Ness Aiming for Ninth Straight Tampa Title

Blood-Horse

With five victories from nine starters since April 25, Jamie Ness entered Tampa Bay Downs’ May 3 card on one of those mini-hot streaks that have propelled him to the top of the track’s trainer standings eight years in a row.

With 46 victories at the Oldsmar, Fla. track’s current meet, the 40-year-old Ness leads rivals Gerald Bennett (43) and Kathleen O’Connell (39) with only the meeting-ending June 30 card remaining. That’s a long wait for any of the three to be crowned, but it would be worth it for Ness, who has evolved into the role of a “junior” elder statesman since winning his first Oldsmar title with 38 victories in 2006-2007.

“I have been training (at Tampa Bay Downs) quite a while, but it seems like yesterday that I got there for the first time,” Ness said Sunday morning from his current base at Delaware Park. “We live a gypsy lifestyle and you’re always excited to go north when Tampa ends, but you’re just as excited to get back in the winter. That’s the lifestyle we lead.”

Ness is bidding to become the first trainer in the 89-year history Tampa Bay Downs to win nine track titles. The late Don Rice won eight, which were spread out from 1994-1995 to 2004-2005. Ness holds the single-season track record of 79 victories, set three years ago.

Ness tied for the top spot twice: with O’Connell in 2009-2010 and with Bennett in 2010-2011. O’Connell also won the 1998-1999 crown. She leads the track’s earnings list with more than $647,000.

Since Feb. 27, Ness has won with 28 of 68 starters, a staggering 41.2% strike rate. His overall record shows the 46 victories, 22 seconds, and 18 thirds from 147 starters.

“At Tampa, it is usually toward the middle of the meeting when we get going, after we claim a few horses and run them back,” said Ness, who has left his wife, Mandy, in charge in Florida while he operates in the Mid-Atlantic region.

His most productive claim of the Tampa Bay Downs meeting was Brother Pat, a 6-year-old gelding who leads the meeting with five victories. The first came on Nov. 29 on the turf, when Ness claimed the son of Any Given Saturday out of a Tiznow mare for $16,000.

Brother Pat’s next start came Jan. 7, a turf allowance in which he was eligible to be claimed for $32,000. Brother Pat finished a determined third, at which point Ness decided to remove the for-sale sign and focus on the track’s Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series, consisting of four races at progressively longer distances.

Brother Pat won all four races (the last two were moved to the dirt because of rain) and never trailed at any point of call in any of the races.

Ness currently is second in the standings at Pimlico Race Course with 10 victories. He also plans to run smaller strings at Monmouth Park in New Jersey and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania when those meets open soon, before returning to Laurel Park in Maryland in the fall.

The Odessa, Fla. resident, who led all trainers in North America in 2012 with 395 victories, has 2,248 career triumphs and 71 this year. He is currently fifth across the continent.

He started 768 horses last year, his lowest total since 2008, and is on pace for about the same figure this year.

In recent years, Ness had trained exclusively for the Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc., operation of Rich and Karen Papiese. This season, while the majority of his starters have been Midwest horses, he has also trained for his own Jagger Inc., operation; Arindel; and a handful of others owners.

The overall business strategy may change, but Ness has the same single-minded approach to winning races that involves attention to detail, extensive race-watching and a dedication to each horse’s welfare.

“It’s hard to get on top, but it’s even harder to stay there,” said Ness, who imparts his insight to the track’s two-time leading jockey, Antonio Gallardo, who is 36-for-98 with Ness this meeting. “Antonio has a great desire to win and he’s hungry, but he has to remember there is another kid coming up the road somewhere who wants to be where he’s at.

“Things just aren’t going to fall in place. You have to work for it.”

Bennett will race this summer primarily at Monmouth and Presque Isle. O’Connell will be based at Monmouth and Gulfstream Park West in South Florida.