Tuning Up at Tampa Bay Downs

Tampa Bay Downs has long been known as the only Thoroughbred racetrack on the Gulf Coast and has had a rather colorful history. It features a one mile dirt oval and a seven furlong turf course. The track first opened in 1926 under the name Tampa Downs. In 1943, the United States Army took over the track and used it as a training facility. Three years later, the track was renamed Sunshine Park and had added an electric starting gate, photo finish, and electric tote board. The track was renamed again in 1965 and became known as Florida Downs, but fifteen years later, the track reverted back to its original name of Tampa Downs. The track tried running Arabian horse races, and that program lasted twenty years before being shut down in 2003. U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Julie Krone earned her first career victory in Tampa Bay on February 12, 1981. But enough trivia. Let’s move on to the racing.

Today the track is known as Tampa Bay Downs, the name assumed in 1986 when present owner Stella F. Thayer took over the track. With Thayer at the reins, Tampa Bay Downs’ reputation grew rapidly. Though Tampa Bay Downs only features 5 graded stakes races, two of those races have become official prep races for the Kentucky Derby.

The first of the two races is the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes. It is contested at a mile and a sixteenth, and, this year, it will be run on February 4, 2012. The race was inaugurated in 1981, but the speed and winning margin records were both set within the last eleven years. Fierce Wind set the speed record in 2008, stopping the clock at 1:44.13. In 1999, San Gennaro set the winning margin record, rolling across the wire 6 ¾ lengths in front of his nearest rival. As of the 2011 running of the race, no horse has completed the Sam F. Davis/Kentucky Derby double, but Bluegrass Cat finished 2nd to Barbaro in the 2006 Kentucky Derby after winning the Sam F. Davis Stakes. The Storm Cat colt is the only Sam F. Davis winner to even hit the board of the premier race for 3-year olds.

The G2 Tampa Bay Derby is typically seen as the more important of the two races. Though the Sam F. Davis is considered a Kentucky Derby prep race, its primary use is as a prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby. The Derby was also inaugurated in 1981 and is run at 1 1/16 mile. It will be run on March 10, 2012 for this upcoming year’s edition. Street Sense set the speed record in 2007, completing the mile and a sixteenth race in 1:43.11. The time set a new stakes and track record for the distance. The Street Cry colt went on to win the Kentucky Derby and is the only colt to complete the Tampa Bay/Kentucky Derby double. Aside from Street Sense, Reinvested (3rd, 1982) and Musket Man (3rd, 2009) are the only other Tampa Bay Derby winners to even hit the board in the Kentucky Derby. No trainer has won the race more than once, but owner Eric Fein (2008 and 2009) and jockeys Richard Migliore (2000 and 2001) and Eibar Coa (2003 and 2008) have all won the race twice.

Tampa Bay Downs will also host four additional stakes races restricted to three-year olds. The Pasco Stakes, a 7 furlong sprint with a purse of $100,000, will be run on January 14, 2012. In 2010, Uptowncharlybrown used the race as a prep for the G3 Sam F. Davis Stakes, in which he finished 3rd. The Limehouse colt went on to run 5th in the Tampa Bay Derby and 3rd in the Lexington Stakes but did not make it to the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby. The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore, a 7 furlong sprint with a purse of $75,000, will be run on April 7, 2012. Turf races have become legitimate prep options for the Kentucky Derby is recent years, and Tampa Bay Downs will run two such races restricted to three-year olds during this winter’s meet. The Turf Dash at 5 furlongs, worth $75,000, will be run on February 18, 2012; and the Dayton Andrews Dodge Sophomore Turf at a mile and a sixteenth, worth $75,000, will be run on April 7, 2012. Unfortunately, winning none of these four races would really help a horse get to the Kentucky Derby since none of them are graded. Kentucky Derby starters are determined by the amount of graded stakes earnings accumulated by all eligible 3-year old colts, geldings, and fillies nominated to the Triple Crown.