Photo:

Gary Johnson / Eclipse Sportswire

In this biweekly series, racing analyst Keeler Johnson shares promising horses from his handicapping watch list, reviewing runners who have recently caught his eye and previewing horses scheduled to run back in the near future.

Entries

Saturday

Tampa Bay Downs, race 6. There are no certainties in horse racing, but Nic’s Style has a strong chance to take home top honors in the six-furlong Minaret at Tampa Bay Downs.

Nic’s Style boasts a 5-for-6 career record. Her lone defeat came when second in the Grade 2 Gallant Bloom to Grade 1 winner Ways and Means. Since then, the 5-year-old mare has won the Pumpkin Pie at Aqueduct and the FTBOA City of Ocala Florida Sire against Florida-breds at Tampa Bay Downs. The latter victory came by 2 1/2 lengths over next-out winner R Disaster.

Nic’s Style is a highly effective sprinter at the ungraded-stakes level and looms as a dangerous Minaret win threat under hot jockey Junior Alvarado, who has gone 4-for-8 at Tampa this meet. The only concern is the fact Nic’s Style scratched from the Jan. 25 Inside Information (G2) at Gulfstream and appears to have missed a workout around that time, but she bounced back with a half-mile exercise last Sunday, so that’s encouraging to see.

Tampa Bay Downs, race 11. Can Owen Almighty handle two turns? We’ll find out when he returns to the road to the Kentucky Derby in the 1 1/16-mile Sam F. Davis at Tampa.

We know Owen Almighty is a talented sprinter. He hasn’t been beaten to the finish line in three starts dashing seven furlongs or less. He dominated the Ellis Park Juvenile by 4 3/4 lengths last summer and recently ended a layoff with a fine try in Tampa’s Pasco, where he crossed the wire first by one length before getting disqualified to fifth place.

But Owen Almighty was beaten in his lone route race to date, finishing second in the Iroquois (G3) racing a one-turn mile at Churchill Downs. That was a road to the Kentucky Derby qualifier won by future Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) runner-up Jonathan’s Way, so Owen Almighty was facing quality competition. But Owen Almighty is bred for speed, so I’m optimistic the Sam F. Davis will help clarify whether sprints are his strong suit or if he can carry his speed over route distances as well.

Miscellaneous updates

Due to inactivity, I’m dropping a couple of horses from my watch list.

The first is Runaway Happy. As a 2-year-old in December 2023, she dominated her debut in a six-furlong maiden special weight for Ohio-breds by 21 lengths, giving the impression she would develop into a stakes star. But Runaway Happy subsequently disappointed as the 1-20 favorite when finishing second in a February 2024 allowance, and she hasn’t posted a workout since then. After a year of inaction, it appears Runaway Happy may have been retired.

The same goes for Corona Bolt, winner of Keeneland’s Lafayette as a 3-year-old in April 2023. He has run only once since then, finishing last of nine in a January 2024 $80,000 allowance optional claimer at Fair Grounds. An absence of workouts since that misfire suggests we’re unlikely to see Corona Bolt return to the races.

2025 Watch-list record

In 2025, horses on my watch list have a record of 32: 11-7-5 for a 34 percent win rate and a 72 percent in-the-money rate.

Here is my complete, updated list of Horses to Watch.