HorseracingFLA Staff Report
Trainer Larry Rivelli added to his high percentage record at Tampa Bay Downs on Wednesday as he sent out two horses and won with both of them.
That gave Ravelli eight wins in 27 starts at the meet. He also has one second place finish and five third place finishes.
Rivelli took the first race with He’s the Dude. a 4-year-old gelding owned by Patricia’s Hope LLC.
He’s the Dude, the 7-10 favorite, led gate-to-wire in the 1 1/16 mile maiden claiming race and won by 6 ¼ lengths over 58-1 shot He’s a Miracle. He’s the Dude ran the distance in 1:47.47 on the dirt track listed as fast.
Antonio Gallardo, who has a run-away lead in the Tampa Bay jockey standings, rode He’s the Dude.
It was one of three victories on the ten-race card for Gallardo. He is seeking his third straight riding title at Tampa Bay.
Rivelli also won the third race with Nightbar, a 3-year-old Florida homebred gelding racing for owner Carolyn Wilson. Daniel Centeno was aboard.
Nightbar, the 8-5 favorite, ran six furlongs on dirt in 1:12.92 to win the $16,000 maiden claiming race. Think He’s Gone finished second by 3 ¼ lengths.
Rivelli spends most of each year in the Chicago area, where he was leading trainer at Arlington International in 2011, 2014 and 2015 and is perennially among the leaders at Hawthorne Race Course.
Despite his relatively small number of starts at Tampa Bay this season, he is tied for tenth place in wins at the meet that began last Nov. 28.
Gallardo Stays Hot
Gallardo won three races on the card, giving him 10 over the last three racing days and 95 for the meeting.
Jockey Antonio Gallardo
He captured the fifth race on 3-year-old filly Cohasset for owners Commonwealth Stable and Randy Bradshaw and trainer Kathleen O’Connell and added the 10th and final race on the turf on 4-year-old Florida-bred filly Descarado for breeder-owner Bruce Tallisman and trainer Darien Rodriguez.
Keibar Coa and apprentice Chad Lindsay each rode two winners on Wednesday.
Lindsay won the fourth race on 4-year-old filly Hold Me Tight for owner Larry M. Morse and trainer George Leonard, III. He added the seventh on 3-year-old filly Seems a Fortune for owner Harpinator Racing and trainer Ian Wilkes.
Coa won the eighth and ninth races, scoring first on the turf on 4-year-old filly Sister Blues for breeder-owner Lucky Seven Stable and trainer Tom Proctor. Coa added the ninth on 5-year-old mare Desert Summer for owners Sharyn and Peter Wasiluk, Jr.; the latter is the trainer.
Desert Summer was claimed from the race for $6,250 by trainer Saul Matos for his Matos Racing operation.
Centeno is second in the jockey standings with nine wins, followed by Ronald Allen Jr. with 47.
Lindsay has nine wins and Coa has seven wins.
Tampa Bay Downs will be dark on Thursday. It will have ten races on Friday, with first post of 12:25 p.m.
