Verrazano faces eight in Tampa Bay Derby

The son of More Than Ready made his career bow on New Year's Day, capturing a

6 1/2-furlong maiden special weight by 7 3/4 lengths, and Verrazano really

turned heads when stretching out to a one-turn mile in a February 2

allowance/optional claiming event, streaking away to a 16 1/4-length decision.

The latter performance netted him a 104 BRIS Speed rating, by far the top number

earned by any of the Tampa Bay Derby participants, and the bay colt counts last

year's Grade 2 Risen Star winner El Padrino as a half-brother.

Verrazano raced up close to the pace in both of his previous starts and could

be tracking Falling Sky during the early stages Saturday. That rival exits a

wire-to-wire tally in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis at Tampa, holding for a neck

decision in his first start against graded stakes rivals, and Falling Sky

scratched out of the recent Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in favor of this spot. The

probable pacesetter drilled five furlongs in a bullet :59 3/5 at Palm Meadows on

Monday for trainer John Terranova and the son of Lion Heart figures to be

winging it early with a returning Jose Espinoza up.

Multiple stakes winner Dynamic Sky will receive a rider switch to Joel

Rosario following his fast-finishing second in the Sam Davis. A Woodbine stakes

winner in his second career start, the Mark Casse-trained colt recorded a

runner-up in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland before shipping to

Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile where he wound up a non-threatening

sixth in his dirt debut. His sophomore season got off to an encouraging start,

with Dynamic Sky rallying to win the seven-furlong Pasco at Tampa, and the son

of Sky

Mesa will attempt to make a late impact here.

Honorable Dillon invades on the upswing for trainer Eddie Kenneally,

posting a nice win in the Grade 2 Hutcheson on February 2, and will look to

carry that form forward in his first two-turn attempt. The gray son of Tapit

will pick up the services of Corey Lanerie in his second stakes start.

Pletcher will also send the unbeaten Park City postward. A debut winner at

Saratoga, the Harlan's Holiday colt wasn't seen again under silks until February

2, returning with a hard-fought neck decision in a 6 1/2-furlong

allowance/optional claimer at Gulfstream. The late runner will receive a rider

switch to Edgar Prado.

The Tampa Bay Derby marks the return to action for the unbeaten Purple Egg,

who has been sidelined since a nice win in the six-furlong Inaugural at Tampa on

December 1. Stakes victor Java's War, who was last seen finishing sixth in the

Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs in late November, is also slated

to make his first appearance at three.

The remaining contestants are Eton Blue, who finished second to Verrazano

last time, and recent Gulfstream allowance/optional claiming runner-up Offlee

Fast.

Saturday's card also features the Grade 3, $150,000

Hillsborough for fillies and mares at about 1 1/8 miles on turf. Old Tune, a

multiple Group 1 queen in Brazil, stretched her winning streak to five when making

her U.S. debut in the February 2 Grade 3 Endeavour and will make a return trip

to Tampa's turf for Pletcher in the Hillsborough. Rosario will keep the mount on the

five-year-old mare.

Appealing Cat, Last Full Measure and Hooh Why, the respective second through

fourth-place finishers in the Endeavour, will all return Saturday, but Old

Tune's main rivals are a couple of fresh faces, Forces of Darkness and Mystical

Star. A Group 3 winner and Group 1-placed in France last year, Forces of

Darkness will make her U.S. bow for new trainer Chad Brown on Saturday and her

European class figures to make her an attractive option for bettors. Mystical

Star captured the Grade 2 New York last season and ended 2012 with a pair of

commendable efforts for Christophe Clement, finishing second in the Grade 1

Spinster before just missing by a neck to Starformer in the Grade 3 Long Island.

Three-year-old fillies will kick off the stakes action Saturday in the

$100,000

Suncoast and the one to beat is Close Hatches, who established herself as a

promising candidate for the Kentucky Oaks when rolling to a seven-length victory

in her career debut at Gulfstream Park on January 26. Conditioned by Bill Mott,

the daughter of First Defense will meet nine rivals in the one-mile and 40-yard

test.

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