above.
