Juan Arriagada, the owner and trainer of Valiant Virtue, has to be congratulated for the excellent job he did with the 5-year-old son of First Dude, who returned from a layoff of nearly 13 months to win the third race at Tampa Bay Downs yesterday in a virtual breeze.

    In his last race, Valiant Virtue had finished second at Tampa on Jan. 17 of last year, and hadn’t been seen since until yesterday’s race at 5 1/2 furlongs. The gelding bred by Edward R. Schuster showed five steady works leading up to his return, but nothing to suggest he would come back as strong as he did.

    In a move that certainly couldn’t hurt, Arriagada picked promising apprentice Madeline Rowland for the mount, meaning Valiant Virtue carried just 113 pounds, seven less than all his rivals. Rowland sent Valiant Virtue to the lead, and he passed the poles in :22.55, :46.08 and :58.69, never allowing the opposition to get close. At the wire, he was four lengths in front, clocked in 1:05.46, while earning a check of $9,050 for his owner/trainer.

  The victory boosted Valiant Virtue’s record to 3-4-4 in 20 starts, and his bank account to $77,440.