Third 2026 winner for Neolithic and first stakes-placed runner

In the year that just ended, Neolithic racked up 53 winners from 90 starters, an average of 4.4 per month. He’s almost a cinch to beat that average for January, getting winner No. 3 for this month – Cademan – on Friday at Tampa Bay Downs. It also marked the first breeders’ award of 2026 for Joe and Helen Barbazon.

The next day, Neolithic enjoyed his first stakes-placed runner of 2026, the promising 3-year-old Ridgie missing second by a neck in the $125,000 Gasparilla Stakes, also at Tampa.

In his fourth start, with Samy Camacho in the irons in a $32,000 maiden claimer, Cademan got away in good early position in the race at 6 1/2 furlongs, went wide on the turn, then ran down 9/2 One Last Bullet in the final sixteenth to win by a length in 1:17.72. The 3-year-old colt paid $8.80 and earned a check for $16,700.

In the Gasparilla, Ridgie, who was riding a 3-race win streak, was away sixth, then closed a big gap late, but missed second on the last jump. The race at seven furlongs went in 1:23.58 and Ridgie’s check for $12,500 boosted her bank account to $89,000.