A little over a month after posting the first black-type win of her career with a furious late rally in the Endeavour Stakes (G3T), CHP Racing's Saffron Moon is back at Tampa Bay Downs for more graded accolades in the March 8 $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T).
Saffron Moon is one of three entries for trainer Chad Brown, who winters his elite string at Payson Park Training Center in Indiantown, Fla. Brown will also saddle the stakes-winning French-bred mare Venencia in the Hillsborough, who was third to her stablemate in the Feb. 1 Endeavour, as well as the regally bred Spaliday, winner of the Sands Point Stakes (G2T) Oct. 12 at Aqueduct Racetrack in her latest outing.
"It's an easy ship (from her Payson Park Training Center base in Indiantown)," Brown said after Saffron Moon's 2 1/4-length win in the Endeavour. "And (Saffron Moon) seems to like Tampa. She seems to be pretty sound and healthy, so hopefully this is the start of a productive campaign."
Lightly raced as a 6-year-old with only 10 starts, Saffron Moon made the most of her 2025 debut, storming home in stakes-record time in the Endeavour under Flavien Prat. The 2024 Eclipse Award-winning jockey retains the mount on the daughter of Malibu Moon for Saturday's 1 1/8-mile contest.
"She (Saffron Moon) has always had plenty of ability, but she's had some interruptions in her career and we haven't been able to race her as much as we would have liked," Brown said. "(Her owners, Phil and Christine Hatfield) have been very patient with her. They love their horses, and they want to give her every chance they can to reach her potential."
Apart from her barn mates, two talented stakes fillies in their own right, Saffron Moon's biggest opposition comes from the barn of trainer Graham Motion. The veteran horsemen ships in last year's Hillsborough victress, Sparkle Blue, in addition to the intriguing South African group 1 winner Gimme a Nother.
Augustin Stable and Catherine Parke's Sparkle Blue, a half sister to 2010 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) heroine Shared Account, ran the performance of her career when defeating a top-class field in the 2024 Hillsborough. Following that victory, the 6-year-old Hard Spun mare found the winner's circle only once in five starts, finishing eleventh in Woodbine's Dance Smartly Stakes (G2T) Oct. 4 to end her season.
Jorge Ruiz reunites with Sparkle Blue in defense of her Hillsborough title. Drawing the rail post, one wonders if Ruiz and Sparkle Blue will attempt to repeat the gate-to-wire trip that landed them in the winner's circle from last year's race.
Gimme a Nother enters as the wildcard in the Hillsborough. Unraced since capturing two straight group 1 wins in her native country, the 5-year-old makes her North American debut off a series of works for Motion over the turf course at Palm Meadows Training Center.
Motion recently enjoyed success with another South African import, Beach Bomb in the March 1 The Very One Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park.
Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, March 8, 2025, Race 9Entries: Hillsborough S. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Sparkle Blue (KY) Jorge Ruiz 119 H. Graham Motion - 2 Avenue Niel (IRE) Lanfranco Dettori 119 Michael J. Trombetta - 3 She's Fire (KY) Israel O. Rodriguez 119 Kevin Rice - 4 Venencia (FR) Tyler Gaffalione 119 Chad C. Brown - 5 Victoria's Dancer (KY) Sonny Leon 119 Juan Carlos Avila - 6 Spaliday (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 123 Chad C. Brown - 7 Gimme a Nother (SAF) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 119 H. Graham Motion - 8 Saffron Moon (KY) Flavien Prat 119 Chad C. Brown - 9 Eternal Silence (KY) Joel Rosario 119 Christophe Clement - 10 Damaso (KY) Daniel Centeno 119 Kathleen O'Connell -
Nitrogen Headlines Florida Oaks
With her stablemate Vixen netting back-to-back stakes scores at Gulfstream, the Mark Casse-trained Nitrogen seeks to make Tampa Bay Downs her own when lining up against a field of 3-year-old fillies for the $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T).
D. J. Stable's Nitrogen exits a dramatic late-running triumph in the Jan. 4 Ginger Brew Stakes at Gulfstream in what was her first start since an excellent third-place showing in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).
Jose Ortiz, the Medaglia d'Oro filly rider in her last two starts, will pilot Nitrogen in her first test beyond a mile Saturday.
Notable fillies in the 1 1/16-mile turf affair include the Chad Brown-trained Opulent Restraint, winner of Aqueduct's Chelsey Flower Stakes in October, and undefeated Irish import Pretty Lavish, winner of a one-mile allowance here Feb. 8 for Graham Motion.
Tampa Bay Downs, Saturday, March 8, 2025, Race 10Entries: Florida Oaks S. (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 Smart Union (KY) Daniel Centeno 119 H. Graham Motion - 2 Brillante (FR) Samy Camacho 119 Chad C. Brown - 3 Deloraine (KY) Jesus Lopez Castanon 119 Eoin G. Harty - 4 Miss Rummikub (FR) Inoel Beato 119 Leandro Moreno-Barban - 5 Love You Anyway (KY) Rajiv Maragh 119 George R. Arnold II - 6 Lush Lips (GB) Tyler Gaffalione 119 Brendan P. Walsh - 7 Opulent Restraint (IRE) Flavien Prat 121 Chad C. Brown - 8 Smudge (KY) Dylan Davis 119 Mark E. Casse - 9 Nitrogen (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 121 Mark E. Casse - 10 Pretty Lavish (IRE) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 119 H. Graham Motion - 11 Celtic Motif (IRE) Lanfranco Dettori 119 Brendan P. Walsh - 12 Miavana (NY) Joel Rosario 119 Michael J. Maker -
