Friday, April 29, 2011
BY DON JENSEN
Times Correspondent
OLDSMAR - When Jamie Ness isnâ?™t working with thoroughbreds, he welcomes a game of H-O-R-S-E.
An avid basketball fan, Ness will have to hold off a surging Gerald Bennett to win his fifth consecutive training title at Tampa Bay Downs. After leading comfortably all season, Nessâ?™ win advantage over Bennett has been sliced to 55-54 with five racing days remaining in the trackâ?™s 85th season. The meet ends May 8.
â?œCompetition only makes you better and itâ?™s always kind of fun,â?? Ness said. â?œSo if thereâ?™s somebody to compete with for leading trainer, thatâ?™s only going to make me better.â??
Ness, 36, is in a different position than last year, when he rallied from a double-digit deficit to tie Kathleen Oâ?™Connell on the final day. Ness has been the one to catch despite a limited stable. â?œA lot of my good horses went to Oaklawn (Park in Hot Springs, Ark.),â?? Ness said. â?œWeâ?™re running here about 60-percent strength. Our 60 percent is still pretty good.â??
Midwest Thoroughbreds, Nessâ?™ major client, will repeat as the Downs leading owner.
Ness, a native of Huron, S.D., is the only conditioner to capture a stakes at every Downs meet since 2006-07. He won two this year with See I A in the $60,000 Pelican and a record-setting Sneaking Uponyou in the $75,000 Sprint on Florida Cup Day. One of two horses owned by Ness, Sneaking Uponyou eclipsed the trackâ?™s oldest sprint mark with a 6-furlong clocking of 1 minute, 8.69 seconds. It bettered the previous mark of 1:09 set by Bootleggerâ?™s Pet in 1974, giving Ness his 10th lifetime stakes win at the Downs.
In March, Ness married former Downs stakes coordinator Mandy McKeever at Lake Tahoe, Nev. They purchased a home in Odessa. â?œI finally have a place to hang my hat,â?? Ness said. â?œMandy has two teen-aged daughters, and school becomes a priority for us. (The Downs) is really home now.â??
Ness will branch out again this summer with 90 stalls at Delaware Park in Wilmington, Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., and Thistledown in North Randall, Ohio. Next season, Ness plans to have a stronger presence at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, where he had seven victories and 16 top-three finishes from 19 starts this year.
â?œI donâ?™t come into a meet gung ho that I want to be leading trainer,â?? Ness said. â?œWe just like to win races and compete at a high percentage. If we donâ?™t win, we always like to be in the money.â??
Bennett, 67, is having his best Downs season. In the past six meets, he averaged 22 victories, 16 last year. Bennett, whose Crimson Knight ran second to Watch Me Go in the Tampa Bay Derby, is the nationâ?™s 20th all-time win leader with 3,186.
NO JOCKEY YET. Churchill Downs reported Friday that no rider has been confirmed for Watch Me Go in the May 7 Kentucky Derby. The Louisville, Ky., track originally announced Luis Garcia had the mount.
