In a race where a number of riders got a bit antsy and appeared to move too soon, Fifty Five waited patiently and mowed them all down under Jose Ortiz. The bay caboosed the field early, a spot or two behind heavily favored comebacker La Coronel as a longshot zipped away through impossible splits up front. The race complexion quickly changed around the home bend when La Coronel made a massive sweeping move to challenge for the lead, forcing those inside of her to also hit the gas, but Ortiz sat relatively chilly on Fifty Five and drafted in behind passing the quarter pole. La Coronel dug in to fend off Compelled up the fence, but couldn't muster enough to repel Fifty Five's surge over the top.
“The trainer [Tom Bush] just told me to keep patient and when you ask her, she is going to give you a big run,” Ortiz said. “I just tried to follow [La Coronel] because I knew she was going to be tough, and as soon as we passed the eighth pole, I knew we had a decent chance to win.”
Bush added, “The fractions (:22.83 and :46.90) helped us quite a bit, but she did move up on the backside with the rest of the field and was in pretty good shape,” Bush said. “It's a terrific feeling. She just won a graded stakes and has improved every time we've run her, and you can't ask more from a horse than that.”
Third over good ground in state-bred company at Belmont last October, the bay returned a month later at the Big A to don cap and gown with a far-back rally. She added a last-to-first triumph over 'TDN Rising Star' Tamit (Ire) (Fastnet Rock {Aus})–who was scratched from this race–in an open optional claimer at Gulfstream Jan. 1, and was a good rallying third, beaten less than a length and only a nose by Compelled, in Gulfstream's Feb. 4 GIII Sweetest Chant.
Owner/breeders John and Sandy Crowe were on hand to enjoy their filly's victory.
“She's a heartthrob, because she always comes from behind like that,” said John. Sandy added, “When [Ortiz] took her back early, I thought 'She's done this before. But when they turned for home, I said 'Get her moving, get her moving.'”
Pedigree Notes:
Fifty Five is a member of the first crop of MGISW turfer Get Stormy (Stormy Atlantic), who Bush also trained. His other standout runner Clyde's Image is campaigned by Get Stormy's owner Sullimar Stable and conditioned by Bush. That gelding was second in Gulfstream's GIII Dania Beach S. at 45-1 and filled the same slot at 32-1 in the Kitten's Joy S. Dam Soave, an Empire Equines homebred as well, has an unraced 2-year-old filly by Point of Entry.
Saturday, Tampa Bay Downs
FLORIDA OAKS-GIII, $155,000, TAM, 3-11, 3yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 1:41.60, fm.
1–#@FIFTY FIVE, 116, f, 3, by Get Stormy
1st Dam: Soave (SP, $142,734), by Brahms
2nd Dam: Cozzekiki, by Cozzene
3rd Dam: Raffinierte (Ire), by Surumu (Ger)
($24,000 RNA Ylg '15 FTKOCT). O/B-Empire Equines, LLC (NY);
T-Thomas M. Bush; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $90,000. Lifetime Record:
5-3-0-2, $162,600. Werk Nick Rating: D.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.[bullet ad=”hidden-brook-raised”]2–La Coronel, 120, f, 3, Colonel John–Listen, by Chester House.
($37,000 RNA Wlg '14 KEENOV; $37,000 Ylg '15 FTKOCT;
$375,000 2yo '16 OBSAPR). O-John C. Oxley; B-Kim &
Rodney Nardelli, Susan Bunning & A. & B. Jaffreys (KY); T-Mark
E. Casse. $30,000.[bullet ad=”winners-circle-thoroughbreds-graduate”][bullet ad=”thorostride-new”]3–Compelled, 116, f, 3, War Front–Mutually Benefit, by
Dynaformer. O/B-Glen Hill Farm (FL); T-Thomas
F. Proctor. $20,000.
Margins: NK, HF, HF. Odds: 4.10, 0.90, 2.90.
Also Ran: Dynatail, Super Marina, Daddys Lil Darling, Valentine Wish, Like a Hurricane. Scratched: Tamit (Ire). Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
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