Focus shifts to main track

Only one of nine races carded for Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs is scheduled for turf, and surely that’s because of the weather forecast. Rain was supposed to soak the Oldsmar, Fla., track both Friday and Saturday, meaning horseplayers won’t be faced with as many Saturday scratches as they might have otherwise.

The fifth race on a modest program that starts at 12:38 p.m. Eastern is the only one that can be rained off the grass – and it has 14 entries, meaning it’s unlikely to scratch down to a precious few. Whereas turf racing is a popular staple at Tampa, the occasional deluge can make for some dreary, scratch-laden cards – a problem largely averted this particular day by longtime racing secretary Allison De Luca and her staff.

With that, a pair of $20,000 main-track sprints contested under maiden-special conditions will bookend the Saturday card as nominal features. Race 1 drew a field of seven fillies and mares, while race 9 got 11 3-year-old fillies.

The finale clearly is the more interesting of the two. Ian Wilkes has one of the main contenders in Recoded, who will break from post 1 with Samy Camacho riding.

“She ran well back to back against some pretty tough company,” said Wilkes, referring to third-place finishes in similar maiden races on the undercards of the Feb. 8 Sam F. Davis and March 7 Tampa Bay Derby. “She’s been consistent, and her works the last few weeks have been good. We’ll get her maiden broke shortly, I expect.”

In any other year, Recoded would have been seeking a career first in Kentucky, at Keeneland or Churchill Downs, where Wilkes would already be stabled if not for the ongoing coronavirus crisis. Instead, most of his active runners remain split between the Palm Meadows training center on the Atlantic coast and the Lambholm South training center near Ocala.

“I’d like to get home, like everyone else, but obviously it’s beyond our control,” he said. Churchill officials announced Thursday that the intended reopening of its stable area for Tuesday has been further delayed until at least May 5.

“We’re trying to be patient and see how it all works out,” Wilkes said.

Since March 18, Tampa has conducted racing without spectators and with stringent health precautions in place because of the crisis. Tampa is just one of three American tracks that will conduct Thoroughbred racing Saturday, along with Gulfstream Park and Oaklawn Park.

The 2019-20 Tampa meet was supposed to end May 3, for practical purposes, but because of extraordinary circumstances, the track has applied for an additional 12 racing dates in May with the Florida Division of Pari-Mutuel Wagering. If approved, Tampa would race on a three-day schedule (Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays) through May 30.