Trainer Michael Stidham is going to do his best to keep stakes winners Tom’s Magic and Montador apart this year. With Montador pointing to the Fair Grounds Stakes on Feb. 14, Stidham has opted to ship newly turned 4-year-old Tom’s Magic to Florida for Saturday’s Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.
Tom’s Magic had a good, bordering on great, 3-year-old campaign. He won three stakes and was runner-up in the King’s Plate at Woodbine and in the Grade 1 Hollywood Derby, in which he was beaten a neck by Salamis right on the wire.
Stidham didn’t feel that bad about the narrow defeat in the Hollywood Derby because he acknowledged that third-place finisher Test Score was probably best. Stidham was heartened to see Test Score come back to win last weekend’s Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf at Gulfstream. Kokoshan, fifth in the Hollywood Derby, came back to dominate a maiden race in his next start. Tempus Volat, fourth in the Hollywood Derby, got beaten a head in the Grade 2 Mathis Mile in his next start.
This will be Tom’s Magic’s first start against older horses, but the field for this race is hardly accomplished, with the exception of Win for the Money, who in 2024 won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile but is 0 for 7 since.
“I think any time you’re going from the 3-year-olds to the older horses, it’s definitely a step up,” Stidham said. “You got to be able make that step. I think he will. He’s a big, strong horse who’s done everything we ever asked.”
The only time Tom’s Magic finished worse than second was when he encountered soft turf at Keeneland in the Grade 3 Transylvania last April. Tom’s Magic shows a solid work tab leading into the Tampa Bay, run at 1 1/16 miles on the turf.
“I feel very good. He’s trained well at Fair Grounds. He had a little break after the Hollywood Derby,” Stidham said. “I think he’s coming into the race really well.”
Rafael Hernandez rides Tom’s Magic from post 7.
Win for the Money, a 7-year-old gelding by Mohaymen trained by Mark Casse, had run in seven consecutive graded stakes – five of which were Grade 1s – before finishing second in an allowance/optional claiming race at Gulfstream on Dec. 27. He had a little traffic and got beat by a horse, Abrumar, who is 4 for 5 at Gulfstream.
Casse said Win for the Money was invited to the Pegasus Turf, but “we’re tyring to get him back on a winning track. I thought this would be a better spot for him.”
Quatrocento returns to Tampa, where last March he finished first in an allowance race but was later disqualified for testing positive for phenylbutazone. He does have the speed to be a factor in this race but has finished sixth in a trio of graded stakes.
Simulate finished fourth in the Tropical Park, beaten two lengths by Layabout, who came back to win the Grade 3 William L. McKnight Stakes last week at Gulfstream.
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