TAMPA, Fla. – Brethren, a half-brother to 2010 Kentucky Deby winner Super Saver, is being pointed for Saturday’s Grade 3, $225,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for his 2011 debut, according to trainer Todd Pletcher. The Sam Davis will be joined on the Saturday card at Tampa Bay Downs by Grade 3, $125,000 Endeavour Stakes and the $125,000 Florida Oaks.
Unbeaten in two starts, Brethren worked five furlongs Sunday at Palm Meadows in 1:01.00, the fourth-best time of 23 runners who worked that distance. Ramon Dominguez will be aboard on Saturday, Pletcher said.
Gerry Stanislawzyk, the Tampa Bay Downs stakes coordinator, said others being considered for the Sam Davis include the Carl Nafzger-trained Beamer, the Pasco third-place finisher Depeche Chat, Bellamy’s Boss, Litigate, Chasing Moonlight Monzon, Reprized Halo, Ribo Bobo, Too Experience, and Washington’s Rules.
Washington’s Rules is coming off a Gulfstream maiden win in his first start since August. Too Experience would be making his first start at 3 should he run Saturday.
The Florida Oaks, which will be run on turf this year after previously being run on dirt, may have a small field, with the connections of seven runners indicating an interest in the 1 1/16-mile race. Topping those are Dynamic Holiday, trained by Graham Motion and a winner of her last two starts, including the Tropical Park Oaks, and Fancy Point, a Kinsman Farm runner who left the maiden ranks against stakes company at Saratoga last summer and also finished third behind Winter Memories in the Grade 3 Miss Grillo. Fancy Point would be making her first start since finishing 10th in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf.
Eight fillies and mares are looking at the Endeavour, with no clear-cut early favorite for the 1 1/16-mile race. You Go West Girl and Romacaca, first and third here in the Endeavour Prep, would certainly draw attention if they run in the Endeavour. So would Silver Reunion, a 5-year-old mare from the Motion barn who would be making her first start since August, when she led to the final strides of the Grade 2 Ballaston Spa Handicap at Saratoga.
? Capt. Candyman Can came out of his win in Saturday’s Super Stakes in good shape, but his trainer, Ian Wilkes, isn’t ready to commit on any future plans. Capt. Candyman Can had been off for 15 months prior to Saturday’s victory.
“I just don’t want us to get too far ahead of ourselves,” Wilkes said, mentioning the Grade 1 Carter at Aqueduct on April 9 as a race under consideration.”I’m just glad he came back and ran like the old Candyman. If all goes well, we’re sure looking down the road to the 2011 Breeders’ Cup Sprint.”
– additional reporting by Jay Privman
