ftboa.com • Friday • February 26, 2021 FEC/FTBOA PUBLICATION FLORIDA’SDAILYRACINGDIGEST FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION or to subscribe, please call Antoinette at 352-732-8858 or email: [email protected] In This Issue: National Museum of Racing Announces 2021 Hall of Fame Finalists Walder Saddles Seventh Winner Champion Filly Vequist Returns to Action in Davona Dale Rock Your World Graduates From Florida-bred Miss Auramet/SV PHOTOGRAPHY Maiden Score to Pasadena Stakes Miss Auramet Rallies to Performer Seeks Encore in GP Mile Got Stormy Opens Final Season Win Lightning City Stakes in Honey Fox City of Ocala to Host Tire Amnesty Day BY BROCK SHERIDAN _____________ the top six paid on a 60%-20%-10%-5%- 3%-2% basis. Gulfstream Park Charts After finishing 2020 with three straight Payntdembluesaway and The Goddess wins, Florida-bred Miss Auramet Lyssa both faded late in the Lightning City Florida Stallion Progeny List advanced into stakes company for the new to finish fourth and seventh respectively as year but missed in her first two attempts Ode to Joy rallied for second and finished Florida Breeders’ List after a bad start in the $75,000 Anundantia a half-length better than another late run Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 1 and a run- put in by Sethamee Street in third. Florida- Wire to Wire Business Place ner-up finish to Florida-bred juggernaut bred The Great Kath was fifth and in addi- Lady’s Island in the $100,000 Lady’s Turf tion to her share of the purse, earned 2% of Sprint, which was moved to main track on the $25,000 Florida-bred bonus. Featured Advertisers Feb. 6 and also run at Gulfstream. They were followed by Jeanie B in But the 5-year-old Florida-bred mare sixth, then The Goddess Lyssa, Royal Berrettini Feed was on point Wednesday at Tampa Bay Collection, Florida-bred Lenzi’s Lucky Downs as she ran down early leaders Lady, Roman d’Oro, Florida-bred Florida Department of Agriculture Payntdembluesaway, the 9-5 favorite; and Bluefield and Weekend Fun. FTBOA Florida-bred The Goddess Lyssa in mid- Lenzi’s Lucky Lady and The Goddess stretch to win the $75,000 Lightning City Lyssa broke fastest of all but were quickly Journeyman Stud and earn her first career stakes victory. joined by Payntdembluesaway in the initial Ocala Breeders’ Feed & Supply The Lightning City, which saw a full strides before The Goddess Lyssa and field of 12 fillies and mares sprint five fur- jockey Daniel Centeno took command Ocala Stud longs on the turf, also featured a $25,000 Seminole Feed bonus for Florida-breds who finished in See LIGHTNING CITY on page 3 Back to Top Page 3 Lightning City Continued from COVER going into the turn. The Goddess Lyssa and Payntdembluesaway went together around the bend, a length-and-a-half ahead of Lenzi’s Lucky Lady in third as Miss Auramet stalked them from fourth through a blaz- ing :20.78 first quarter. Payntdembluesaway stuck a head in front of The Goddess Lyssa turning for home as Miss Auramet moved into third while racing three-wide. Payntdembluesaway surged to the lead mid- way for home but Miss Auramet ran her down in the final six- teenth and crossed under the wire a half-length better than the hard charging pair of Ode to Joy in second and Sethamee Street in third in a final time of :55.30 on the firm turf and the same clock- ing as the Turf Dash earlier on the card. She paid $18 to win. Trained by Eddie Plesa Jr. for by David Melin, Leon Ellman and Laurie Plesa, Miss Auramet won for the eighth-time in 19 starts while finishing second five times and third twice. She banked $45,000 winner’s share of the $75,000 purse plus $15,000 in Florida- bred bonus money to increase her career earn- ings to $349,750. Plesa said Allison De Luca, the Tampa Bay Downs racing secretary, was instrumental in his Laurie and Eddie Plesa/BILL DENVER PHOTO decision to keep Miss Auramet in the race after the two postpone- ments. Both the Lightning City and the Turf Dash run earlier in the card (see subhead below) had been originally scheduled for Feb. 13. But excessive rain on the turf course prompted Tampa Bay Downs management to postpone the two races to Feb. 20 then again to Feb. 24. “It was disappointing because I was thinking about running her next week [in the Captiva Island Stakes at Gulfstream, which is also five furlongs on the turf],” Plesa said from south Florida. “Allison was on top of her business like all good racing secretaries are supposed to be and kept me informed what was happening there with the weather and the turf course. “If it wasn’t for Allison, [Miss Auramet] would not have been in the race,” Plesa said. “That said, I thought she had an excellent chance of winning. The jockey knew her and gave her a perfect ride.” Plesa won the Lightning City in 2018 with Miz Mayhem, owned by his wife. Jockey Roberto Alvarado Jr., who rode Miss Auramet to victo- ry last August at Delaware, said he was also optimistic before the race. “I knew she is a good breaker. There was a lot of speed in the race, but I knew I was going to be close and when she was ready, I just let her roll,” Alvarado said. “Other horses were coming late, but she kept digging in so I wasn’t too worried. She’s an honest horse who always tries hard, on dirt and turf.” See LIGHTNING CITY on page 5 Back to Top Back to Top Page 5 Lightning City page 3 Continued from Plesa said the victory was a welcome tonic for co-owner David Melin, who is currently hospitalized after a fall. “We were able to talk afterward and he is really pleased.” Miss Auramet is by Uncaptured out of Hello Susie, by Yes It’s True and was bred by Marion G. Montanari. Last year, Miss Auramet went on two separate three-race win- ning streaks with the first beginning on Jan. 31 at Gulfstream Park when she won a first condition, $16,000 allowance optional claim- ing by three lengths over five furlongs on the turf. She then won a first condition allowance race on March 6 by nearly four lengths at Gulfstream before winning again at Gulfstream in an off-the- turf, second condition, $62,500 allowance optional claiming at five furlongs on a sloppy track. She was then off the board at Belmont Park in the $80,000 License Fee Stakes won by I’llhandlethecash on July 3 before fin- ishing second to Mr Al’s Gal at Delaware Park on July 23 in a top level $50,000 allowance optional claiming. She began her second three-race streak with an eight-and-a- quarter-length romp against third condition, $50,000 allowance The Critical Way/SV PHOTOGRAPHY optional claimers at Delaware Park going five furlongs on the The Critical Way, who was claimed by Randall Gindi in the main track before winning at Laurel Park in an off the turf name of his Monster Racing Stable for $30,000 in January of last year, has now won seven of 22 starts with earnings of $344,168 allowance going five-and-a-half furlongs. The then completed her second win streak and racing campaign of 2020 by capturing a with five seconds and a third. He now has three wins and two sec- onds and a third from seven starts since being tagged at high level, $80,000 allowance optional claimers going five fur- longs on the turf at Gulfstream Park West on Oct. 18. Gulfstream out of a second-place performance. “I give special thanks to Jose [Degado],” Gindi said after flying The Critical Way Evens the Score With in from Brooklyn, N.Y., to watch his 7-year-old gelding—a son of Tizway out of Critical Factor, by Star de Naskra—in the Turf Imprimis in Turf Dash Dash. “He really believed in the horse. And when he entered him in a stakes [the Marshall Jenney Handicap] at Parx [on Sept. 7], he After finishing third behind a winning Imprimis in the $75,000 said ‘I don’t care what the Beyer figures say. This horse is ready.’ Janus Stakes on Jan. 1 at Gulfstream Park, Monster Racing “He wired the field that day from the outside [No. 11] post. I’m Stables’ The Critical Way returned to defeat the quick Florida- very excited about this horse because of his speed and ability to bred in the $75,000 Turf Dash at Tampa Bay Downs Wednesday. get tactical position,” Gindi said. A field of eight 4-year-olds and older went five furlongs on the Delgado’s assistant, Natia Zarzeczny, said she also took a pos- grass in the Turf Dash that also included a $25,000 bonus present- itive but realistic mindset into the Turf Dash. ed by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ “I was a little nervous. Actually, a lot nervous,” Zarzeczny said. Association for the Florida-breds who finished in the top six paid “But this is our home turf, and we were pumped and ready. out on a 60%-20%-5%-3%-2% scale. Everything just came together. I think the winning attitude Trained by Jose Delgado and ridden by Samy Camacho, The helped,” she said. Critical Way went head-and-head on the lead with Turned Aside through fast fractions of :20.99 and :43.54 in the Turf Dash as Imprimis raced in his usual stalking style in fifth on the rail and FTBOA Maintains Office Building about a length-and-a-half off the frontrunners.