Wednesday marks the second of three eligible days for one of our new promotions to kickoff 2026. The “Wednesday Wins” promo began last week and continues each Wednesday until the end of the month at Tampa Bay Downs and Turfway Park. For those of you that did not take part a week ago, it is simple. Simply register, bet $50 at each track, and earn a $10 bonus. I will be taking part again this week with my focus on these horses.
Tampa Bay Downs, Race 5
Trainer Miguel Clement has been on fire to start 2026. Clement has won with 5 of 16 starters to kick off the year and his Tampa meet has gone even better evidenced by his 7 for 14-record dating back to mid-November. He sends out two in this MSW event for 3YO fillies at two-turns over the turf, including first-time starter #10 Deference. The daughter of Street Sense has been training at Payson Park for some time without missing a beat, so she certainly should be fit. The 3YO gal has some solid turf influences on the dam side, including being the younger half-sister to $412k turf earner High Opinion. Samuel Marin has been aboard 8 of Clement’s horses over the last 60 days, 5 have won. Hopefully, he gets this filly home to kick off the late Pick 5.
Play: #10 Deference (3-1 ML)
Turfway Park, Race 6
I will try to beat the ML favorites in this auction restricted MSW event for 3YO fillies at 6.5-furlongs over the Turfway all-weather with second-time starter #11 Tiz a Princess. The daughter of Complexity debuted in an open company MSW over this surface on December 11 and ran pretty well considering she broke decent, but not great from the rail and had her hand forced from there. I love the move from the rail to an outside post in sprints for a young horse because it just more often than not results in a less stressful voyage. The class drop and likely trip should have this Jeremiah O’Dwyer trainee in a good spot early. At her 8-1-ML price, I will gamble she has more to offer late after tiring in the lane at first asking.
Play: #11 Tiz a Princess (8-1 ML)
Turfway Park, Race 7
#4 Ripassare comes in having won three consecutive races, but I am not willing to swallow the chalk on the Vino Rosso mare. Instead, I will ride the hot hand of trainer Mike Maker. Maker sends out #5 Gata Brazil for the second start under his care. The daughter of Into Mischief raced for trainer Brittany Russell through her first 9 starts, all at one-turn and performed decent, but not spectacular. In the first start under Maker, Gata Brazil came back off a 2.5-month break in a 6-furlong event at this same allowance condition and ran a solid third. Maker has not only been hot over the last 30 days in Florence winning with 8 of his 28 starters for a $3.39 ROI, but has been a master over the years at stretching horses out further after acquiring them well into their racing career. I am hopeful he can do just that with a filly that should have no issue getting two-turns based on pedigree. Joe Ramos gets the leg up for the first time.
Play: #5 Gata Brazil (6-1 ML)
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