Extra preparation time proved a key issue for No Extra Time in his victory within the $200,000 Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Deciding to scratch his 3-year-old from the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes every week in the past at Gulfstream Park, coach Jose D’Angelo as a substitute selected to await the Sam F. Davis, believing he may have a fitter colt earlier than an essential prep race on the Highway to the Kentucky Derby offered by Woodford Reserve one week later.
“As a result of I knew he wanted yet another exercise,” D’Angelo stated of No Extra Time’s five-furlong breeze on Holy Bull Day at Palm Meadows Coaching Heart.
The work appeared to depart him sharp. No Extra Time shot to the entrance in Saturday’s 1 1/16-mile dust race beneath Paco Lopez and raced uncontested over the primary portion of the race with fractions of :23.52 and :46.61. No Extra Time shrugged off the stalking Change of Command after which was challenged on the second flip by Grade 3 Iroquois Stakes winner West Saratoga, who superior from a stalking place into second, pushing No Extra Time right into a six-furlong break up in 1:10.81.
Once more, No Extra Time had extra left. He dispatched West Saratoga, opened up by two lengths in mid-stretch, and held on for a snug 1 1/4-length victory over late-rallying runner up Agate Highway. No Extra Time raced 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.26 with a gradual last sixteenth in :6.67. He paid $8.60 to win as the general public alternative.
“The coach advised me to placed on the brakes out of the gate and sit third or fourth, however my horse broke unbelievable and I let him go,” stated Lopez, who was aboard No Extra Time for the primary time Saturday.
West Saratoga flattened out to complete 5 1/4 lengths behind the runner-up in third, a head in entrance of fourth-place finisher Elysian Meadows. Fulmineo was fifth. The highest 5 finishers within the Sam F. Davis earned qualifying factors towards the Could 4 Kentucky Derby on a 20-10-6-4-2 foundation.
Disappointing was Change of Command, the 4-1 second-favorite, who weakened to complete eleventh.
The Sam F. Davis typically serves as a prep for Tampa’s richest race for 3-year-olds, the $400,000 Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on the identical 1 1/16-mile distance on March 9.
