Lightning City, Turf Dash highlights of quality card

Arguably one of the best cards you’ll see all winter at Tampa Bay Downs is set for Saturday, when a pair of $75,000 turfsprint stakes will be accompanied by four allowances and a steady diet of big fields.

The Lightning City and Tampa Turf Dash are the highlights of a 10-race program that starts at 12:46 p.m. Eastern. Both five-furlong turf races drew capacity fields of 12, with the Lightning City going as race 8 (4:17) and the Tampa Turf Dash as the race 10 finale (5:20).

A forecast of sunshine and low-70s temperatures for Oldsmar, Fla., would seem to assure firm ground for the 20th runnings of both stakes. Purses listed here do not include an additional $25,000 in bonuses available to Florida-breds in each co-feature.

As usual, fields for both stakes include numerous Atlantic Coast shippers, including from Gulfstream Park. Lasix is permitted in certain Tampa stakes, including these two Saturday, whereas Gulfstream bans Lasix for all stakes.

After Saturday, there’s a three-week span until the next round of Tampa stakes are run March 11, Tampa Bay Derby Day.

Lightning City

She only got a 79 Beyer Speed Figure in winning an allowance prep last month for the Lightning City, but Poseidon’s Passion has shown herself capable of faster numbers in a 28-race career, including a fieldhigh 95 she ran last September. Antonio Gallardo will be back aboard the 6-year-old mare from post 10.

“That last race ought to set her up for the Lightning City, which we’ve targeted for some time now,” said her trainer, Jimmy Gulick. “This kind of spot is right up her alley.”

Pretty much the same thing could be said for another handful of fillies and mares who’ll pack the gate.

Train to Artemus (post 1, Paco Lopez) has been productive in this niche, both before and after Kelly Breen claimed her last summer at Saratoga for M and W Stables. The 5-year-old Tapizar mare is 4 for 6 on grass, including a last-out allowance win going five furlongs on the Gulfstream turf.

Spun Glass gets the meet’s leading rider in Samy Camacho when she ships over from Gulfstream for Mike Trombetta, who capitalized on several opportunities with the Maryland-bred last year while knocking out a nice chunk of change. She’s exiting the Dec. 24 Abundantia at Gulfstream, one of the more competitive turf sprints for fillies and mares in the Eastern U.S. the last few months.

Others who wouldn’t qualify as a major surprise include Tracy Ann’s Legacy, Bahamian Moon, and Nikee Kan.

Tampa Turf Dash

Duly regrouped by trainer Jose Delgado after going off form last summer, The Critical Way has been working forwardly for his return in a competitive renewal of the Turf Dash. Fourteen older horses are entered but only as many as 12 can start.

The Critical Way, now 9, earned a trio of triple-digit Beyers in stamping himself as one of the East’s top turf sprinters in 2021 and 2022. The Pennsylvania-bred gelding will have Angel Arroyo aboard from post 4 when he returns from a nearly six-month layoff as one of the logical favorites in here. He’ll be looking to add to his career bankroll of $618,418, the most for any entry on this card.

Among his chief opposition is Chess Master (post 5, Gallardo), a longtime stalwart in these specialized ranks; Panther Island (post 1, Lopez), who makes his stakes debut for new trainer Laura Cazares after winning four of his first six starts; Fluid Situation (post 3, Camacho), a sharp last-out allowance winner over the local course for John Terranova; and a couple of gray speedsters in County Final (post 8, Pablo Morales) and Rockcrest (post 12, Keveh Nicholls).

Chess Master, owned and trained by Kerri Raven, exits a Jan. 19 Gulfstream allowance that resulted in an extraordinarily close finish. The 7-yearold gelding was sixth, beaten less than a length for all the money.

“We didn’t have the best of racing luck that day, but he came back here to train really well and we should be all set,” said Raven.