NEWS
Odysseus battles back to win Tampa Bay Derby
Posted: Saturday, March 13, 2010 7:05 PM
ODYSSEUS
Tom Cooley Photography
To view the Tampa Bay Derby, click here.
by Steve Bailey
Padua Stables’ Odysseus took a giant step in his journey to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) with a dramatic late surge to win a photo finish over Schoolyard Dreams in the $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.
Pushing pacesetter Super Saver into the turn, Odysseus appeared to weaken and dropped back to fifth under jockey Rajiv Maragh in midstretch before rallying, veering inside, and darting between horses to cross the finish line with Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) runner-up Schoolyard Dreams.
It took several minutes before the result was announced as official: Odysseus bested Schoolyard Dreams by a nose in the 1 1/16-mile race for three-year-olds.
“I was ecstatic,” trainer Tom Albertrani said. "I really believed that we might have just come short by a bob. I thought he needed another jump, but that’s the way it worked out.
“I think the sky could be the limit with this horse. He showed how he’s got such determination to win. … He’s just a very game horse, and he’s really got a will to win.”
The victory was the third from four starts for the chestnut Malibu Moon colt, who with his $180,000 winner’s share of the $300,000 purse thrust himself into the top 20 among Derby hopefuls by graded stakes earnings, the determining factor if more than 20 horses are entered in the Kentucky Derby on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
“That’s our target, to get this horse to the Derby,” Albertrani said. “We think he’s certainly good enough to belong with that group, but we’ll see how he trains in the next two weeks and make some decisions. We’ll see if we need to run him back again or just sit and wait.
“It takes a lot of pressure off to have the graded earnings at this point. If he had been second, we’d be forced to run him run him back again and we don’t want to squeeze him too much for the Derby if that’s the case.”
Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) winner Super Saver hustled out of the gate and took the field through a quarter-mile in :23.52 and a half-mile in :47.02 as Odysseus chased from no more than two lengths back.
Super Saver, ranked sixth in the latest THOROUGHBRED TIMES Road to the Triple Crown poll, continued on in front into the turn as Odysseus began to drop back and Schoolyard Dreams ranged up on the outside and took in early stretch.
As Schoolyard Dreams, under jockey Jeremy Rose, drove to the line with Super Saver chasing on the inside, Odysseus, back in fifth, moved to the inside and began to gobble up ground, powering between the two to make a final lunge for the wire.
It appeared that Schoolyard Dreams, the fourth betting choice at 5.40-to-1, had reached the finish line first but the photo proved Odysseus prevailed by the narrowest of margins in the final stride, covering the distance in 1:44.31 on a track rated as fast.
"Getting past the wire, I said to Jeremy, 'I think you won it, Jeremy,” Maragh said. “He thought so, too. So it was a surprise when they put our number up.
"I wasn't sure we were going find a path and then it opened up just a few yards from the finish, and like I said, I didn't think we had won. He is just getting better and better!”
Super Saver held on for third, a half-length in front of Gleam of Hope. Pasco Stakes winner Uptowncharlybrown weakened late and finished a nonthreatening fifth.
Odysseus remained perfect on the season after a half-length victory in his 2010 debut in a seven-furlong maiden special weight race on January 14 at Gulfstream Park and an overpowering 15-length romp in a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming race on February 17 at Tampa Bay Downs in his previous start.
Bred in Kentucky by Haymarket Farm and Lakemont Stable, Odysseus is out of the winning Conquistador Cielo mare Persimmon Hill. He is a half brother to multiple stakes winner Once Around.
For an Equibase chart, click here.
Steve Bailey is deputy news editor for Thoroughbred Times
