Jumby Bay fits well taking class drop

OLDSMAR, Fla. – Jumby Bay, a runner-up in sprint stakes in her two most recent starts, should appreciate the class relief she will get at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday in a first-level, $22,500 allowance. The seven-furlong race, which includes an optional $75,000 claiming condition, drew a field of seven 3-year-old fillies.

Race 7 shares the spotlight on an 11-race card with race 10, a first-level, $22,500 allowance that drew a full field of 10 older fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Jumby Bay finished second to R Angel Katelyn here in both the $89,000 Sandpiper Stakes in December and the $86,000 Gasparilla Stakes in January. In the seven-furlong Gasparilla, Jumby Bay was beaten 1 3/4 lengths and earned a careerbest 68 Beyer Speed Figure that is tied for the best mark in this field. She appeared to be making up ground on R Angel Katelyn in the stretch of the Gasparilla as R Angel Katelyn drifted out into her path several times. The stewards took a long look at the stretch run but took no action.

Jumby Bay, a City Zip filly trained by Todd Pletcher, drew the outside post and will have Jesus Castanon aboard for the second straight race.

Teresa Z, a $650,000 yearling purchase for St. Elias Stables, will be facing winners for the first time. Trained by Anthony Margotta Jr., Teresa Z won a seven-furlong maiden special weight race by a half-length here Dec. 30. That effort was flattered when third-place finisher Venus Serena came back to win her maiden impressively and finish fourth in the $55,000 Suncoast Stakes.

Teresa Z gets leading rider Daniel Centeno for the first time from post 2.

Laney, a Shackleford filly trained by Eddie Kenneally, is in for the tag after winning a seven-furlong starter optional $50,000 claiming race at Gulfstream Park in January.

Race 10 appears to be wide open, but Lottie, the lone horse on the also-eligible list, would be formidable if she were to draw in. Trained by Graham Motion, the 4-year-old Lottie most recently finished fifth and was promoted to fourth in the $194,300 Penn Oaks at Penn National in June.

The Irish filly Al Hayyah, who placed in three consecutive turf stakes in France last year, including two in which she was favored, will make her North American debut for trainer Christophe Clement. The 4-year-old Al Hayyah has been training regularly at Payson Park and will get Lasix for the first time Saturday.

“She looks well, and she’s trained well,” Clement said. “I would have liked to run her a bit farther, but I can’t find a race going much farther than that. She looks like a filly that wants to go a mile and a quarter.”

Trainer Bill Mott starts Assembly, a Juddmonte Farms homebred filly by Candy Ride who won a maiden special weight race by 4 3/4 lengths on the Gulfstream Park turf two starts back in December.

Owner and trainer Chris Block starts Cause Ioya, a Giant’s Causeway filly who hasn’t started since finishing fourth and sixth in rich turf allowances at Keeneland and Churchill Downs last fall. Cause Ioya breezed three times here last month for her return.

“She’s not the kind of filly that you can train hard and get ready the way you typically would with one that’s a little bit more hardy,” Block said. “She’s a little bit more on the petite side, so the less-is-more thing is right for her, but she’s at the point now where she needs to run. I don’t know if she’ll win, but I look for her to run well, and she’s coming into it the way we would want her to.”