BY TAMPA BAY DOWNS PRESS OFFICE (EDITED)
OLDSMAR, FL—After watching Naughty Rascal breeze four furlongs in :49.20 on Sunday here, trainer Gerald Bennett believes the 3-year-old Florida-bred colt is training well for Saturday’s $150,000 Pasco.
The Pasco is for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs and the purse includes a $50,000 win bonus for FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes-eligible runners and a $25,000 win bonus for registered Florida-breds, both presented by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.
“It was just a maintenance breeze, but [exercise rider] Brian [Pedroza] said he had tons of horse,” Bennett said. “[Naughty Rascal] got mad Brian didn’t let him gallop out stronger.”
The breeze was the 29th fastest of 113 at the distance Sunday morning at Tampa Bay Downs.
Bennett has hopes Naughty Rascal will improve on his last race, a second-place finish in the six-furlong Inaugural here on Dec. 7, a race in which winner Donut God set a stakes record of 1:09.13 in the process.
Naughty Rascal is not expected to face Donut God in the Pasco, however, as trainer Brian Lynch has opted to send him to Gulfstream Park for the $150,000 Swale on Feb. 1. Lynch said he will instead enter $175,000 Ellis Park Juvenile-winner Owen Almighty for Pasco. Owen Almighty will make his first start since finishing second to Jonathan’s Way in the Grade 3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs.
Owned by Mr Pug LLC and J.P.G. 2 LLC, Naughty Rascal is by Solera Farm stallion Rogueish out of the Smarty Jones mare Baby Doll and was bred in Florida by Edward Seltzer, the late Beverly Anderson and Helen and Joseph Barbazon. He has won three of five career starts with a second and a third while earning $158,130. Among his wins are victories in the $95,000 Proud Man in August and $95,000 Armed Forces in November, both at Gulfstream Park.
Naughty Rascal and Owen Almighty are expected to among at least nine rivals in the 27th running of the Pasco, which heads a quality-packed Skyway Festival Day card.
The $100,000 Wayward Lass for fillies and mares going a mile-and-a-sixteenth and the $150,000 Gasparilla for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs are also slated for Saturday’s Skyway Festival Day card.
