Late Season Turf Triple Crown for Florida-Breds Scheduled

As part of the Florida Racing Club residency’s efforts to promote Florida-bred racing in the Sim, a late turf Triple Crown has been scheduled for 3-year-old fillies and males beginning October 11.

Modeled on the English classics, the series begins with an eight-furlong stakes race for each sex: the 2000 Sand Dollars for males and the 1000 Sand Dollars for the fillies. Fair weather is forecast (and for the other two event days as well) so a firm turf course should be the order of the day for the series.

The following races in the sequence are the Florida Scrub Oaks for fillies and the Derby Lane for the boys. Those two races will be run November 22. The scrub oak (Quercus inopina) is a small, thicket-forming oak tree whose acorns are an important food source for the Florida scrub jay and is endemic to 13 counties in central peninsular Florida. Derby Lane was a greyhound racing track near St. Petersburg that hosted simulcast wagering on Thoroughbred racing and a place where I’ve bought a Daily Racing Form or two. These races are both at 12 furlongs, and since the majority of Florida sires are geared for dirt racing at sprint distances (with third-crop sire Colonel Liam a notable exception), the results could be interesting.

But not as interesting as the lone race closing the series, the St. Leo at 14 furlongs on December 27. St. Leo is a town in Pasco County named for the late-19th century pope that is the namesake for the current Pope Leo.

Anyway, it should be fun to watch the races unfold and hopefully you have a Florida-bred runner or two in your stables that might join in for a race or three. As always, we encourage you to breed more Florida-breds (devote a stable to the endeavor?) and sign a (that) stable up with the residency so that more fun can be had in the coming years.