TAMPA BAY, Florida, CMC:
KIRK ZIADIE, the son of top Florida-based Jamaican trainer Ralph Ziadie, landed a major stakes race among four winners at Tampa Bay Downs this past weekend.
Ziadie's Kaufy Mate stunned his field to win the US$100,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes over a mile and sixteenth on Saturday at odds of 34-1 under jockey Ramsey Zimmerman.
He had won twice on Friday and completed his four-win weekend with a victory on Sunday.
Jamaican jockey Winston Thompson also had a winning weekend, landing two races over the period.
In the Sam Davis, the former claimer Kaufy Mate scored his first stakes win -- a length victory over the hot 2-5 favourite The Cliff's Edge and will now take aim at next month's Tampa Bay Derby. "He broke sharp today and ran big. I'm just so pleased with this race.
We're Tampa Bay Derby bound," Ziadie told reporters after his three-year-old colt's fine win.
Ziadie had been assistant to his father Ralph, who is one of Calder's top trainers.
"I am very, very proud of him," Ralph Ziadie said.
"You can see the love he has for horses. He's a natural and I think he'll be a better trainer than I am."
Ziadie had two winners on Friday - Low Byars (3-2) by 12-3/4 lengths in the first race, and Tune Up the Band in the 10th, both ridden by Zimmerman.
On Sunday, his win came from Pitch a Penny in the 10th and he is lying seventh in the trainers' standings with 12 winners and horses' earnings of US$158,864, the third highest among all trainers at Tampa Bay so far this season.
Thompson climbed to 12th in the jockeys' standings with 15 winners after his weekend triumphs.
He won Saturday's ninth race aboard Scrubs (7-1) by three-quarters of a length, and pushed Valiant Gal to a fighting win by a length at odds of 11-1.
TAMPA BAY DOWNS Trainers' standings
Trainers Wins Stakes
1. Layne Giliforte 16 US$168,438
2. Ronald Allen, Sr. 15 $237,339
3. Thomas Agosti 14 $100,038
4. Barbara McBride 14 $107,201
5. Lynne Scace 13 $142,075
6. Anthony Pecoraro 13 $98,078
7. Kirk Ziadie 12 $158,864
8. Earl Begley, Jr. 11 $91,197
9. Kathleen O'Connell 10 $102,897
9. Joe Woodard 10 $81,182
