STOLEN PRAYER (Songandaprayer) began her three-year-old campaign with a close
second in the Tropical Park Oaks, and the Edward Plesa trainee will
try again to add an Oaks to her record when facing eight rivals in Saturday’s $200,000
Florida Oaks at Tampa Bay Downs. The 1 1/16-mile test is the counterpart to the
day’s feature event, the Tampa Bay Derby (G3).
Stolen Prayer ended her juvenile season by earning her first stakes victory
in the Three Ring S. at Calder. The chestnut miss took less than a month off before
returning in the Tropical Park Oaks and most recently finished fourth in her
graded debut, the Davona Dale S. (G2). Jose Lezcano will be in the irons for the
first time in Saturday’s event.
Among those Stolen Prayer will face is CRYSTAL CURRENT (A.P. Indy), recent
winner of the Suncoast S. at Tampa. Conditioned by Bill Mott, the dark bay lass broke her
maiden in late November by 3 3/4 lengths at Aqueduct, then went on the shelf for
the rest of the year. Returning in the February 18 Suncoast, Crystal Current
drew off to a 4 1/2-length score in the 8 1/2-furlong test, and she will keep
Cornelio Velasquez aboard.
Other contenders include recent 7 1/2-length maiden winner A. J.’S COAL BED
(Stormy Atlantic) and SARATOGA DRIVE (Siphon [Brz]), winner of an allowance at
Gulfstream Park most recently.
The complete field for the Florida Oaks, with riders, is Stolen Prayer;
BUSHFIRE (Louis Quatorze), John Velazquez; SANGRITA (Mr. Greeley), Jeremy Rose;
A. J.’s Coal Bed, Joe Rocco; LOVE BOOT (Storm Boot), Aurelio Toribio Jr.;
Crystal Current; Saratoga Drive, Javier Castellano; SUMMIT QUEEN (Distant View),
Huber Villa-Gomez; and TAYLOR MADISON (Kipling), Jose Ferrer.
Joining the Florida Oaks on the undercard will be the $150,000
Hillsborough S. (G3) and $75,000
Turf Dash
S. The former event drew an overflow field of 14 to go 1 1/8 miles on the
turf and features the return of stakes winner JOYFUL CHAOS (Rahy). The
five-year-old mare made her final 2005 start a nice fourth in the La Prevoyante
H. (G2) at Calder in mid-December.
The Turf Dash at five furlongs also has an overdrawn field, with four of the
12 entrants scheduled to make their stakes debut in the turf test.