Tampa Bay Derby card: Godolphin homebred Micheline takes Hillsborough

In the Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes, the classy Micheline, a Godolphin-owned homebred daughter of Bernardini took the lead in the Tampa Bay Downs stretch and held on under jockey Luis Saez for a ¾-length victory from Morning Molly. New York Girl was a head back in third, followed by La Signare and Miss Teheran, who dead-heated for fourth.

The victory was the first graded-stakes triumph for Micheline, who according to Ben Trask – the Tampa Bay Downs assistant for trainer Michael Stidham – has a personality all her own.

“She is kind of a silly filly – she’s a bad stall walker, so she lives in a little tent behind the barn,” Trask said. “She is definitely a unique filly with a lot of talent. I was a little concerned with the outside post today and whether she would overcome it, but Luis put her in a great spot the whole time and when he called on her, she was there.”

Micheline, now 5-for-13, completed the mile-and-an-eighth on the turf in 1:47.19. Saez seemed to enjoy every second.

“She broke good, and we were right there,” Saez said. “At the half-mile pole, when I started asking her, she started to pick it up, and when we got to the straight everything was about battling, and she did that pretty well. She gave me her kick and it was super.

“Watching her replays, I knew she could win this race, and it’s great when everything comes together so well.”

For sheer drama, it was hard to top the finish of the $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3) for sophomore fillies on the turf. Jouster and Saez made an easy lead most of the way and appeared to be home free until she turned her head in the stretch, perhaps seeking company.

Whatever the circumstances, that was the opening Antonio Gallardo needed on Domain Expertise, the daughter of Kitten’s Joy out of the Limehouse mare Teroda. Domain Expertise gobbled up the ground in lightning-quick fashion and stuck her nose in front at the wire, winning in 1:41.12 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth.

Her time is a stakes record, bettering Fifty Five’s 1:41.60 in 2017.

Domain Expertise, who improved to 2-for-5, is owned by Klaravich Stables.

“She felt comfortable all the way around,” Gallardo said. “Really, when I put her in the clear, she exploded. She exploded like a good filly. I was trying my hardest and you’re not thinking about (whether he would catch Jouster), you’re thinking about riding your horse and trying to catch her. That’s it.

“I asked Luis (Saez, on Jouster) ‘What do you think?’ and he said, ‘I don’t know.’ It was so close. Thanks to the Chad Brown team and everybody.”

“Antonio gave her a great ride,” said Whit Beckman, Brown’s assistant. “She’s been training great in south Florida and we brought her here expecting to win. You count on your horse and jockey to know where the wire is, and they timed things perfectly.”

An ironic twist to the Florida Oaks result: Todd Pletcher, the trainer of Jouster, trained Domain Expertise’s broodmare sire Limehouse, who won the 2004 Tampa Bay Derby.

In the 30th running of the $100,000 Challenger Stakes (G3), jockey Daniel Centeno appeared to have few worries after breaking on top aboard 5-year-old Florida-bred gelding Last Judgment. The son of Congrats-Fantasy Forest, by Forestry, asserted himself through the stretch, posting a 2¼-length victory from last year’s Risen Star Stakes (G2) winner, Modernist.

War Stopper finished third in the five-horse field. Last Judgment’s time for the mile-and-a-sixteenth on a fast dirt track was 1:41.98, .23 seconds off the stakes and track record.

Last Judgment, now 7-for-16, paid $4.80 to win as the wagering favorite.

“The instructions (from trainer Michael Maker) were to take the lead, and he broke really sharp and made an easy lead all the way to the wire,” said Centeno, who became the first Tampa Bay Downs-based jockey to win the race since 2014. “The gray horse (Letmeno, who finished fourth) got a little close to me past the half-mile pole, but my horse grabbed the bit again and I knew I had plenty of horse left.

“It’s nice when you get a lead like that and the horse is enjoying being out there all by himself. It looks like he can run all day,” Centeno said.

Maker claimed Last Judgment for $62,500 from an Oct. 25 sprint victory at Belmont Park for owners Michael Dubb, Steve Hornstock, Bethlehem Stables and Nice Guys Stables. After winning the Sunshine Classic Stakes for older Florida-breds on Jan. 16 at Gulfstream in his second start from his new barn, Last Judgment finished eighth the following week in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1).

“We tried to chase Knicks Go in the Pegasus, and I’ll try to spot him more appropriately the rest of the year,” Maker said via telephone from Kentucky. “It looked like he should be forwardly placed and that’s how the race was run. He seemed to be well within himself the whole way. He got into a nice rhythm and kept it going.”