by Frank Carulli
June 29, 2023
Tampa Bay Down’s will host its 10th Summer Festival of Racing this Friday and Saturday. The Friday, June 30 card, will feature a 50-cent Late Pick with three maiden turf races in the sequence. Here’s a closer look with a suggested $36 play:
TAM 5th race (1:33 EST) -- HASN’T HAD ENOUGH, now 5 years old, has had only two starts in his career. But he at least met four rivals who earned $97,000-plus in their careers when he debuted on the Tampa Bay lawn in 2022 and ran evenly in a 5F turf sprint 15 months later that produced three next-out winners. He gets blinkers and is the top play in here. BOY O’BOY gets Lasix and gets in light-weighted for his first route attempt. He finished in the money in 3 of 4 sprints at Gulfstream, including a 5F grass test when he rallied for third, behind 2-1 firster Souper Quest and ahead of a next-out maiden $50k winner. LEFT ON BOYLESTON, idle nine months, has turf route experience, a third-place finish at Belmont and a race at Saratoga that yielded three next-out runners-up with an average 69 Beyer.
TAM 6th race (2:04 EST) -- Hard to look past favorite POSEIDON’S SON in this spot. He was ‘inconvenienced at the start’ of a $6,250 claiming race at Gulfstream Park, losing all chance against the likes of Rebelde, a winner of his last four starts (average 76 Beyer) and Rhymes Like Dimes, the class-dropping 9-to-5 runner-up. He finished willingly and should run past this field as today’s Pick 4 solo play.
TAM 7th race (2:33 EST) -- CHRIS’S MOTOWN GIRL ‘improved late’ to finish second in a debut sprint that produced 0-for-7 follow-ups, then dueled a long way and tired at 6F. She gets Lasix for her turf debut and is a must use on the ticket, but she will be an underlay as the likely favorite. If RAGGEDY draws into the race off the also-eligible list, she looms the one to beat. She worked fast for her new barn and finished between two next-out winners in a race won by a Saffie Joseph-trained favorite. LILY OF WICKLOW is a longshot to consider. She shows three bullet workouts since May and her dam was 22/2-6-8 and Grade III-placed.
TAM 8th race (3:03 EST) – Somebody has to win in this $16,000 maiden claimer at one mile, but rather than sort out a field that is a combined 0-for-48 overall and 12/0-0-1 on turf, hit the ‘ALL’ button in the Pick 4.
Suggested 50-cent Ticket
TAM 5th Race: 3, 4, 6
TAM 6th Race: 2
TAM 7th Race: 5, 8, 9
TAM 8th Race: ALL
Cost for 50-Cent Ticket: $36