Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Vino Rosso adds blinkers for Tampa Bay Derby
OLDSMAR, Fla. – Todd Pletcher can self-deprecate with the best of them. Ask him to talk about how he has won the Tampa Bay Derby five times, and he quickly downplays his domination.
“I think I’ve been second in it more times than I’ve won it,” he said.
It’s true. On eight occasions, from 2000 to 2016, Pletcher has been represented by the Tampa Bay Derby runner-up, a historical footnote that underscores his familiarity with the annual signature race at Tampa Bay Downs.
On Saturday, Pletcher will be looking to win the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby for the fourth straight year and the fifth time in the last six runnings. He will send out Vino Rosso, one of the favorites in a field of 11 3-year-olds that is expected to be reduced to nine with the scratches of Free Drop Billy and Enticed, both cross-entered in the Gotham at Aqueduct.
Vino Rosso, with John Velazquez to ride, will break from post 11 in the 38th running of the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby, which offers 85 qualifying points toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby, including 50 to the winner. A Kentucky-bred colt by Curlin, Vino Rosso will be adding blinkers as he looks to improve on a third-place finish behind Flameaway and Catholic Boy here four weeks ago in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, his first defeat in three career starts.
“We’ve liked him all along,” Pletcher said this week from New York. “He’s a pretty laidback individual that’s still putting it all together. One thing we feel confident about is he’s going to appreciate more distance. He’s stoutly bred for a mile and a quarter, a mile and a half, even though he’s got tactical kind of speed.”
Vino Rosso, owned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, figures to be laying in midpack as the Tampa Bay Derby unfolds. It’s the trip he got in the Sam F. Davis, only to stall out at a crucial point before running on belatedly.
“He kind of got lost in the middle of the [final] turn,” said Pletcher. “He took himself out of a perfect stalking spot. I liked the way he finished and the way he galloped out, but his race convinced me it was time to go ahead and put blinkers on him. We’d had it in mind for a while. He seems to have responded well wearing them in his training, and they’ve helped keep him a little more focused.”
World of Trouble, the runaway winner of the sevenfurlong Pasco Stakes here seven weeks ago, is the expected pacesetter under Irad Ortiz Jr., with Flameaway, Grandpa Knows Best, and Quip liable to give closest chase. This will be the first two-turn attempt for World of Trouble, who was purchased privately by Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables after finishing second last September in a Florida Sire Stakes event.
Jason Servis is the trainer of World of Trouble, the only Florida-bred in the field and therefore the only horse eligible for a $50,000 Florida-bred bonus to the winner.
Flameaway, already a fourtime stakes winner, all for John Oxley and trainer Mark Casse, will be looking to prove his front-running upset at 10-1 in the Sam F. Davis was legitimate. Jose Lezcano will be back aboard the Scat Daddy colt.
“It wasn’t like he was loping along uncontested,” said Casse. “He took some pressure and then really had to dig in to hold off Catholic Boy. But that’s beside the point, I think. This horse really will do anything, which is why he wins as often as he does.”
Tiz Mischief, with Joel Rosario to ride, will be the lone starter for Dale Romans, assuming Free Drop Billy goes in the Gotham. Romans won the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park last Saturday with Promises Fulfilled and is looking to improve his Derby holdings.
Tiz Mischief, a distant third behind the Pletcher-trained Audible in the Feb. 3 Holy Bull at Gulfstream, “has got to step up,” said Romans.
“He ran okay in his first start [at 3], but now’s the time for him to show up big,” he said.
Untamed Domain, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in November, will be trying dirt for the first time. The Animal Kingdom colt is trained by Graham Motion for West Point Thoroughbreds and will be ridden by Jose Ortiz.
The longer shots in the lineup are Quip, Arazi Like Move, Grandpa Knows Best, and Caloric.
The Tampa Bay Derby anchors a Festival Day card as the 11th of 12 races and the last of five consecutive stakes that make up a pick-five wager. First post is 12:12 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 5:20. The preceding stakes are the Columbia (race 7), Challenger (race 8), Hillsborough (race 9), and Florida Oaks (race 10).
Only one Tampa Bay Derby winner has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby: Street Sense in 2007. Pletcher’s five Tampa winners were Limehouse (2004), Verrazano (2013), Carpe Diem (2015), Destin (2016), and Tapwrit (2017).
Mostly sunny skies and a high of 76 are in the local forecast.