Alabama Slammer is a horse for the Tampa turf course

In the ‘horses for courses’ column, add Alabama Slammer, a son of Handsome Mike who won at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday and raised his record at the Oldsmar track to 3-2-0 in five tries. All told, the 4-year-old gelding sports a record of 4-3-0 in nine starts.

David Cardoso was aboard Alabama Slammer for the first time and he took the gelding wire-to-wire in the $31,000 allowance test, winning by nearly three lengths in 1:43.50 for the mile and one-sixteenth on the turf. He received an Equibase ‘E’ speed figure of 92, best of his career, and continued a streak in which his “E’ rating has risen over his previous races in every outing but one.

The gelding bred by Dr. Ross Russell paid $6.00 and collected a check for $18,900, increasing his total to $77,723.