Boca Boy trainers confident as he steps up in Sam F. Davis

Gulfstream Park-based trainer Cheryl Winebaugh and her assistant, husband Ken Winebaugh, hope their decision to bring their 3-year-old gelding Boca Boy to Tampa Bay Downs earlier this week translates to their advantage in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Sam F. Davis, one of four stakes — three graded — on the Festival Preview Day 41 card.

“We wanted to get him a little experience over the ground and get him used to the sights,” said Ken Winebaugh. “We didn’t want to throw everything at him at once.”

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Friday’s workout on the Oldsmar main track with jockey Antonio Gallardo in the saddle went as well as the couple could have hoped, as Boca Boy breezed 5 furlongs in 1:01 4/5, the fastest of 11 works at the distance. “We had heard the (dirt) track here was a little deeper and cuppier (than Gulfstream), and Antonio said he handled it real well,” Ken said. “He came out of it great, and I think he’s ready for a really good race.”

Undoubtedly, he will need it. Boca Boy is expected to face at least eight or nine rivals in the Sam F. Davis, which awards Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the first four finishers and is likely to draw horses from the barns of such training behemoths as Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott, Christophe Clement and Dale Romans.

The four stakes on Saturday’s card offer stakes purse money of $750,000. Entries for the entire card will be taken Wednesday.

Also scheduled Saturday are the $175,000 Endeavour Stakes (G3), for fillies and mares 4 years old and upward racing 1 1/16 miles on the turf; the $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes (G3), for horses 4 and up at 1 1/16 miles on the turf; and the $150,000 Suncoast Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies racing a mile and 40 yards on the main dirt track.

The Suncoast Stakes awards Kentucky Oaks qualifying points to the first four finishers.

Boca Boy’s previous start on Sept. 26 resulted in a virtual gate-to-wire victory on a sloppy Gulfstream surface in the $400,000 Florida Sire In Reality Stakes. The 2-length victory was achieved in a time of 1:46.34 for the 1 1/16-mile route, the same distance as the Sam F. Davis.

The Winebaughs and Boca Boy’s owner, Kenneth Fishbein, hoped to start him in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) on Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs. But when he popped a splint bone (an injury similar to shin splints in runners) during an Oct. 24 workout, the connections put on the brakes.

Ken Winebaugh thinks the setback might have been a blessing in disguise. “He has really grown up since then. He’s filled out and gotten taller, so instead of being a baby, he looks more like a racehorse,” he said. “He has matured a lot, and he has already shown he can handle racing around two turns. He has a lot of heart, and I have high hopes for him.”

Gallardo is expected to ride Boca Boy on Saturday.

Smiley Sobotka, who finished second in the race Boca Boy missed, the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, is expected to compete for owner Albaugh Family Stables and Romans.

Other probables for the Sam F. Davis include Candy Man Rocket, owned by Frank Fletcher Racing Operations and trained by Mott; Broadway, owned by Robert S. Evans and trained by Clement; Known Agenda, owned by St. Elias Stables and trained by Pletcher; and Lucky Law, owned by Sanford Bacon, Mrs. Paul Shanahan, Horse France America and Patrick L. Biancone Racing and trained by Biancone, who won last year’s Sam F. Davis with Sole Volante.

Also, Hidden Stash, owned by BBN Racing and trained by Victoria Oliver; Ricochet, owned by Whiskey Hollow Thoroughbreds and trained by Kelsey Danner; and Runway Magic, owned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings and Bruce Lunsford and trained by George “Rusty” Arnold II.

On that list of probables, Boca Boy is the lone stakes winner and the only Florida-bred. He is a son of Prospective — who finished second in the 2012 Sam F. Davis and won the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) — out of the Gimmeawink mare Baliwink.

“I think this race will be a step up (in competition), but all he has to do is finish well and show he is not outclassed and he will go on from here,” Winebaugh said.

Sole Volante is expected to return to the site of his biggest career victory in the Tampa Bay Stakes, which could have a full field of 12. The 4-year-old gelding, owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Andie Biancone, the trainer’s daughter, finished sixth in last month’s Tropical Park Derby on the turf at Gulfstream in his first start since the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, contested in September last year.

The horse that finished ahead of Sole Volante in the Tropical Park Derby, Grade 2 winner Fancy Liquor, is expected to start in the Tampa Bay Stakes for owners Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable and trainer Michael Maker. Other probables include Grade 2 winner Get Smokin, owned by Mary Abeel Sullivan Revocable Trust and trained by Thomas Bush; Delaware, owned by Michael Dubb, Nice Guys Stables and Bethlehem Stables and trained by Chad Brown; Proven Strategies, owned by Leonard C. Green, Jonathan I. Green and Empire Racing Club and trained by Mark Casse; and Grade 3 winner Admission Office, owned by Amerman Racing and trained by Brian Lynch.

Also, Grade 3 winner By Your Side, owned by Paradise Farms Corp. and David Staudacher and trained by Maker; Armistice Day, owned by Bruce Lunsford and Lansdon B. Robbins and trained by Barbara Minshall; Grade III winner Eons, owned by Mark Grier and trained by Arnaud Delacour; Talk Or Listen, owned by Lael Stables and trained by Delacour; Greyes Creek, owned by OXO Equine and trained by Brown; and Atone, owned by Godolphin and trained by Eoin Harty.

The fields for the Lambholm South Endeavour and the Suncoast were taking shape more haltingly than the Sam F. Davis and the Tampa Bay Stakes, but there will be no shortage of quality on hand.

Trainer Chad Brown, whose success with turf horses has been otherworldly over the last several years, is expected to send the lightly raced 4-year-old filly Counterparty Risk, second by a head in her most recent start, the Lady of Shamrock Stakes on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita, to the Endeavour.

Others currently expected to compete include the Group 3 winner in Ireland, New York Girl, owned by R Unicorn Stable and trained by Mott; Kelsey’s Cross, owned by Sanford Bacon and Patrick L. Biancone Racing and trained by Biancone; No Mercy Percy, owned by Endsley Oaks Farm and trained by Rafael Schistl; and Margaret’s Joy, owned by Circle 8 and trained by Michelle Nihei.

Clement has two under consideration for the Endeavour: multiple-stakes winner Feel Glorious, owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing and Tango Uniform Racing, and Logic N Reason, owned by The Elkstone Group.

Special Princess, a 3-year-old filly who rallied from far back to dead-heat Adios Trippi here on Jan. 16 in the 7-furlong Gasparilla Stakes, is expected to try to stretch out in distance in the Suncoast. The Florida-bred races for her breeder, J D Farms, and is trained by Walter Woodard.

Honorifique, owned by Green Lantern Stables and trained by Eddie Kenneally, is also expected after finishing a game second in the Jan. 1 Cash Run Stakes at Gulfstream to Gulf Coast. Other probable starters include Curlin’s Catch, owned by Breeze Easy, LLC and trained by Casse, and Scenic Overlook, bred and owned by Godolphin and trained by Harty.

Meanwhile, trainer Ken McPeek had yet to decide whether to enter any of a trio of nominees: stakes winner Il Malocchio, owned by Franco S. Meli; Roll Up Mo Money, owned by Dale F. Taylor Racing, Carey Taylor and Jon Hogg; and Ship It, owned by Back Racing, Olivia Dombi, Andrew Trommer, David A. Bernsen LLC and Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek).

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Tampa Bay Downs is limiting general-admission attendance for the Festival Preview Day 41 card to 2,500 spectators. Tickets, which are $10 each plus a service fee, are being sold online through Eventbrite.com and at the program stands.

Horsemen, box-seat holders and season-ticket holders do not need to purchase tickets but must present their passes at the gate to gain admittance.

Seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis unless patrons have prior arrangements in the Skye Terrace Dining Room, Sports Gallery, Clubhouse Carrels or Legends Bar, but the purchase of a general-admission ticket is still required to gain admittance.

The track also is selling a limited number of tables in the Backyard Picnic Area for $50 each plus a service fee; that price includes admission for six people.