Tampa Bay Derby Undercard Features Ace From Space, High-Profile Debutants

Ace From Space headlines a undercard littered with high-profile debutants and dangerous maidens when Tampa Bay Downs stages the Grade 3 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby card, a meeting that carries 50 Kentucky Derby points to the winner in a nine-horse main event. “ACE FROM SPACE (Into Mischief) brings both an imposing pedigree and worktab into this career debut. The Stonestreet homebred is the latest runner out of the SW & GSP Glinda the Good (Hard Spun), whose four winners includes dual Grade I-winning champion and leading sire Good Magic (Curlin). Glinda the Good is herself a half-sister to GSW and stakes-producing Take the Ribbon (Chester House) and SW & GSPs Flash Forward (Curlin) and Flash Mash (Smarty Jones). Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call from Brad Cox.”

Ace From Space is scheduled in the 2nd race, a $60,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-olds at 7 furlongs with a listed post time of 12:45 p.m. ET, while the Tampa Bay Derby itself is the 46th running Saturday and is reported as Race 11 on the program. Broadcast plans list live coverage on FS2’s America’s Day at the Races and on FanDuel TV, with post time reported as 5:35 p.m. ET by the broadcast preview; the track’s published schedule notes the feature usually lands around 5:15 p.m. ET and recommends verifying the morning-of racecard.

Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown bring two of the undercard's most watched prospects. “Locked up in a veritable match race in his Feb. 7 Tampa debut when second-best to Chad Brown’s Emerging Market. Earned rave reviews while more than 13 lengths clear of the rest and posting a big speed figure. $500,000 Constitution colt takes the baton from stablemate Renegade, who won the Sam F. Davis Stakes and bypassed this spot for the Arkansas Derby,” reads the raceweek profile on Powershift, Pletcher’s $500,000 Constitution colt listed at 7/2 in early market notes.

Chad Brown’s Canaletto is a 5/2 early choice after a dominant eight-length debut at Gulfstream, a performance in which the colt “went a mile … broke sharply and took over by the three-quarter pole.” Racingbiz also notes Canaletto’s yearling price is “double that of Powershift,” a market detail that underscores expectations for the outside-breaking Into Mischief colt.

Further Ado, trained by Brad Cox and tabbed as the Tampa Bay Derby headliner, brings stakes form to the nine-horse field: user-supplied entries list a ten point November win in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill and a prior Keeneland maiden win by 20 lengths, and America’s Best Racing describes him as making his 3-year-old debut on the big day.

Other undercard runners to watch include Hulkamania, the $160,000 son of McKinzie who won by four lengths in a Feb. 8 debut at Tampa for trainer Whit Beckman with Jareth Loveberry replacing Daniel Centeno; Roger That Dana, the Florida-bred who debuted wire-to-wire at Gulfstream and set the pace in the Florida Sire Stakes In Reality before fading to third for trainer Luis Ramirez; homebreds Resolute Will and Redland Rebels, the latter carrying a top Equibase Speed Figure of 88 and career earnings of $87,000; and Maxxander, who sold as a $100,000 Keeneland November weanling and later for $400,000 at Keeneland September and is “debuting on his actual birthdate.”

Handicappers are reminded to watch the early races for rail bias and closing tendencies and to confirm late jockey and post-time changes; the track advisory notes gates open at 10:00 AM ET and urges verification of the final racecard. With Irad Ortiz Jr., Javier Castellano, Junior Alvarado and other established riders arrayed across the card, the undercard’s results could shift Kentucky Derby narratives as quickly as the nine-horse main event awards its 50 points.