Photo:

Candice Chavez / Eclipse Sportswire

It could be argued that 3-year-old colt Owen Almighty has been the hard-luck horse of the current Tampa Bay Downs meet.

He finished a length ahead of Naughty Rascal on Jan. 11 in the Pasco Stakes but was disqualified and placed fifth for coming in and bumping Rookie Card near the 3/8-mile pole, giving the victory to Naughty Rascal.

Stretching out from seven furlongs to 1 1/16 miles, Owen Almighty ran an even better race on Feb. 8 in the Sam F. Davis Stakes only to come up a half-length short against trainer Brad Cox’s John Hancock after a riveting stretch duel.

Brian Lynch, the trainer of Owen Almighty, won’t go so far as to say Tampa Bay Downs owes Owen Almighty one. But he has no doubt the star deserves a chance to prove his quality in Saturday’s 45th running of the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby with Irad Ortiz Jr. again in the saddle.

Chances are, Owen Almighty again will need to be at the top of his game to earn the victory. He will face the 1-2 Chad Brown-trained duo of Chancer McPatrick, a two-time Grade 1 winner as a 2-year-old, and Hill Road, who finished third last fall at Del Mar in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

And, for good measure, he again will face Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett’s Florida-bred colt Naughty Rascal, who briefly threatened the Sam F. Davis top two on the turn for home before dropping back to sixth, as well as three others.

Lynch believes Owen Almighty is up for the challenge.

“He is coming out of his last race as good as we could have hoped, and he has trained on well since that race,” said Lynch, who won the then-Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and Sam F. Davis (then G3) in 2022 with Classic Causeway. “So we’re excited about bringing him back to Tampa to give him another try.”

Although Cox elected to give John Hancock more time before his next start, Lynch is confident Owen Almighty can handle the demands of another high-level race four weeks after the Sam F. Davis.

“There’s always a concern when a horse runs as hard as he did, but he may have had more race experience (than John Hancock) to absorb it a little better,” said Lynch, who plans to send Owen Almighty from his Palm Meadows Training Center base in Boynton Beach to Oldsmar the morning of the race. “He’s given us every sort of vibe to say, ‘let’s have another go.’ ”

The Tampa Bay Derby awards 50 points to the winner on the road to Kentucky Derby 2025. The 1 1/16-mile event on the Oldsmar main track is one of five stakes races on a 12-race card beginning at noon EST Saturday.

Although the winner of the Tampa Bay Derby will be virtually assured of having enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, Lynch and Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing owner Travis Boersma have elected to remove Owen Almighty from the Kentucky Derby trail, looking to focus on seven-furlong and one-mile stakes after Saturday.

“He’s probably got some distance limitations,” Lynch said, referring to the Kentucky Derby’s 1 1/14-mile distance, “and there are some very good (stakes) races for 3-year-olds over the summer at those distances.”

Right now, Lynch is craving Saturday’s opportunity to bring Owen Almighty home as a graded-stakes winner. His two victories as a 2-year-old came in his career debut in a maiden special weight at Churchill Downs and the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes at Ellis Park. He finished second to Jonathan’s Way in his third start, the Iroquois (G3) on Sept. 14 at Churchill.

“We’d not trade spots with anyone. He deserves another chance to win a race like this, and the Tampa Bay Derby is a prestigious race at a great little track,” Lynch said.

“He has run well over that track, but he’s the sort of horse who wherever you’re going to take him, he’s going to show up. He’s not in love with one racetrack. He’s just a racehorse.”

Post	Silks	Horse / Sire	Rating	Trainer / Jockey	Last start	Morn. line
1		Owen Almighty Speightstown	6.22	Brian Lynch Irad Ortiz Jr.	2nd, 2025 Sam F. Davis	5-1
Last race		2nd, 2025 Sam F. Davis
2		Chancer McPatrick McKinzie	7.32	Chad Brown Flavien Prat	6th, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile G1	8-5
Last race		6th, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile G1
3		Hill Road Quality Road	6.80	Chad Brown Tyler Gaffalione	3rd, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile G1	4-1
Last race		3rd, 2024 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile G1
4		Brodeur Nyquist	6.27	Mark Casse José Ortiz	1st, OP, alw OC, 1/26/25 R9	15-1
Last race		1st, OP, alw OC, 1/26/25 R9
5		Filoso City of Light	6.24	Chad Summers Dylan Davis	6th, 2024 Kentucky Jockey Club G2	15-1
Last race		6th, 2024 Kentucky Jockey Club G2
6		Naughty Rascal Rogueish	6.12	Gerald Bennett Samy Camacho	6th, 2025 Sam F. Davis	20-1
Last race		6th, 2025 Sam F. Davis
7		Patch Adams Into Mischief	6.15	Brad Cox Florent Géroux	4th, 2025 Southwest G3	2-1
Last race		4th, 2025 Southwest G3