Was it an unruly drunk man who gambled away his bankroll? A confused golfer attempting to trace down an errant slice, maybe?
Neigh!
This time the intruder was of a decidedly reptilian origin.
As the seven-horse area was rounding the primary flip roughly 20 seconds into the sixth race on the cardboard — an $8,000 claiming race for older horses at a mile and 1/sixteenth on the grime, for those who’re retaining rating at house — an alligator from a lake on the race course infield determined to cross the observe.
In a clip of the motion, the cautious viewer would possibly be capable of discern the trailing horse, Mapache G, who went off at odds of 5/1, experiencing a direct encounter with the gator, whereas one other horse jumps over it. In spite of the scaly-hided impediment, Mapache G closed the hole and crossed the end line in second place, incomes $2,835 of the $14,000 purse. Shimmering Light, the favourite, took first place and $8,100.
The exacta paid $10 even.
Have heard of leaping the shark however not leaping the gator. A coach with horse within the race mentioned this darkish spot on the observe in Race 6 at @TampaBayDownsFL Feb 24 was an alligator. No point out in @Equibase chart although one jockey claimed foul (not towards the gator). pic.twitter.com/PJt5fdrbxR
— Ray Paulick (@raypaulick) February 25, 2023
“An alligator was on the observe on the beginning of the backstretch and should have induced off-camera interference with a few of the horses within the area,” notes the official chart of the race.
Regarding one of many contenders who got here in a distant fourth, the footnotes learn, “Papa Jimmy shied away from [the] alligator however was held firmly in place…by his rider headed across the first flip, stalked the chief on the surface up the backstretch, navigated the far flip from the three path and completed evenly.”
Jockey Manny Jimenez, who was using Papa Jimmy, informed the British information web site Mirror that he and his steed had “gained the race of life” by narrowly avoiding the reptile. Jimenez mentioned he needed to take a large path to keep away from probably deadly peril.
“By the time, I [saw] the gator we have been fairly shut to one another and his head was us within the path my horse is working,” Jimenez mentioned. “So I simply took my horse wider by the hind physique and the tail of the gator, and put him straight so he can see the gator. Horses are good sufficient that they know keep away from issues… I prayed to God, trusted my horse, and we made it to the opposite facet.”
The race was rife with wildlife, as a flock of unidentifiable snow-white birds apparently wished in on the motion as effectively, swooping over the observe on the identical time the gator crossed into the charging horses’ path.
One attendee did not even notice an alligator had made it onto the observe.
“I used to be questioning what was occurring through the working of this race,” the spectator posted on Twitter. “I identified that 8 was working extraordinarily vast.”
Tampa Bay Downs hosts the annual Tampa Bay Derby in March, when horses can earn factors in hopes of qualifying for the Kentucky Derby. The observe has hosted races since 1926.