Florida Focus

Compiled by Brock Sheridan

began to give chase in third. Zydeceaux finished the half-mile in :46.20 while still a length in front of Champions Dream to his outside as Loco Abarrio started to surrender on the rail.

A determined Zydeceaux fought off several challenges from 7-5 favorite Champions Dream in a stretch-long battle to win the $125,000 Pasco at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 14. A field of six 3-year-olds went seven furlongs in the Pasco for a purse of $50,000 plus a $50,000 Florida-bred win supplement and a $25,000 Florida Sire Stakes win supplement. Zydeceaux earned

Turning for home, jockey Sammy Camacho dropped Champions Dream to the inside of Zydeceaux and those two began their stretch-long battle. Champions Dream tried to draw even at the eighth-pole but Zydeceaux found more and spurted away before Champions Dream made another run at the leader approaching the sixteenth-mile marker. Twice more inside the last 100 yards, it appeared as if Champions Dream might threaten, but Zydeceaux continued to fight off his rival and eventually finished with a neck margin under the wire in 1:24.64 on the fast track.

Champions Dream was nearly nine lengths ahead of thirdplace finishing Florida-bred Shaq Diesel with Florida-breds Handsome Playboy and Loco Abarrio fourth and fifth respectively. Armstrong was sixth.

“He’s a very, very fast horse,” trainer Ramon Minguet said of Zydeceaux.

“I believed in my horse. I knew he was getting good and that he was going to try hard,” the 21-year-old Marin said. “He was strong from the beginning and I knew I had a lot of horse in my hands. When I asked him [at the top of the stretch], I knew he was going to roll.” the two supplements, both presented by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.

Zydeceaux paid $21.40.

Zydeceaux, who was the longest shot in the field at 9-1, broke best of all from post six with jockey Samuel Marin aboard and led the field out of the chute and onto the main track where he was joined to his inside by Loco Abarrio. Those two had a length-anda-half lead on Shaq Diesel in third down the backstretch where they sped through a quarter-mile in :22.75.

Loco Abarrio stuck a head in front before they reached the half-mile marker but Zydeceaux fought back and began to separate from his rival going around the turn as Champions Dream

Despite the long odds, it was the second consecutive victory for Zydeceaux, who had won a $25,000 optional claiming starter allowance at Gulfstream going seven furlongs in his previous start on Dec. 24. He has now won three with one second and one third from five career starts and the $105,000 payday pushed his career bankroll to $153,540.

Zydeceaux was impressive from the start of his career as he broke his maiden by nine lengths going five-and-a-half furlongs at Gulfstream in August. He was then second in a $25,000 optional claiming starter allowance won by Shaq Diesel in October before finishing third in an allowance race won by Carabinero at Gulfstream on Dec. 4.

Zydeceaux is owned by Stud Carmen Cristina LLC and was bred by Dee Ellen Cook and Suzette Parker. The bay gelding is by Stonehedge Farm South stallion Cajun Breeze out of Wink At The Boys, by Graeme Hall.

He was purchased by Jose Carrillo Pujol at the 2021 Ocala Breeders’ Sales October Sale where he was consigned by Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck’s Summerfield Sales, LLC.

Zydeceaux is the first stakes winner for Wink At The Boys, whose four starters are all winners. She also has a 2-year-old full-sister to Zydeceaux in Cajun Calypso. n

Journeyman Stud announced Jan. 10 the first reported foal for stallion Uncle Chuck. Bred in Florida by Daniel Pita, the filly is the first foal out of the unraced Mineshaft mare, Oceana and was born on Jan. 4.

“We’re excited to see the first of the Uncle Chuck babies this year. If his foals all look like this filly, we’re golden,” Journeyman Stud’s Brent Fernung said. “Uncle Chuck bred 133 mares in 2022.

Lightening Larry shot out of post one with jockey Jose Morelos aboard for the first time and the new team proved successful with a dominant two-and-a-half-length victory in the $75,000 Sunshine Spr int at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 14. The six-furlong Sunshine Sprint featured a field of seven Florida-breds, 4-yearsold and older.

It was the first victory in four starts for the Jorge Delgado trainee, who last won on the Preakness undercard when taking the Grade 3 Chick Lang at six furlongs on May 21.

“To me, he’s always been the same. I never lost any hope with him,” Delgado said. “He’s a great horse. Sometimes, they get bad trips. Sometimes, everything goes their way. He is a great horse and he showed it today.

That not only made him the runaway leader in Florida by number of mares bred, but Uncle Chuck also led all stallions in the United States that stood outside of Kentucky in the same category.”

Uncle Chuck entered stud in 2022 at Journeyman Stud.

Sired by champion 2-year-old and leading sire Uncle Mo, Uncle Chuck is out of the brilliantly fast Forest Music, a Grade 2-winning daughter of Unbridled’s Song.

As good as Forest Music was on the racetrack, she has proven to be an even better producer as she is also the dam of outstanding sire, Maclean’s Music, and graded stakes-winners Kentuckian and Electr ic Forest.

A tremendously talented racehorse, Uncle Chuck broke his maiden as a 3-year-old in his first start, running a mile in 1:36.78 while blowing away his competition by seven lengths. Returning three weeks later, Uncle Chuck soundly defeated graded-winner Thousand Words by four lengths in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby, running the mile-and-an-eighth in 1:47.65, just .60 of a second off Shared Belief’s track record. In his final start in the Travers (G1) a month later, Uncle Chuck went off as the second choice to Tiz the Law but finished off the board when injured in the race and subsequently retired.

“We’ve had a lot of success with royally-bred, lightly-raced horses in the past like Wildcat Heir and Khozan,” Fernung said. “Uncle Chuck is in that mold.”

Uncle Chuck stands for $6,500 as the property of a syndicate.

--Journeyman Stud Press Release n

Gatsby, in post two, broke a step faster than Lightening Larry to start the Sunshine Sprint but Morelos had his 5-year-old mount in front by a length in just a few strides. Lightening Larry continued with his length advantage down the backstretch while comfortably clicking off the first two furlongs in :22.46 as Boca Boy, Unsociable and Gatsby gave pursuit in a joint second.

Lightening Larry raced around the far turn with the same onelength margin on his three foes while completing the half-mile in :46.85, but Gatsby was the only one to keep up as they began coming out of the turn. Cajun’s Magic suddenly made an appearance from last on the far outside and Gatsby finally surrendered on the rail as Lightening Larry began to race away from the competition.