Never Explain ran his Tampa Bay Downs turf record to 3 for 3 and began his 6-year-old campaign with a solid victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes on Saturday.   Turf races of about 1 1/8 miles hit Never Explain’s sweet spot, but he had sufficient acceleration to capture the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay in his first start since Sept. 9. And in an era when value can be difficult to find, Never Explain paid a very generous $10.80 in a race in which he went off the third choice and easily could have been favored. All the early money came on Irish Aces, a 4-year-old facing older stakes foes for the first time. Irish Aces didn’t have a great trip, but neither did he kick into contention late, checking in fifth as the surprising favorite at 3-1.  Vincent Cheminaud gave Never Explain an excellent trip. Breaking from post 1, Cheminaud urged his mount out of the gate in order not to fall too far behind the leaders, winding up fifth along the rail into the first turn, racing behind Churchtown, who sat in the pocket as Winfromwithin led Candidate through a moderate opening quarter-mile of 23.38. Cheminaud had no intention of getting trapped on the fence, guiding his mount to the No. 2 path going down the backstretch and moving out even a bit farther around the turn.   :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Never Explain produces more of a steady, sustained run than push-button acceleration and requires a clean trip at a distance this short. Cheminaud had maneuvered himself into perfect position for such a move, stoking up Never Explain at the five-sixteenths pole and coming with a serious wide bid in upper stretch. At the eighth pole Never Explain collared Running Bee, who had stalked the pace and taken the lead at about the three-sixteenths, but could not fend off the challenger to his outside. Never Explain edged away in the final sixteenth to win by a half-length as Running Bee held clear late-running Siege of Boston to finish second by a nose. Never Explain was timed in 1:40.03 over a firm course.  Shug McGaughey trains Never Explain for Donald Adams’ Courtlandt Farms, and McGaughey’s patient approach with this son of Street Sense and the Forestry mare Black Oak has paid dividends. Never Explain didn’t make his stakes debut until his 15th start, and that came in May of his 5-year-old season last year. He won that race, the Grade 3 Dinner Party at Pimlico, following back-to-back Tampa allowance race wins, before Never Explain’s campaign ended with a tough trip in the Arlington Million and an unsuccessful try over the funky course at Kentucky Downs in September.   McGaughey had him ready for the Tampa Bay, Cheminaud put his mount in position to score, and Never Explain in the end needed no excuses.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.