BY TAMPA BAY DOWNS PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
OLDSMAR, FL—The Florida Thoroughbred breeding and racing industry will showcase accomplished past winners on the Tampa Bay Downs ovals and future stars on Sunday, March 29 when the track presents Florida Cup Day 23 with opportunities for Florida-bred horses in six different divisions.
The six Florida Cup stakes races, each with a purse of $100,000 plus a $10,000 for Florida Sire-eligible winners features three to be contested on the main dirt track and three to be run over the turf course. This year’s Florida Cup has attracted 114 total nominations. Gerald Bennett, who has won nine training titles to tie the Tampa Bay Downs record, submitted nine nominations and Saffie Joseph Jr. put forth six from his Gulfstream Park base.
Among the contingent from Joseph, Jr. is Neoequos, a 4-year-old colt who finished third in the 2025 Curlin Florida Derby (Grade 1) and started in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1). Neoequos leads the list of 16 nominated to the AAA Feed & Tack Turf Classic at a mile-and-an-eighth for 4-year-olds and older. In his last start Neoequos was a two-lengths winner in the $75,000 Sunshine Turf for Florida-breds on the Gulfstream green.
Also under consideration for the Turf Classic is the multiple stakes-winning Tank, who was a winner on the Florida Cup card last year when the Arindel homebred was victorious in the $110,000 Sophomore Turf for trainer Carlos David.
Elsewhere on the card the Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf for fillies and mares at a mile-and-a-sixttenth attracted 21 nominations; the NYRA Bets Sprint at six furlongs on the main track for 4-year-olds and older closed with 23 nominations; the Lambholm South Sophomore Turf for 3-year-olds at a mile-and-a-sixteenth drew 16 nominations, and the Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies at seven furlongs and the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore at the same distance each garnered 19 nominations.
In the NYRA Bets Sprint the Saffie Joseph, Jr.-trained Mish stands out among the nominees. The hard-knocking 9-year-old gelding could be making his 40th career start in seeking a return trip to the Tampa Bay Downs winner’s circle. Mish won the 2023 edition of the NYRA Bets Sprint and sports a record of two wins and two seconds from seven starts on this track. He would come into the 2026 running with two consecutive wins sprinting six furlongs at Gulfstream.
Others sure to attract attention in the Sprint are Macho Music for Rohan Crichton, the Alfredo Velazquez-trained Buccherino, Flood Zone for dual Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox and Damon’s Mound from the barn of five-time and defending champion-trainer Bill Mott.
Macho Music shone on the 2025 Florida Cup card when he took the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore Stakes by 11 1/4 lengths before going on to win the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs on the Kentucky Derby undercard. Flood Zone was on the Triple Crown trail after taking the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct last year, and the now 6-year-old Damon’s Mound is a Grade 3 winner for his Hall of Fame conditioner. Buccherino is a three-time stakes winner at Parx and Monmouth Park.
A pair of 4-year-old fillies owned and bred by Live Oak Plantation may join the field for the Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf.
Souper Zonda, trained by dual Canadian and American Hall of Famer Mark Casse, took the Sunshine Millions Filly & Mare Turf at one mile two starts back at Gulfstream and Souper Williwaw, conditioned by Mike Trombetta, is in pursuit of her first stakes score. Robert Coltran’s Win Bet Only and Winplaceandshow, co-owned by Coltran and D. J. Stable, come from the barn of Joe Orseno.
Saffie Joseph Jr. nominated a trio for the Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies in Love Like Lucy, Nasti Z, and Tessellate, who took the $125,000 Gasparilla here at the same distance by nearly three lengths two starts back on Jan 10. Love Like Lucy was fourth behind her stablemate that day while Nasti Z has raced once, winning a maiden claiming affair at Gulfstream in February.
In the Lambholm South Sophomore Turf, the Jose Francisco D’Angelo-trained Bronze Bullet is the only stakes winner among the potential field. Three Diamonds Farm Bronze Bullet completed his juvenile campaign with a victory in the Pulpit stakes at Gulfstream in November.
The fields for the six Florida Cup stakes races will be drawn on Thursday, March 26.
Return to the March 19 issue of Wire to Wire
