BY BROCK SHERIDAN
Florida-bred Tessellate ran to her 4-5 odds with a conclusive win in the $120,000 Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs Saturday, her second added-money score in her last two starts. Ridden to victory by Edgard Zayas, the bay daughter of McKinzie circled the field in the turn then took over at the top of the stretch to defeat five other 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs.
The Gasparilla purse included $25,000 reserved for registered Florida-breds who finished in the top three as part of Tampa Bay Downs’ enhanced Florida-bred program.
Stakes-winning Florida-bred Gerrards Cross jumped out to a quick lead with Sonny Leon aboard, racing two lengths clear of Florida-bred Love Like Lucy in second. After stumbling and bumping with a rival at the start, Tessellate settled another two-and-a-half-lengths behind in third. Gerrards Cross clipped off fast quarter-mile fractions of :21.86 and :44.64 as Tessellate began to advance on the turn, getting to the front with a quarter mile to the finish. Tessellate drew off the stretch to win by two-and-three-quarters lengths in 1:23.58 on the fast track. Lady Valor came from sixth to take second, finishing a neck in front of Florida-bred Ridgie in third. Love Like Lucy, Lightscape and Gerrards Cross finished in that order.
“I was just waiting for the time to let her roll,” Zayas said. “I tried to get into her at the three-eighths pole and she responded beautifully. I think she had more class than the rest of the field.”
Trained by Saffie Joseph Jr., Tessellate paid $3.80 to win.
She earned $77,500 for owner Magic Cap Stables, Paul Braverman, Timothy Pinch, Tim and Crystal O’Donohue’s Castle Gate Farm, BAG Racing Stables, John Reinhardt and Turf Express Racing, pushing her career bankroll to $171,010.
Tessellate is by McKinzie out of the winning mare Shotdowninflames, by Trappe Shot and was bred in Florida by Castle Gate Farm. Shotdowninflames has two winners from three starters with Tessellate her only stakes winner. Castle Gate Farm raced Shotdowninflames after buying her for $50,000 as a yearling at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Shotdowninflames, a half-sister to Grade 3 Obeah Stakes-winner Luna Time, has a yearling filly, Whole Lotta Rosie, from the first crop by Ocala Stud stallion Roadster, that sold for $80,000 to Champion Equine LLC at this Ocala Breeders’ Sales October Yearling Sale where she was consigned by Lisa McGreevy’s Abbie Road Farm as agent.
Joseph bought Tessellate for $170,000 out of the Paramount Sales consignment at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale then offered a share back to the breeders.
“Saffie [Joseph Jr.], our trainer, purchased her and I wished them good luck,” Tim O’Donohue said. “He asked if I wanted to stay in for a piece and I said I’d love to.
“I sensed the day she was born there was just something about her. Her physique, her conformation, her mind—I thought she was going to be special. I told Saffie I thought she was going to be special and I was right for once.”
The Gasparilla was the first race at Tampa Bay Downs for Tessellate, who had her first four starts at Gulfstream Park.
She broke her maiden by two lengths at first asking, winning a five-furlong maiden special weight for Florida-bred fillies in July. She then rallied in the slop to finish second to Florida-bred Willow Case in the six-furlong, $75,000 Sharp Susan on Aug. 9 before finishing third in the $75,000 Hallandale Beach won by Willow Case going a mile on Sept. 26.
“I know she didn’t like the slop at all [in the Sharp Susan],” O’Donohue said. “And then in the [Hallandale Beach] she got a little fever and we missed a little training and we decided to try her at a mile. Timing is everything and that probably wasn’t the time to try that. But we figured we give it a try because there was not another race.”
Tessellate then had a breakthrough performance at six-and-a-half furlongs, dominating the $75,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint by 13 lengths on Nov. 15.
“She really seems to like going three-quarters to seven-eighths,” O’Donohue said. “But I’m not giving up on her stretching out because I think we can draw a line through that mile race.”
O’Donohue also noted he had dual rooting interest in the Gasparilla having raised Gerrards Cross for owner and breeder James M. Chicklo of Ocala.
“[Tessellate and Gerrards Cross] grew up in the same paddock together,” O’Donohue said. “And it’s pretty cool when you’re a small breeding operation. You have three fillies and two of them win first time out and the two of them win stakes. I think Gerrards Cross is going to be a helluva filly on the turf.
“I met Dr. Chicklo on the golf course. We both live in Ocala, we play on the same golf course and we have the same interest. He needed a place for his mare to raise her foals and I told him [Castle Gate Farm] would be a great spot for her. I had a dream [Tessellate and Gerrards Cross] would make the exacta, but it didn’t pan out. It would’ve been nice. I thought at the sixteenth pole it might happen but Gerrards Cross ran a nice race.”
Return to the January 10 issue of Wire to Wire
