Flying finish gets Bucchero his first 3-year-old winner

Add Bad Water to the rapidly growing list from Bucchero’s first crop who have come out running, although the gelding trained by Ocala’s Robert Smith did it a little differently than the 14 winners before him. As opposed to most of the stallion’s 2022 successes who have gone wire-to-wire or sat close to the lead in the early going, Bad Water was about eight lengths behind coming to the turn in the five-furlong race at Tampa Bay Downs.

The gelding showed just three forgettable works on his tab leading up to yesterday’s debut, two of them at Smith’s Wesfield Farm, yet Bad Water was bet down to 5/2. With Marcos Meneses up, he was off sixth in the two path, and remained there down the backstretch as the pacesetters widened the gap between them through fractions of :21.74 and :45.94. But Meneses switched into overdrive on the turn and his mount gobbled up the leaders, aided by his rider saving tons of ground by wrangling him to the rail. From there, Bad Water battled down the lane against the other two first-timers in the race, and prevailed by a neck in a three-horse photo.

Bucchero’s first 3-year-old winner, who was bred by Dr. Ross Russell, paid an even $7 after getting the five-eighths in :58.83, and earned a check for $10,300.