Rising 3-year-olds look for springboard Saturday at Tampa

Hall of Fame trainers Todd Pletcher, Bill Mott and Mark Casse will be represented by promising 3-year-olds on Saturday’s card at Tampa Bay Downs.

The $125,000, seven-furlong Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds and the $125,000, seven-furlong Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies are the co-features on the 10-race card. Post time for the first race is 12:14 p.m. EST.

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The Pasco Stakes, considered a prep race for the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) on Feb. 12, has drawn a field of seven colts and geldings and will be contested as the fifth race. Among the top contenders is Pletcher’s colt Provocateur, who broke his maiden at Tampa Bay Downs by 4 1/2 lengths in a six-furlong sprint on Dec. 23.

Antonio Gallardo will again ride Provocateur, who is owned by MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm.

Other top Pasco contenders appear to be trainer Ralph Nicks’s colt Cattin, who won the six-furlong Inaugural Stakes here on Dec. 4, and conditioner Jorge Delgado’s colt Cyberviking, who is 3-for-4 at Gulfstream Park. Samy Camacho has the return riding assignment on Cattin, while Chantal Sutherland will be on Cyberviking.

The Gasparilla, which is a prep for the Suncoast Stakes on Feb. 12, attracted eight fillies and is scheduled as the sixth race. Casse’s 2-for-2 filly Strategic Bird enters the race off a thrilling, neck victory in the Dec. 4 Sandpiper Stakes, her time of 1:10.05 for the 6 furlongs, 0.85 seconds faster than Cattin’s Inaugural time. Gallardo will again be aboard Strategic Bird, who is owned by Gary Barber.

Mott has entered Outfoxed, a Florida-bred sophomore filly who set the South Florida racing world on fire as a 2-year-old at Gulfstream Park with back-to-back victories in the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Susan’s Girl Stakes and FTBOA Florida Sire My Dear Girl Stakes by a combined 22 3/4 lengths. Camacho will ride Outfoxed for Mott and owner LNJ Foxwoods.

Pletcher will take a shot in the Gasparilla with Goddess of Fire, who broke her maiden at first asking on Aug. 22 at Saratoga and finished third in her next start, the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) on Sept. 18 at Churchill Downs. Hector Rafael Diaz Jr. is named to ride for Pletcher and owner Red Oak Stable.

Other top contenders include trainer Jordan Blair’s filly Devine Charger, a fast-closing second in the Sandpiper, and Platinum Gem, a speedy filly trained by Maria Bowersock. Jesus Castañon will ride Devine Charger, and Pablo Morales will be aboard Platinum Gem.