Pasco win puts Liam's Lucky Charm on 2020 Kentucky Derby trail

Liam’s Lucky Charm ran to the expectations of his connections in Saturday's $125,000, Pasco Stakes, opening the door to more lucrative assignments as the 3-year-old Thoroughbred picture in Florida and beyond begins to take shape.

After the Florida-bred colt returned to the Tampa Bay Downs backside to cool off from his exertions, his jockey, 26-year-old Gulfstream Park regular Edgard Zayas, turned hot as a firecracker.

Zayas won on his three remaining mounts, including a stirring victory on Two Sixty in the ninth race, the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, to conclude a 4-for-4 afternoon. His “grand slam” couldn’t have come in more exciting fashion, as Two Sixty prevailed by a neck from Mo City, with the top five finishers in the 11-horse field separated by less than a length.

“It feels nice,” said Zayas, whose ebullient smile said it felt much better than that. “I had a lot of live mounts today and the horses ran good – it was all them. (Two Sixty) was a little immature as a 2-year-old, but she has a lot of class and she is maturing race by race.”

Zayas returned to action at Gulfstream in late December after missing five weeks with a broken finger.

The jockey’s first victory, aboard Liam’s Lucky Charm, was a lot easier than the Gasparilla. “He’s been training well, he’s been doing good and he’s grown up some,” trainer Ralph Nicks said after Liam’s Lucky Charm sped to a 5 ½-length victory from Albert Park. “He’s still got some growing up to do, but he’s been a little sharper in the mornings and the blinkers on made him more focused.”

Nicks said Liam’s Lucky Charm’s next start could come in any of the March 7 Tampa Bay Derby (G2); the Feb. 15 Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds; or the Feb. 29 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. The Feb. 8 Sam F. Davis (G3) will come up a bit too early, Nicks said.

Liam’s Lucky Charm, who is by the Florida sire Khozan – a half-brother to three-time Eclipse Award winner and Hall of Fame member Royal Delta – is out of P. S. I Love You, by Stormy Atlantic. He paid $4.80 to win as the heavy favorite.

Zayas carried out his duties on Liam’s Lucky Charm to near-perfection, sitting off a quick early pace by My Man Flintstone before letting the winner move to the lead on his own from the No. 1 post.

Challenged on the far turn by Albert Park from the outside and No Getting Over Me on the inside, Zayas went to work on Liam’s Lucky Charm, who responded to vigorous right-handed whipping to pull away. His time of 1:21.75 was .86 seconds off Win Win Win’s track record and the fourth-fastest Pasco Stakes in history.

Albert Park held off No Getting Over Me by a length-and-a-half for second, with He’s Smokin Now a non-threatening fourth and My Man Flintstone fading to fifth in the seven-horse field.

First-place money of $105,000 boosted Liam’s Lucky Charm’s career bankroll to $338,800.

“I wasn’t really planning to be on the lead – if it happened, it happened – and he broke good but the 5 (My Man Flintstone) just out-broke him,” Zayas said. “My horse was going so easy, I just let him do his thing. He’s a really classy horse and he’s developing well, and he pretty much moved on his own.

“Once he felt those other horses, he kind of woke up and took off and finished really strong. I was expecting him to run that way and I’m really happy and I know he is going to keep improving from here.”

In the 36th running of the 7-furlong Gasparilla Stakes, Two Sixty grabbed the lead at the outset, but how she would finish was questionable after swift fractions of 22.05 seconds for the first quarter-mile and 44.85 for the half.

“The key with her is trying to keep her relaxed,” said Zayas. “If you start fighting with her she doesn’t like it, so I just tried to put the hands down and let her do her own thing. As long as she can work good with her mind, she’ll give you her all at the end.”

She had to do that to prevail, as Mo City, third-place finisher We the Clouds, fourth-place finisher Ceci Valentina and fifth-place finisher Swiss Skydiver all took their best shots. Two Sixty’s time for the 7 furlongs was 1:22.80, .60 seconds off the stakes record.

The Gasparilla was the second stakes victory for Two Sixty, a Florida-bred daughter of Uncaptured-Jim’s Lonesa, by Put It Back. Two Sixty is owned by Gary Barber and trained by Mark Casse, who teamed to win the 2016 Gasparilla with R Girls a Charmer..

“We had a lot of confidence in this filly,” assistant trainer Mitch Downs said of Two Sixty, who won the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association My Dear Girl Stakes at Gulfstream on Sept. 28 to earn a berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita. “She’s been training well at the (Casse) Training Center (in Ocala), and when she relaxes, she’s as good as a lot of 3-year-old fillies around. She put that together today.

“Even though she had some pressure, she was doing it nice and easy, and when Edgard called on her she responded,” Downs said.

Two Sixty is now 3-for-7 and the winner’s share of $105,000 raised her career bankroll to $409,000.

The third stakes on the card, the 36th edition of the $50,000 Wayward Lass for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth, went to the Lael Stables-owned 5-year-old Jehozacat, who won for the first time since an allowance/optional claiming race on the turf here last March. She led virtually every step of the way and cruised to a 5 ½-length victory from Tweeting, with Classic Fit finishing third.