Tampa Bay Downs History

History

1926 - The track opens for its inaugural meeting under the name of Tampa Downs. The season lasts 39 days and is headed by Ohio investor Harvey Myers and Kentucky Colonel Matt J. Winn, famed promoter of the Kentucky Derby. Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, Gene Sarazen and John Ringling help inaugurate the opening on Feb. 18. Torcher wins the $4,450 “Florida Derby,” which is actually a precursor to the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah Park.

1927- Tampa Downs reopens, but is forced to close after nine days of a scheduled 37-day meeting due to economic reasons. 1932 - Lexington (Ky.) Herald editor-publisher Desha Breckinridge and Major Thomas McDowell of Lexington oversee repairs and restoration of the facility, but conflicts cause the cancellation of the meeting.

1934 - The Tampa Turf and Field Club is formed, headed by Hal Thompson. The track reopens as Tampa Downs. Inadequate handles during the heart of the Great Depression force the meeting to close after only six days. 1943 - As World War II rages on, the U.S. Army constructs barracks and turns the track into a jungle warfare training center.

1946 - Sunshine Park Racing Association is formed and provides 650 stalls. A 1947 season is approved by referendum. New Yorker Justin O’Connor buys the track but dies just two days before opening. 1947 - Frank Hobbs buys the track from the O’Connor family. The modern era begins as Sunshine Park runs its inaugural meeting. The first official tote board is in operation, an electric starting gate is introduced and a photo finish camera is installed. 1948 - A horsemen’s boycott is averted by increasing the daily purse distribution by $500. Following the 1948 meeting, the Florida Racing Commission denies a request from Sunshine Park’s management to run at night.

1950 - Legendary sportswriters including Grantland Rice, Red Smith, Fred Russell and Arthur Daley are regulars at the track as they travel south to cover baseball spring training games. Rice coins the phase “Santa Anita of the South” in his columns to describe the racetrack. John W. Kane of Wilmington, Del., wins control of the track following a stockholders’ squabble. A Quarter Horse meet runs for three weeks in February.

1951 - A record crowd of 6,060 greets the return of Thoroughbred competition on Opening Day. 1953 - A dozen barns burn but are quickly replaced. The Florida Legislature passes a special bill allowing the track to keep 15% of the takeout and to pay a $4,000 daily fee instead. The track begins to show a profit for the first time and new Clubhouse construction begins at a cost of $300,000. 1954 - The new Clubhouse opens. Four new 50-stall concrete barns are constructed to meet demand from horsemen, increasing stable capacity to 900 horses. The track surface is rebuilt, improving drainage and drawing raves from trainers and jockeys. 1955 - Control of the track is passed to a syndicate headed by Frederick Ballon, director of Yonkers Raceway; Richard West of Rhode Island; and Frank Hobbs, a Tampa attorney.

History

1956 - A $1,000 minimum purse is instituted as the track celebrates its 10th season since reopening as Sunshine Park. All 900 stalls on the back side are occupied.

1957 - President Frank Hobbs creates the Florida Breeders’ Futurity and is voted Florida’s Man of the Year. Champion filly Indian Maid wins the first Futurity.

1958 - Benell captures the second running of the Florida Breeders’ Futurity.

1959 - Top owners Sanford Stud, Llangolen Farm, Gene Mori and Fred Hooper send strings to race at Sunshine Park.

1964 - A syndicated TV show called “Let’s Go to the Races” debuts in numerous major markets, using already-run races from Sunshine Park to award prizes and money to game-card holders. Track restaurants are restyled and redecorated, and an informal fashion show produced by Priscilla Parker is held each Thursday before the first race.

1965 - The franchise is acquired by a group of Tampa sportsmen headed by Chester Ferguson.

1966 - The track is renamed Florida Downs and Turf Club. Purses total $566,060. The track hosts its first sale of Thoroughbreds.

1968 - The double quinella wager is introduced, requiring bettors to pick the first two finishers in either order in the last two races. In September of 1968, a spectacular fire destroys the Grandstand facility, sparing only the Clubhouse building. 1969 - A new $800,000 Grandstand with the capacity for 6,000 people replaces the one ravaged by fire. The new building debuts with the season opener on January 17.

1972 - Tampa industrialist Sam F. Davis takes the reins of Florida Downs. The minimum purse is raised to $1,500 in an effort to lure higher-class horses from Northern tracks. The track goes into the black and season handle totals a record $11 million.

1973 - Eastern Airlines supports a series of races.

1974 - Season attendance surpasses 400,000 for the first time.

1976 - A Quarter Horse meeting is curtailed after losses of almost $500,000.

1977 - Trainer E.T. Clark wins with nine consecutive starters. After his next entrant finishes third, his next two starters win.

History

1978 - The Florida Senate squashes a proposal to convert summer Quarter Horse racing dates to Greyhound racing. 1979 - An average attendance record of 4,414 is established. 1980 - Total handle reaches $29 million. Sam F. Davis retires as President at age 73. In a switch of corporations, the track is renamed Tampa Bay Downs. On March 15, Richard DePass becomes the first jockey in history to go 7-for-7 on a single card. 1981 - Paristo wins the inaugural running of the $50,000-added Budweiser Tampa Bay Derby. He would go on to finish third in the Preakness. Apprentice jockey Julie Krone earns her first career victory aboard Lord Farkle on Feb. 12 for trainer Les St. Leon, and subsequently becomes the most successful female jockey in history with 3,704 victories and a member of the sport’s Hall of Fame.

1982 - The second Budweiser Tampa Bay Derby is won by Reinvested, a Florida-bred owned by Harbor View Farm who goes on to finish third in the Kentucky Derby and to win the Grade II Super Derby at Louisiana Downs.

1983 - Arabian-bred racing is introduced, making Tampa Bay Downs the first track to hold a regular program for the breed. Morganmorganmorgan wins the Budweiser Tampa Bay Derby. 1984 - The track adds a seven-furlong chute. In a huge upset, 88-1 shot Bold Southerner edges Rexson’s Hope in the Tampa Bay Derby under jockey Wayne Crews. 1985 - Regal remark wins the Tampa Bay Derby for owner Ernie Samuel's Canadian-based Sam-Son Farm, winner of 10 Sovereign Awards as Canada's Outstanding Breeder and 12 Sovereign Awards as Canada's Outstanding Owner. Richard Grunder joins Tampa Bay Downs as track announcer. Mary Hodge wins the training title by sending out 23 winners. 1986 - A new dirt track is installed prior to the start of the 1985-1986 meeting at a cost of $250,000. The old base and cushion are replaced and the track is crowned and banked to provide better drainage and give horses a safer racing surface. Bob Clark is named Racing Secretary, replacing Warren Wolf. Hall of Fame jockey Bill Hartack, who rode here briefly as an apprentice when the track was known as Sunshine Park, is named as a steward. My Prince Charming, owned by the Aronow Stable operation of speedboat racer Don Aronow, wins the Tampa Bay Derby.

1987 - Stella F. Thayer and her brother, Howell Ferguson, take full control of Tampa Bay Downs with a $16.2-million bid at auction a month before the start of the meeting. Tampa Bay Downs controller Lorraine M. King is named General Manager, completing what is believed to be the first instance of a wagering facility with separate female ownership and management. Mike Manganello, who won the 1970 Kentucky Derby on Dust Commander and won six Tampa Bay Downs jockey titles, rides career winner No. 2,500 on Siberian Gold. The first Sunday card in the history of Tampa Bay Downs is conducted on Dec. 7, 1986, drawing a crowd of 5,893. Ronnie Allen, Jr., wins the second of his four track riding crowns with 76 victories. Phantom Jet, trained by Phil Gleaves, becomes the first horse to win the Sam F. Davis Stakes and the Tampa Bay Derby.

History

1988 - Ronnie Allen, Jr., becomes the first jockey in track history to surpass 100 victories in a meeting, winning his third title in four seasons with 102 winners. In one of the most memorable renewals of the Tampa Bay Derby, Cefis rallies from 25 lengths off the pace to win for legendary trainer Woodford Cefis “Woody” Stephens. Queen Alexandra wins her second consecutive running of the Wayward Lass Stakes. Storm Predictions, owned by Three G Stables and trained by Luis Olivares, uses a victory in the Challenger Stakes as a 2-year- old at the outset of the meeting to build a foundation for his Tampa Bay Derby triumph.

1989 - Inter-track wagering debuts in Florida, and Tampa Bay Downs remains open year-round as a simulcast facility. Track owner Stella F. Thayer is installed as the first woman president of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce in the group’s 103-year history. The winner of the Florida Oaks, She’s Scrumptious, pays $169.20 to win. Gene, a 5-year-old Florida-bred purchased the previous year by horseman Gary Patrick for $150, wins two starter allowance races at the start of the 1988-1989 meeting to give him 16 victories for 1988, earning the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association Claiming Horse of the Year Award. Adored by Oldsmar fans, he is nicknamed “ Gene the Racing Machine” and wins his first two starts in 1989. The Sports Gallery opens and the Clubhouse Turn Restaurant is enlarged and renovated. Minors are officially allowed anywhere on track grounds except in the Sports Gallery and wagering lines.

1990 - The $1-million Tampa Premier Bonus is instituted to reward the connections of any horse winning the Challenger Stakes for 2-year-olds, the Tampa Bay Derby, the Tampa Premier Stakes (on closing day, April 8) and the Kentucky Derby. Jockey Ken Blackstun marries assistant publicity director Juli Youngren in a winner’s-circle ceremony on March 10; Blackstun wins that day’s sixth race on Easter Hawk. Former Oakland Raiders and Buffalo Bills head coach John Rauch, who coached Oakland in its Super Bowl II loss against Green Bay, is employed as a security guard. Ricardo Lopez wins the second of his three consecutive jockey titles. 1991 - A new inner rail is installed, and a new Grandstand dining area called the Silks Bistro opens, decorated with prominent silks from all eras of the track’s history. A tornado tears through the back side, ripping the roofs off barns and uprooting an oak tree. The overnight disaster causes the following day’s races to be canceled.

1992 - To the north of the Grandstand, the Picnic Area opens to give families a chance to enjoy the Florida sunshine and a day at the races. A Z-Alpha display board is added to the infield to keep the patrons better informed. Tampa sends its live racing signal to Birmingham, Ala.,the track’s first out-of-state site. More than $2.7 million is bet at Birmingham on Tampa Bay Downs races. Jockey Willie Martinez rides 123 winners, establishing a single-season track record.

1993 - John E. Grady is named Vice President and General Manager. Jockey William Henry rides 123 winners to tie the meet record. John Reading captures his second consecutive training title.

1994 - A $2,600 Alberta-bred yearling, Prix De Crouton, which had won previously at Northlands Park and Stampede Park, wins the Tampa Bay Derby for owners Lorne and Kathleen Berg.

1995 - The Tampa Bay Derby and the Florida Oaks are run on the same day for the first time in the history of the track. Don Rice wins the first of his eight training titles.

History

1996 - The track’s first 70 years are observed in gala style, and the Florida Oaks gains Grade III status. A record 360 simulcast outlets take Tampa Bay Downs’ signal, and 540 take the Tampa Bay Derby card. The Florida Legislature approves full-card simulcasting, giving pari-mutuel facilities the option of hosting signals from out-of-state tracks. Tampa Bay Downs takes over concession areas in the plant, providing more flexibility and lower prices to patrons. A new barn is constructed to house 50 horses.Thundering Storm wins both the Tampa Bay Derby and the Sam F. Davis Stakes.

1997 - The plant remains open seven days a week to host simulcast signals for the first time. Six purse increases of 5% result in a major bonanza for horsemen and establish the highest average purse distribution in the track’s history. The Challenger Stakes returns to the schedule as a 7-furlong race for 3-year-olds. Attendance is up 4.3% over the previous season and the on-track handle jumps an additional 15.74%, while out-of-state wagering increases 22%. Ground is broken for the turf course on May 14, and the grass is planted Sept. 9. Road improvements allow greater access with the Linebaugh Extension to the north. Widening and repairs also improve Race Track Road, Hillsborough Avenue and Tampa Road. William Henry wins the jockeys’ title for the fourth time in five seasons. Jerry Bailey wins the Tampa Bay Derby aboard Zede for owner Allen Paulson and trainer William Mott.

1998 - A record is set for an all-time, single-day total handle on Jan. 16 when $3,155,905 is wagered on the Tampa Bay Downs signal on-track, in-state and out-of-state. Tasso’s Magic Roo sweeps the Pepsi Challenge Series and becomes only the second filly to do so since the series began in 1988. Will Farish’s Parade Ground wins the 18th running of the Tampa Bay Derby, and Helen Alexander’s Pantufla captures the Grade III Florida Oaks. The unveiling of the turf course on May 2, Kentucky Derby Day, draws a crowd of 8,669, the second largest in the track’s history at the time. Ship Liner, owned by Phillip Williams, wins the inaugural running of the Tampa Bay Turf Handicap and Artz Racing Stable’s Mercedes Song prevails over fillies and mares in the Tampa Bay Distaff Turf Handicap. Records are established during the 1997-1998 season for total handle, purses and simulcast outlets.

1999 - The conclusion of the 1998-99 racing meet once again sees gains over the previous season as Tampa Bay Downs enjoys the most successful season in the 73-year history of the track. The 91-day meet produced a rise in the average daily attendance and daily on-track handle, this during the third year of full-card simulcasting. Simulcasting revenue also leaped to an all-time high with an increase of 46%. Purses were additionally bolstered to record levels during the same period, luring top quality horses and stables to compete. Track owner Stella F. Thayer is the first woman to be elected head of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations in the organization’s 57-year history.

2000 - The Clubhouse is totally remodeled, with fan comfort as the highest priority. Clubhouse renovations include new central airconditioning, a newly refurbished elevator, paint, plush carpeting and luxury seating. The lower floor of the Clubhouse showcases a “Sports Book” atmosphere, with 100 individual carrels complete with private TV monitors. A state-of-the-art sound system is installed throughout the entire Clubhouse and Grandstand areas. Once again, new handle records were set and purses achieve all-time levels. Secret Status, a 3-year-old filly owned by William S. Farish and partners, uses a Florida Oaks victory as a stepping stone to winning the Kentucky Oaks. A crowd of 6,381 attends March 4 to watch a National Steeplechase Association race, won by Red Classic and jockey Sean Clancy.

History

2001 - Tampa Bay Downs celebrates its 75th Anniversary season on Feb 18, 2001, a day that highlights a meeting of record-breaking purse levels and an increase in average intra-state wagering on Tampa Bay Downs for the seventh consecutive year. Peter Berube is named Vice President and General Manager on June 10, 2001. A new single day co-mingled handle record is achieved on Tampa Bay Derby Day, March 18, 2001 with $3,877,477 wagered on the Tampa signal.

2002 - The Tampa Bay Derby regains Grade III status. Various maintenance projects continue throughout the year, including a new Grandstand roof, repaved backstretch roads, and a remodeling of the General Office. Handle on live races from all sources averages almost $2.1-million a day. The track posts record-breaking purses for the eighth consecutive year. Live racing is canceled on Opening Day due to street and parking-lot flooding caused by county drainage issues.

2003 - Tampa Bay Downs launches a state-of-the-art, first-of-its-kind Golf Practice and Wagering Facility. The 22 acres of fully lit property include 270 yards of open range, plus putting and shortgame areas. The Downs Golf Clubhouse features a fully stocked Pro Shop, Snack Bar and wagering terminals, complete with TV monitors to catch all the action. The racing season concludes with purses at their highest level ($128,620 a day) and a new record for average all-sources live handle ($2,550,096). Tampa Bay Downs once again posts a new single-day co-mingled record of $3,880,693, and Florida Cup Day debuts, offering six $75,000 stakes races on the one-day card.

2004 - Tampa Bay Downs enjoys an incredibly successful meet with track records set in 10 statistical categories, including double-digit increases in total live all-source handle (24% increase) and total attendance (11%). The track distributes a record $12,622,650 in purses ($135,727 per day), which leads to fields that average 9.4 starters per race, an all-time high for the Oldsmar oval. Horsemen also halter a record $2,418,250 worth of horses at the claims box. Track improvements include a permanent tent over the popular picnic area, a new seven-furlong chute, and the opening of The Silks Poker Room, the track’s card room, which is an immediate hit with local poker enthusiasts.

2005 - Bucking national trends that have seen tracks across the nation experience declines in either handle, attendance, or both, Tampa Bay Downs concludes its 79th season by establishing 10 records in handle, attendance and purses. Increases include an all-time high attendance of 10,246 on Festival Day, which features Sun King winning the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby. Before the season starts, the track continues its expansion of and improvements to the track’s highly popular picnic area; adds a new luxury suite called the Trackside Garden Suite; and adds daily Texas Hold ‘Em tournaments in the Silks Poker Room. Horsemen benefit from a handsome new winner’s circle, a new outside rail, and a new receiving barn.

2006 - Explosive growth in on-track wagering, total handle and purse payouts, along with record-high attendance, highlight the track’s 80th year of Thoroughbred racing. As they did in 2004-2005, bettors on-track and nationwide continue to embrace Tampa Bay Downs’ full fields and improved racing quality on turf and dirt. Tampa Bay Downs receives the Large Business of the Year Award for 2006 from the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Chamber of Commerce on May 10, 2006. The award is based on community involvement and support, and pays tribute to the tremendous growth the facility has recently undergone. Local racing fans, treated to an average of 9.57 horses per race, send the on-track handle up nearly 7 percent to $30,192,981, the highest since 1991; and the daily average on-track handle of $321,202 is the highest since 1994.

History

2007 - Prior to the commencement of the 2006-2007 season, a Daktronics 16:9 ratio jumbo video board is installed in the infield, providing patrons with a state-of-the-art flat-screen monitor on which to view the live racing action. In front of a then record-high, single-day crowd of 10,593, Street Sense wins the Grade III, $300,000 Tampa Bay Derby by a nose in track and stakes-record time of 1:43.11 for 1 1/16 miles. Festival Day also marks the track’s largest co-mingled handle of $10,916,634 wagered. Tampa Bay Downs welcomes its largest crowd to date on May 5, 2007 when 11,014 fans cheer on Street Sense as he crosses the wire in front in the 133rd Kentucky Derby, becoming the first Tampa Bay Derby participant to win the Run for the Roses. Allison De Luca takes the reins as Racing Secretary, and the meeting ends with Tampa Bay Downs boasting record increases in total live-sources handle, purses paid, number of turf races offered, and total amount of horses claimed. Trainer Jamie Ness captures the first of his record nine consecutive Tampa Bay Downs titles.

2008 - Tampa Bay Downs’ 82nd season is highlighted by records set in both attendance and out-of-state wagering handle. On Festival Day,March 15, 2008, a record 12,746 fans arrive at the Oldsmar oval to witness Big Truck capture the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby. Tampa Bay Downs has three Eclipse award winners compete during the 2007-2008 meeting. Rosemary Homeister,Jr., who won the Outstanding Apprentice award in 1992, is a regular fixture in the jockeys’ room at the Oldsmar oval, finishing the season as the second- leading rider overall. Dreaming of Anna, who was the Champion Juvenile Filly of 2006, wins the Grade III Endeavour Breeders’ Cup and the Grade III Hillsborough Stakes on the grass. War Pass, who was the 2007 Two-Year-Old Champion,competes in the Grade III Tampa Bay Derby.

Jockey Daniel Centeno establishes a track record by riding 144 winners. Before the 2007-2008 race meeting began, Tampa Bay Downs underwent several renovations, including the installation of the Grandstand elevator and the introduction of the all-new Silks Poker Room, located on the third floor of the Grandstand. The Party Suite, adjacent to the Silks Poker Room, was also updated with new flat-screen TVs installed. The Legends Bar, which includes a museum-quality exhibition of famed Thoroughbred Seabiscuit, became the newest feature on the second floor of the Grandstand. Horsemen enjoyed improvements to the Paddock area, with all-new stalls in the saddling barn ensuring the safety and comfort of horses and their connections. Other facility upgrades at the Oldsmar oval include a refurbished Racing Office on the backstretch, as well as a renovated track kitchen.

2009 - Graduates from the Tampa Bay Downs stakes program occupy five of the 19 stalls in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands field, with Grade III Tampa Bay Derby winner Musket Man placing third in the Run for the Roses. Musket Man also finishes third in the Preakness. Prior to the opening of the 2009-2010 race meeting, Tampa Bay Downs renovates all tack rooms in the barn area and forms an alliance with Thoroughbred Retirement of Tampa, Inc., (TROT), a nonprofit organization dedicated to re-homing and transitioning the Oldsmar oval’s equine athletes to new careers after their racing days are over.

History

2010 - The outset of the 2009-2010 race meeting heralds a reduction in takeout for exacta, Pick-3, Pick-4, Super High-5 and Pick-6 wagering at the Oldsmar oval. A second Tampa Bay Derby graduate, third-place finisher Super Saver, wins the Grade I Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. Other national performers competing at the Oldsmar oval in the 2009-2010 season include Grade I winners Dr. Zic and Karelian and dual Eclipse Award winner Gio Ponti, as well as Musket Man, Uptowncharlybrown, Rule, Schoolyard Dreams, Odysseus and Phola, among others. Despite a slumping economy, Tampa Bay Downs concludes the season with its commingled all-sources handle increasing by 1.8%, bucking national trends for wagering across the nation. The season also features the implementation of the track’s social media networks, with Tampa Bay Downs starting profiles on both Facebook and Twitter. Prior to the beginning of the 2009-2010 meeting, Tampa Bay Downs officially affiliates itself with the Thoroughbred Retirement of Tampa, Inc., (TROT), a 501(c) (3) organization dedicated to repurposing Tampa Bay Downs Thoroughbreds into show and pleasure horses as their careers on the racetrack end. Additionally, the 2009-2010 season saw the arrival of Mouse, the Tampa Bay Downs mascot. Mouse, a 3-year-old Miniature Horse, was rescued by an affiliate of TROT and rehabilitated by the staff of Tampa Bay Downs and quickly grew in popularity both locally and nationally. In July of 2010, Florida state legislation allows for expanded hours and no-limit games in the Silks Poker Room. In the months following the 2009-10 meet, the Tampa Bay Derby receives a purse boost to $350,000 and is awarded Grade II status. Daniel Centeno wins his fourth consecutive riding title with 133 victories, giving him 540 at the track over the past four campaigns. 2011 - The Oldsmar oval’s 85th racing season ends with across-theboard increases. Handle, attendance, claims, and field size all expand; additionally, the Tampa Bay Derby achieves Grade II status for the first time, as well as an expanded purse of $350,000. The Tampa Bay Stakes (formerly the Tampa Bay Breeders’ Cup) is awarded Grade III status, also a first. Local trainers finish 1-2 in the Tampa Bay Derby, as the Kathleen O’Connell-trained Watch Me Go edges Crimson Knight from the barn of Gerald Bennett. Luis Garcia rides the 43-1 shot Watch Me Go to victory. The Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies is run on turf for the first time, with Dynamic Holiday under jockey Ramon Dominguez winning for owner Augustin Stable and trainer H. Graham Motion. Jamie Ness and Bennett tie for the training title with 61 victories apiece. It is the fifth consecutive title for Ness, who tied O’Connell the previous season with 51 victories. On the jockeys’ side, Ronnie Allen Jr. claims his fourth riding title at Tampa Bay Downs — and first since 1987- 88 — with 109 victories, 30 more than runner-up Daniel Centeno. Average daily wagering handle during the 90-day meeting is a record $4,572,074,an increase of 9.2 percent from the previous season. The Tampa Bay Derby card attracts a record all-sources wagering handle of $10,949,948, of which $876,063 is wagered on track. Average daily attendance is 3,195. A $1.5-million capital improvements project which includes the addition of a CREE LED lighting system throughout the Clubhouse and Grandstand and a “Cool Roof” coating system represents an early step in the track’s goal to provide a “net-zero impact” on the environment.

History

2012 - Spectacular on-track accomplishments highlight a season in which Tampa Bay Downs is again the fourth most popular winter simulcast signal in the country. Eight track records are set - four apiece on the main dirt track and the turf course. It’s Me Mom, a 4-year-old filly owned by area residents Thomas and Jean Bosch, is the equine star of the meeting, winning three of her four starts, including the Minaret Stakes and the Florida Cup Hilton Garden Inn Sprint against males. In the latter, she set a six-furlong track record of 1:08.67. Jamie Ness wins his sixth consecutive training title, saddling a record 79 winners. His horses earn $875,384 and he ties a track record by saddling four winners Jan. 19. Ness trained exclusively for Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc., which captures a third consecutive owners’ title for Richard and Karen Papiese with 79 victories. Leandro Goncalves is the leading jockey with 88 victories, eight more than defending champion Ronnie Allen, Jr. Goncalves rides his 1,000th career winner Dec. 28. The top apprentice jockey is Erik Barbaran, who rides 27 winners. Veteran rider Scott Spieth joins the 4,000-victory club April 6 aboard 4-year-old filly Ula. Owner John C. Oxley’s 3-year-old colt Prospective wins the 32nd running of the Grade II, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby in 1:43.35, the second-fastest renewal to that time. The Tampa Bay Derby draws a season-high crowd of 9,247 and total wagering of $9,183,788. Zagora, a 5-year-old mare owned by Martin Schwartz, wins both of the track’s graded stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf, the Endeavour and the Hillsborough. Zagora sets a then-course record of 1:46.97 in the mile-andan-eighth Hillsborough and goes on to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. Other Tampa Bay Downs participants to experience Breeders’ Cup glory were Challenger Stakes winner Fort Larned, the Ian Wilkes-trainee who wins the Classic; trainer William Bradley, who captures the Filly and Mare Sprint with Groupie Doll; and past leading jockey Willie Martinez, who wins the Sprint on Trinniberg. A mile-and-a-sixteenth turf record is set by Lentenor, a full brother to 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. Tampa Bay Downs introduces Trakus, an electronic system which displays the position and location on the track of each horse during a race and provides handicappers with a wealth of valuable information.

History

2013 - Numerous firsts enhance Tampa Bay Downs’ reputation as a major player on the winter-spring Thoroughbred racing scene during its 87th season. For the first time, the top three finishers in the Grade II, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby — Verrazano, Java’s War and Falling Sky, the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes winner — compete in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (Verrazano also won the Grade I Wood Memorial and Grade I Haskell Invitational and Java’s War captured the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass). Tampa Bay Downs stages three graded stakes on a single card for the first time on Feb. 2 after the then-$150,000 Florida Oaks, a turf race for 3-year-old fillies, was awarded Grade III status by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners' and Breeders' Association. In addition to the Oaks, the Festival Preview Day program includes the Grade III, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-olds and the Grade III, $150,000 Endeavour Stakes on the turf for older fillies and mares. Jockey Daniel Centeno wins his fifth title, riding 90 winners, and Jamie Ness is the first trainer to capture seven consecutive crowns, saddling 46 winners. Twotime Eclipse Award finalist Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc., also with 46 winners, wins its fourth consecutive owners’ title (Ness trained exclusively for Midwest). The leading apprentice jockey is 20-year-old Ricardo Mejias from Puerto Rico. For the second straight year, Tampa Bay Downs conducts 25 stakes worth $2.6-million in purse money, highlighted by the Tampa Bay Derby on Festival Day, March 9. The 33rd renewal draws a crowd of 10,476, the fifth-largest in track history; total all-sources handle of $10,291,827.76 is the fourth-highest ever. Verrazano’s jockey, Hall of Fame member John Velazquez, rides five winners on the Festival Day card, tying six other jockeys for the third-most in track history. Tampa Bay Downs reached an agreement with TVG, America’s Horseracing Network, to broadcast the meeting, spreading the track’s signal to countless new viewers. In addition to Verrazano’s victory, trainer Todd Pletcher scores two additional graded-stakes triumphs with his 5-year-old mare Old Tune, who wins the Endeavour and the Grade III, $150,000 Hillsborough on the turf, both times under Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Joel Rosario. The rider was also aboard Florida Oaks winner Tapicat for Hall of Fame trainer William Mott. Combining to win two of the track’s six graded stakes were trainer John Terranova II and jockey Jose Espinoza, who won the Sam F. Davis with Falling Sky and the Grade III, $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes with Swift Warrior. The 11th annual Florida Cup Day on April 6 attracts many top Florida-breds, with James and Nannette McCullough’s 4-year-old gelding Wild About Chrome remaining unbeaten (5-for-5) in the Hilton Garden Inn/ Hampton Inn & Suites Sprint. In winning the Super Stakes on Feb. 23, Thomas Shank and Stan Young’s 6-year-old gelding Good Lord sets a seven-furlong track record of 1:22.03. Phase Two of the track’s ongoing green initiative continues to gain momentum with the introduction of a state-of-the-art geothermal HVAC system designed to save energy and costs while requiring almost no maintenance. The water and energy-saving system uses the constant below-ground temperature of soil or water to cool homes, commercial buildings and public facilities.On Feb. 16, the track holds the “Walk for Roz” to benefit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure fight against breast cancer in memory of former Tampa Bay Downs Association Veterinarian Rosalyn Randall.

History

2014 - The 88th anniversary season of Thoroughbred racing officially begins July 1, 2013, the second day of Tampa Bay Downs’ inaugural Summer Festival of Racing. The Summer Festival was formed to enable Tampa Bay Downs to control its simulcast income by becoming a year-round, live-racing facility. By the time the horses return for the December restart, horsemen and fans observe a new look on the first floor of the Grandstand. The enhancements included the Riders Up! Pub, featuring a variety of craft and domestic beers and liquor, and the Metro Deli, offering pizza, Cuban sandwiches, roast beef, ham, corned beef and turkey. On the racing front, a record $2,695,000 is paid out in stakes purses. The purse for the Grade III Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on turf was increased $50,000 to $200,000; the race joined the Grade II, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade III, $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes on turf on the annual Festival Day card. Increases of $25,000 for the Turf Sprint and Lightning City Stakes, from $75,000 to $100,000, gives Tampa Bay Downs a record 11 races worth six figures. Jamie Ness wins his record eighth consecutive training title by sending out 53 winners. The late Don Rice is the only other conditioner to win eight titles, but they were not consecutive. Antonio Gallardo, a native of Spain, wins his first jockeys title by riding 124 winners and surviving a ding-dong battle over the final several weeks with four-time leading jockey Ronnie Allen, Jr. Midwest Thoroughbreds, Inc., the ownership group of Rich and Karen Papiese, captures its fifth consecutive owners title with 45 victories. Track officials establish the Tampa Bay Downs Million Dollar Derby Bonus, with $1-million to be awarded to the owners of any horse winning the Grade III, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes, the Grade II, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby and the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. Vinceremos — owned by WinStar Farm and Twin Creeks Racing Stables — wins the Davis and finishes second to Ring Weekend in the Tampa Bay Derby before fading to 17th in the Kentucky Derby. Additionally, a fan who picked Vinceremos in the Davis is given an opportunity to win a $100,000 bonus. The Tampa Bay Derby winner, Ring Weekend, is owned by St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds, trained by H. Graham Motion and ridden by Daniel Centeno. In tandem with Equus Technology Group, Tampa Bay Downs institutes the Live It Up Challenge handicapping contest, won by Glenn Wilson of nearby Westchase. Wilson is the only player to stay alive through the duration of the event; he wins $1,500 and a seat at the 2015 Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship in January in Las Vegas. On March 29, Tampa Bay Downs plays host to the first Jockeys and Jeans barbecue luncheon to benefit the Permanently Disabled Riders Fund. Among those attending are six-time Tampa Bay Downs leading jockey Mike Manganello; Hall of Famers Pat Day, Walter Blum, Jacinto Vasquez, Bill Boland and Ramon Dominguez; Dr. Eddie Donnally; female pioneers Barbara Jo Rubin, Diane Crump and Mary Russ; and disabled former riders Eibar Coa, William Klinke, Julia Brimo, Jose Diaz and Michael Straight. On Feb. 21, in what is believed to be a first, brothers Fernando, Walter and Juan De La Cruz all ride winners on a single card. L.J. McKanas, a trainer competing at Tampa Bay Downs for the first time, delights race goers by appearing as a contestant on the CBS reality show Survivor. Announcer Richard Grunder marks his 30th season at Tampa Bay Downs.

History

2015 - As part of its ongoing capital improvements initiative, Tampa Bay Downs unveils a bright, redesigned circular driveway entrance in front of the Grandstand. Featuring tree-lined pathways, garden landscaping, enhanced lighting, benches and automatic sliding doors, it signals a friendly “welcome back” to all when the 89th anniversary meeting resumes Nov. 29. The racing action is fast and furious from the outset, as jockey Antonio Gallardo rides five winners on the first stakes Saturday of the season and 2-year-old Catalina Red sets a stakes record of 1:09.32 in the six-furlong Inaugural Stakes. Gallardo’s success is a recurrent theme throughout: The native of Cadiz, Spain rides five winners again on Dec. 31 and finishes the meeting with 147 to set a new track record and win his second consecutive title. Gallardo is joined at the top by trainer Jamie Ness, who captures an unprecedented ninth consecutive Oldsmar crown with 46 victories. The Nesstrained 6-year-old gelding Brother Pat becomes the first horse to sweep all four legs of the Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series, never trailing at a single point of call in any of his victories. Trainer Todd Pletcher wins the Tampa Bay Derby for the third time, capturing the Grade II, $350,000 showcase with Carpe Diem. The colt is owned in partnership by Stonestreet Stables, which also owns Ocean Knight, winner of the Grade III, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes. The 35th renewal of the Tampa Bay Derby headlines a March 7 Festival Day program that includes the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks, the Grade III, $150,000 Hillsborough Stakes and the $60,000 Challenger Stakes, making it the richest day in track history. A crowd of 10,379, the 10th largest in track history,watches Carpe Diem and fellow Tampa Bay Derby participant Danzig Moon compete in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands via simulcast on May 2.The outstanding stakes program at Tampa Bay Downs produces several record-breaking performances. Trainer Chad Stewart’s Catalina Red sets a stakes and track record in winning the Dec. 27 Pasco Stakes for 2-year-olds, speeding home seven furlongs in 1:21.40 under jockey Daniel Centeno. That same day, 2-year-old filly Irish Jasper sets a stakes mark of 1:22.41 in the Gasparilla Stakes for trainer Derek Ryan. Bold Thunder establishes a course and stakes record of 54.63 in the five-furlong Turf Dash, the fifth victory in the race for Centeno. Evidently, a 4-year-old filly trained by Roy Lerman, sets a stakes mark in the Florida Cup Pleasant Acres Stallions Distaff Turf of 1:40.93 for a mile-and-a-sixteenth. The 4-year-old gelding Special Envoy sets a mile-and-an-eighth turf course record of 1:46.55 on March 18. On March 28, trainer Gerald Bennett saddles career winner No. 3,500, the 3-year-old filly Once More for Love. New York native Andrew Demsky is named host for the track’s “Paddock Preview” show, taking over from Vice President of Marketing & Publicity Margo Flynn, who continues in her executive role while shifting her focus to other responsibilities. On Dec. 15, seven members of the Tampa Bay Downs jockey colony travel to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg to visit children with potentially life-limiting diseases. The group includes Ronnie Allen, Jr.; Dean Butler; Janelle Campbell; Daniel Centeno; Keiber Coa; Antonio Gallardo; and Pablo Morales.

Tampa Bay Downs purchases the Tampa Greyhound Track in January. Major League Baseball fans — specifically, New York Yankees rooters — cash in when horses named Mecke Mantle and Yogi Berra both win on the Dec. 21 card. The Downs Golf Practice Facility is recognized by the Golf Range Association of America as one of the nation’s top-50 ranges. Joseph Ricciardi of New Port Richey, Fla., wins a top prize of $500,000 playing the Florida Lottery JACKPOT scratch-off game.

History

2016 - The popularity of the Tampa Bay Downs simulcast signal continues to spread, with a 5.1-percent increase in average daily interstate wagering to $3.71 million. That results in a 3.5-percent increase in all-sources average daily handle to $4.16 million. A new-look stakes schedule fuels interest, with the creation of six “big-event” cards featuring multiple stakes, outstanding purse money and the appearance of numerous toplevel Thoroughbreds, trainers and jockeys. Lambholm South, a 1,830-acre Thoroughbred facility in Reddick, Fla., becomes the first title sponsor of the Grade II, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby in 30 years. The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby for 3-yearolds is the centerpiece of the richest day in track history, a March 12 Festival Day card also featuring the Grade II, $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf, the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the turf, and the $100,000 Challenger Stakes for older horses. Another lucrative afternoon takes place on Feb. 13, with the Festival Preview Day Presented by Lambholm South card offering three graded stakes and total stakes purse money of $650,000. Destin, a 3-year-old colt owned by Twin Creeks Racing Stables and trained by Todd Pletcher, becomes the first horse since Burning Roma in 2001 to win both the Sam F. Davis Stakes and the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. Destin’s Tampa Bay Derby time of 1:42.82 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth is both a stakes and track record. He finishes sixth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands and second by a nose to Creator in the Belmont Stakes. The track’s two biggest days also see the reigning Eclipse Award Champion Grass Female, 5-year-old mare Tepin, delight bettors and Thoroughbred lovers with two outstanding victories in the Grade III, $150,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes and the Hillsborough. The Robert E. Masterson-owned and Mark Casse-trained Tepin sets a course record of 1:46.26 in the mile-and-an-eighth Hillsborough. Gerald Bennett saddles 51 winners to capture the training title, ending a nine-year run atop the standings by Jamie Ness. Bennett and Ness tied for first place during the 2010-2011 meeting. Bennett’s best horse is 4-year-old gelding Fast Flying Rumor, who sets a Tampa Bay Downs record — dirt or turf — by earning a 108 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory in the $100,000 Turf Dash on Jan. 9. On March 5, Bennett ties a track record by saddling four winners from four starters. Antonio Gallardo rides 135 winners to win his third consecutive jockeys’ title. Gallardo wins five races on Feb. 24 (including a dead-heat), marking his third five-victory performance at the Oldsmar oval. Ness claims the Leading Owner trophy, as the Jagger, Inc., operation he runs with wife Mandy sends out 15 winners. Chad Lindsay is the top apprentice jockey with 11 victories. On Dec. 30, 7-year-old El Grande Rojo equals Catalina Red’s seven-furlong main track record of 1:21.40. Danny Lobato is named Ambassador of The Silks Poker Room, becoming a liaison between players and the Director of Poker, Patrick Murphy, and his staff, with an emphasis on bringing in new business and creating additional opportunities for players. Appearances by actor Christopher McDonald, who played Shooter McGavin in the movie Happy Gilmore, and threetime PGA Tour winner Chris DiMarco highlight the sixth annual Golfest Presented by Valspar Championship at The Downs Golf Practice Facility. Three jockeys achieve career milestones during the meeting. On Feb. 14, Jose Ferrer wins back-to-back races to reach the 4,000 club. His big win came on Rocket Bottle, owned and trained by Robert G. Smith, who also celebrated his 50th birthday. On April 10, Scott Spieth earns victory No. 4,500 on Awesome Indeed, a 4-year-old filly trained by his fiancée, Aldana Gonzalez. Dean Butler grabs his 2,000th career triumph on April 22 on Impromptu, a 4-year-old gelding trained by Bernell Rhone. A crowd of 10,443 attends the May 7 racing card, the third largest in track history to view the simulcast of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands.

History

2017 - For the first time, two horses that raced at Tampa Bay Downs won Triple Crown events. Always Dreaming, who broke his maiden at the Oldsmar oval on Jan. 25, won the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands. Another 3-year-old from trainer Todd Pletcher’s barn, Tapwrit, finished second in the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes and won the Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby en route to his victory in the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets. Always Dreaming’s Run for the Roses triumph marked the third time the classic has been won by a Tampa Bay Downs visitor, as he joined Street Sense (winner of the Tampa Bay Derby in 2007) and Super Saver (third in the Tampa Bay Derby in 2010). Tapwrit set a stakes record of 1:42.36 for the 1 1/16-mile distance of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. Earlier on the March 11 Festival Day card, 5-year-old Stanford, another Pletcher trainee who was wearing blinkers for the first time, set the track record for the distance of 1:41.75 in winning the Challenger Stakes. The Festival Day card attracted a crowd of 10,079, with total wagering handle of $12,123,021.60, the second-highest figure in track annals. The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby was one of six graded stakes contested as part of a schedule featuring 24 stakes races offering almost $3-million in purses, a record. Jockey Daniel Centeno won his sixth Tampa Bay Downs riding title with 102 victories, tying Mike Manganello for the most titles in track history. Gerald Bennett won his second consecutive training title and third overall, saddling the winners of four stakes races. Bennett went 4-for-4 on Dec. 7 of 2016, marking the second consecutive season he enjoyed a 4-for-4 day. Bennett’s filly R Angel Katelyn won three stakes locally: the Sandpiper (as a 2-year-old), the Gasparilla and the Florida Cup Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies. Ridenjac Racing, owned and operated by trainer Dennis Ward, won the track’s owners title. Tampa Bay Downs signed two new sponsors for its Florida Cup Day program, EG Vodka and 14 Hands Winery, while increasing the purse for each Florida Cup race to $100,000 from $75,000. Florida Cup Day stars included 5-year-old gelding World Approval, a Grade I winner who captured the EG Vodka Turf Classic for his second Florida Cup victory. In November, World Approval captured the Breeders’ Cup Mile on the turf at Del Mar.On March 10, 25-year-old jockey Edwin Gonzalez became the second jockey in track history to win six races on a single card (Richard DePass was 7-for-7 here in 1980; Gonzalez was 6-for-7, including a dead-heat victory). Gonzalez rode 85 winners during the meeting to finish second to Centeno. McCracken, a promising 3-year-old colt from the barn of trainer Ian Wilkes, won the Sam F. Davis Stakes on the Feb. 11 Festival Preview Day presented by Lambholm South card in stakes and (then)-track-record time of 1:42.45 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth distance. On Jan. 29, 62-year-old jockey Sue Martin entered the winner’s circle on 5-year-old mare Blue Haze of Fire, trained by her husband, Wayne Martin. Martin rode her first winner in 1974 at the Coeur d’Alene Turf Club in Idaho. Tampa Bay Downs donated $50,000 to Oldsmar Cares toward construction costs for a new building. Oldsmar Cares is a non-profit, volunteer organization that operates as a stop-gap resource for individuals needing a hand up by providing food, clothing, a toy chest, rent and utilities.Tampa Bay Downs installed a new high-definition jumbo video board prior to Opening Day in November of 2016 to enhance racing fans’ viewing pleasure of the action.

History

2018 - A festive crowd of 11,055, the second-largest in track history, attended the May 5 Kentucky Derby Day card, participating in the traditions of the world’s most famous horse race while enjoying the live action. Three Tampa Bay Downs “graduates” competed in the Run for the Roses, including Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Flameaway, while the connections of Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner Quip opted to wait for the Preakness. Tampa Bay Downs introduced four new stakes races for 3-year-olds during the 2017-2018 meeting, all sponsored by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association. The $125,000 FTBOA Marion County Florida Sire Stakes for colts and geldings and the $125,000 City of Ocala Florida Sire Stakes for fillies were run Dec. 16; the $100,000 FTBOA Silver Charm Florida Sire Stakes for colts and geldings and the $100,000 FTBOA Ivanavinalot Florida Sire Stakes for fillies were contested May 5. Tampa Bay Downs presented its richest stakes schedule in history, with 28 stakes worth $3.65-million in purse money. Purse money for the Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby was increased to $400,000 and the March 10 Festival Day program included five stakes worth $1-million. Total all-sources handle on the Festival Day card was $14,859,632, a Tampa Bay Downs record. Visitors to the track were impressed by a new 17-foot-by-30-foot Daktronics LED high-definition video display board rising above the infield tote board. Also enhancing customer convenience were technology upgrades allowing fans to wager, order food and drinks and purchase tickets for special events directly from the track’s website, www.tampabaydowns.com Tampa Bay Downs added a Spanish-language link that featured live race-day podcasts and enabled fans to acquire online program pages printed in Spanish. On the racing front, Gerald Bennett notched his third track training title and fourth overall with 53 victories. Antonio Gallardo returned to win his fourth riding title with 120 winners, while Bradenton, Fla., resident Rich Averill sent out 19 winners, both individually and in several partnerships, to capture the owners title. Jose A. Bracho was the leading apprentice jockey with 17 winners and added 14 to his total after becoming a journeyman. The leading Thoroughbred by number of victories was 4-year-old filly Jermyn Street, who won five times for owners Vince Campanella and Nation’s Racing Stable and trainer Keith Nations. The reigning Eclipse Award Champion Turf Male, World Approval, made a triumphant return to the Oldsmar oval on Feb. 10, winning the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes on the turf under Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez. World Approval had won twice previously at Tampa Bay Downs, taking the Florida Cup Sophomore Turf in 2015 and the Florida Cup EG Vodka Turf Classic in 2017. On Feb. 2, Gallardo rode five winners on a Tampa Bay Downs card for a record fourth time. That feat was also accomplished on April 7 by Samy Camacho, who finished second in the meeting standings with 100 victories. The third jockey to ride five winners on a single card was Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano, whose haul on March 25 included four of six Florida Cup Day stakes, a first in track history. After returning to action from a spill at Delaware Park in which he suffered a collapsed lung, eight broken ribs and three fractured vertebrae, Jose Ferrer won the 69th annual George Woolf Memorial Jockey award in voting by his fellow riders. The Woolf Award honors a rider whose career and personal character earn esteem for the individual and the sport of Thoroughbred racing. Ferrer defeated Javier Castellano, Alex Birzer, Joe Talamo and Rodney Prescott in the balloting. Tampa Bay Downs trainer Kathleen O’Connell was honored as the Leading Trainer of Florida-breds by wins for the 10th time and as the Leading Trainer of Florida-breds by stakes wins for the second time at the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association’s Awards Banquet and Gala in Ocala in March. Matt Mitchell of The Downs Golf Practice Facility won the Teacher of the Year Award from the North Florida Section of the Professional Golfers’ Association of America for the second time. Mike Allen rode the 2,000th winner of his career on April 13 aboard 4-year-old filly Diva Chick for owner Ridenjac Racing and trainer Dennis Ward. On July 1, the second day of the Summer Festival of Racing and Music, Tampa Bay Downs played host to Corgi racing, delighting a rail-side throng that thrilled to the lovable dogs sprinting to their masters.

History

2019 - The largest crowd to ever attend Tampa Bay Downs on a Kentucky Derby Day, 11,924, watched Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby winner Tacitus finish third in the 145th Run for the Roses, behind Country House and Code of Honor. The crowd was the second-largest ever at Tampa Bay Downs. Jockey Pablo Morales was 5-for-5 on the Oldsmar card, including stakes victories on Jackson in the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association Silver Charm Florida Sire Stakes and Wildwood's Beauty in the FTBOA Ivanavinalot Florida Sire Stakes. Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott, who also trained Country House, Tacitus set a stakes record of 1:41.90 in winning the 39th renewal of the mile-and-a-sixteenth Oldsmar showcase on March 9. Total all-sources handle on the Festival Day card was $13,956,020, the second-largest figure in track history. Gerald Bennett notched his fourth consecutive Tampa Bay Downs training title and fifth overall, sending out 69 winners to outdistance two-time champion Kathleen O’Connell. Bennett’s haul included a four-victory performance on Feb. 17. Samy Camacho captured his first jockeys’ title, riding 123 winners and also leading in total purse money with $1,825,058. Camacho rode three stakes winners during the meeting. Rich Averill of Bradenton, Fla., the force behind Averill Racing, was leading owner with 23 victories, 14 coming as sole owner and nine in various partnerships. Juan C. Rodriguez, 18, was the track’s leading apprentice jockey. Pablo Morales took third place (behind Camacho and Antonio Gallardo) with 69 victories. Morales scored one of the track’s most popular victories in recent years when he rode the O’Connell-trained Florida-bred gelding Well Defined to an upset victory in the Grade III, $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 9. On Jan. 19, another Florida-bred, 3-year-old colt Win Win Win, established a 7-furlong track record of 1:20.89 in winning the Pasco Stakes. Win Win Win finished third in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. Still another Florida-bred, World of Trouble, astounded onlookers on Dec. 15 by winning the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Marion County Florida Sire Stakes by 13 ¾ lengths on a sloppy track in 1:22.50 for 7 furlongs. The (then)-3year-old colt’s Beyer Speed Figure of 109 is the highest in track history. Another track record was set by 3-year-old colt Jackson, who won the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Silver Charm Florida Sire Stakes in 1:38.86 for a mile-and-40 yards. The 6-year-old gelding Marksman, who won the final leg of the Tampa Turf Test starter handicap series in 2:15.94 for the mile-and-three-eighths distance, also set a track mark. Stakes records were set by Tacitus and World of Trouble (both mentioned, above); Miz Mayhem, in the Lightning City Stakes on the turf; Tapa Tapa Tapa, in the Wayward Lass Stakes; and Wildwood’s Beauty, in the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Ivanavinalot Florida Sire Stakes. Tampa Bay Downs unveiled a number of promotions designed to introduce newcomers to the majesty and excitement of Thoroughbred racing, and all were met with widespread public approval. The Tampa Bay Owners Club contest gave fans a chance to experience the thrills of ownership by allowing anyone who selected the winner of a designated race to join a fantasy stable “owning” the horse, rewarding the winners with free admission, a program, a mutuel voucher, and concession-stand discounts each time their horse ran at Tampa Bay Downs. The horse, War Bridle, finished fourth in the Pasco Stakes for his vast connections, as well as actual owner Backstretch Farms and trainer Joan Scott. The Tampa Bay Downs “College Days” essay contest aimed to generate fresh ideas from students on how racetracks can successfully market horse racing to a new generation of fans. A total of 95 students entered the contest, with five chosen as winners based on the quality and originality of their essays. Each of the winners received a $2,000 scholarship prize awarded through the Upper Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce Educational Foundation. Tampa Bay Downs continued its outreach efforts to members of “Generation Z” by inviting all youngsters to the winner’s circle after a designated race each Sunday for the remainder of the meeting. Other popular new promotions included the High Rollers Handicapping Contest; Military Appreciation Day; Bourbon, Barbecue and Cigars; and Seafood Fest & Crawfish Boil. Parts of three racing cards were cancelled by heavy rain and lightning, including eight of the last nine races on May 5, Fan Appreciation Day. Emotions flowed freely on the afternoon of March 15 when David Flores, who rode 3,608 winners as a jockey, earned his first career training victory with the 3-year-old colt Higgins, who was ridden by the trainer’s close friend, fellow Mexican Jesus Castanon. Earlier in the meeting, on Jan. 5, Castanon rode career winner No. 2,500, scoring on the 6-year-old mare Tearless for trainer Derek Ryan. In a rarity that may be a first in track history, trainers Tyler Rotstein and Lee Cameron scored their first career victories in back-to-back races on April 6.

History

2019 - Pete Crisswell, a former jockey who has been a chaplain at racetracks in California, Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Louisiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Wyoming and Pennsylvania, arrived at Tampa Bay Downs to assist horsemen, jockeys and backstretch workers in managing their daily walks.

2020 - Tampa Bay Downs, and the entire Thoroughbred racing industry, faced an unprecedented challenge when the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic resulted in a shutdown of business and recreation throughout much of the world. The Oldsmar oval raced without spectators from March 18 through the duration of the meeting, while a number of racetracks closed entirely and others had their spring openings postponed. The Tampa Bay Downs signal remained popular with account-wagering bettors, helping the track receive two dates extensions from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation and sustaining horsemen and horsewomen with limited options. Originally scheduled as a 90-day meeting, the 2020-2021 season was capped after a track-record 111 performances. Familiar faces topped the standings on June 30, the final day of the 2019-2020 meeting, as Antonio Gallardo rode 122 winners to earn his fifth Jockeys title in seven seasons and Gerald Bennett captured his fifth consecutive Trainers title (and sixth overall) with 61 victories. Bennett also won his first Owners championship, as his Winning Stables – as a sole entity and in various partnerships – sent out 24 winners, five more than runners-up Godolphin and Juan Arriagada. Those accomplishments, while hard-earned and well-deserved, took a backseat to the news off the racetrack. Less than two weeks after 49-1 shot King Guillermo won the 40th edition of the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 7, Tampa Bay Downs entered a new reality as track officials, Thoroughbred racing participants and lawmakers debated what came next. Tampa Bay Downs formulated health and safety protocol measures to protect backstretch workers, enabling horsemen to compete, while fans continued to bet on the races through account-wagering sites such as NYRA Bets, DRF Bets and TVG and watched the races online at www.tampabaydowns.com. The track reopened for simulcasting on July 2 with strict health and safety measures in place, including requiring patrons to wear masks and practice social distancing. Given the rampant uncertainty, and following the postponement of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve from May 2 to Sept. 5, the events of March 7 and Festival Day 40 seemed a distant past to many. A crowd of 10,021 contributed to total wagering of $13,155,349 on Festival Day, the third-highest allsources handle in track history. King Guillermo was ridden by popular Venezuelan jockey Samy Camacho, trained by Camacho’s countryman Juan Carlos Avila and owned by former major league baseball slugger Victor Martinez, also from Venezuela. Avila had celebrated earlier that day when his 4-year-old colt Trophy Chaser won the Grade III Challenger Stakes while competing under the conditioner’s JCA Racing Stable banner. The other Festival Day stakes winners included Floridabred mare Starship Jubilee in the Grade II Hillsborough Stakes on the turf, 3-year-old filly Outburst in the Grade III Florida Oaks on the grass and 3-year-old Doc Boy in the Columbia Stakes on the turf. Four weeks earlier, on Festival Preview Day, the gelding Sole Volante, the second-place finisher in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, won the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes. Six-time leading Tampa Bay Downs jockey Daniel Centeno won four races on the Festival Preview Day card, including victories in the Grade III Lambholm South Endeavour aboard Jehozacat and the Suncoast Stakes on Lucrezia, both for trainer Arnaud Delacour. Centeno also won two stakes on the Dec. 7 card: the Inaugural with Zaino Boyz and the Sandpiper with Lucrezia. The track’s 94th anniversary season started with a bang on the Nov. 27 Opening Day card when trainer Michael Stidham notched career victory No. 2,000 with 4-year-old colt Lem Me Tel Ya, owned by the conditioner’s assistant, Ben Trask. Riding newcomer Angel Suarez scored three victories on the Opening Day card and went on to a fifth-place finish with 58 victories. On Dec. 29, Gallardo won two races, boosting his 2019 total to 266, sixth highest in North America. Oldsmar jockey Pablo Morales finished 12th in the continent with 226 winners. Hall of Fame jockey Jacinto Vasquez, winner of the Kentucky Derby twice and best known as the rider of legendary filly Ruffian, was track announcer Richard Grunder’s “Morning Glory Club” show guest on Jan. 4. Former Thoroughbred owner Mike Buccina won the track’s

History

2020 - $18,000. Buccina was one of 92 participants. On Jan. 18, Skyway Festival Day, jockey Edgard Zayas was 4-for-4, including stakes victories on Liam’s Lucky Charm in the Pasco and Two Sixty in the Gasparilla. The following day, Antonio Gallardo rode five winners on a card for the fifth time at Tampa Bay Downs. No other jockey has achieved the feat more than twice. A TwinSpires account bettor was the only player to hit the late Pick-5 on Feb. 8 (Festival Preview Day), collecting $435,029.40. The winning combination was 3-1-3-2-12. On Feb. 14, 3-year-old Gouverneur Morris, trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, won his 2020 debut in an allowance/optional claiming event in 1:38.88 for the mile-and-40-yard distance, .02 seconds off the track record. Pletcher had followed a similar path in 2017 with Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming, but Gouverneur Morris was forced off the Kentucky Derby trail in June with a case of colitis. On Feb. 22, Faction Cat, a 7-year-old Florida-bred gelding trained by Georgina Baxter, won the Turf Dash Stakes in 53.97 seconds, a 5-furlong course record. Albin Jimenez was the jockey. On the same card, 5-year-old mare Jean Elizabeth set a stakes record of 55.09 in the Lightning City Stakes on the turf. Jimenez rode for trainer and co-owner Larry Rivelli. Pablo Morales came back from a foot injury that sidelined him for more than two months to capture career victory No. 2,000 on June 24 aboard the maiden filly Sanguine. 2021 - Four 10-percent purse increases during the 2020-2021 meeting eased the anxieties of horsemen concerned about the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on racing at the Oldsmar oval. The fourth hike, which took effect April 14, raised purse money by $3,000 a race, with maiden special weight races offering $29,000. Previous boosts took place on Dec. 16, Feb. 3 and Feb. 20. When the meeting resumed on Nov. 25, track management mandated temperature checks and required horsemen, jockeys and fans to wear masks and observe social distancing (rules that had been in place since July 2, when the track reopened to fans for simulcast wagering). The regulations represented a concerted effort to minimize the risk of contracting the virus. Few complained, since spectators had been barred from attending the races since March 18. Attendance was limited throughout the meeting to about 30 percent of capacity, with that figure eased on May 1 (Kentucky Derby Day), which drew a crowd of 4,872. Moving forward, it is the wish of everyone associated with Tampa Bay Downs that masks will no longer be required during the 2021-2022 meeting and that other COVID-19 restrictions will be lifted as a majority of the race-going population has been vaccinated. The biggest race of the meeting, the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on March 6, produced an unexpected yet popular result. Making his third lifetime start, and first on a dirt surface, Helium rallied on the far turn and held off a belated bid by Hidden Stash to post a 15-1 upset under jockey Jose Ferrer, a 56-year-old Tampa resident who had not won a graded stakes in 10 years. It was Ferrer’s first Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby victory and the second for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse, who used to watch the races in the early 1970s at Tampa Bay Downs from the back of his father’s truck, before children were allowed in the track. After racing in close attendance to the lead in the early stages of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, Helium finished eighth, the best finish of the four Run for the Roses entrants who competed at Tampa Bay Downs. Two stakes records were set on the Festival Day card, as 3-year-old colt Winfromwithin set a stakes and course record of 1:33.23 in the 1-mile Columbia Stakes on the turf and 3-year-old filly Domain Expertise established a stakes record of 1:41.12 in the Grade III Florida Oaks going a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the grass. When the proverbial dust had settled, the 12-race card had generated total mutuel handle of $15,229,366, a single-day track record. A few weeks after the Festival Day Presented by Lambholm South excitement, Tampa Bay Downs followers were stunned by the announcement that announcer Richard Grunder would retire on May 2 after 37 years behind the microphone. Grunder, who at the time was the longest-tenured horse racing announcer in the United States, called his first race at age 20 in August of 1973 at Marquis Downs in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He called 37,587 races at Tampa Bay Downs, and after his final race, the jockeys and their valets lined up in the winner’s circle, waving toward the press box and shouting encouragement to the man whose voice is the only one most Oldsmar followers have ever known.

History

2021 - His replacement is Jason Beem, who took over during the Summer Festival of Racing. Beem, a University of Washington graduate, also calls races at Colonial Downs in Virginia and Grants Pass Downs in Oregon. The competition for leading jockey was spirited throughout the meeting. Most experts called the 2020-2021 riding colony the best in the track’s history, but by midseason, Samy Camacho and Antonio Gallardo had separated themselves from the pack. Camacho rode four winners on the May 2 card to forge a 107103 advantage, capturing his second title in three seasons and depriving Gallardo of a record-tying sixth crown. Gallardo rode five winners on Dec. 5 for an unprecedented sixth time. The trainers’ race was not as suspenseful, as Gerald Bennett sent out 56 winners, 22 more than runner-up Jose H. Delgado, to earn his sixth consecutive title and seventh overall. Along the way, Bennett passed the late Frank H. Merrill, Jr., as the No. 1 Canadian-born trainer in history with his 3,975th winner. Bennett also won his second consecutive Leading Owner title, with his Winning Stables concern scoring 27 victories, alone and in different partnerships. On Jan. 2, six-time Oldsmar jockey champion Daniel Centeno, a product of Venezuela who calls Tampa home, thrilled his supporters by notching his 3,000th victory in North America aboard Lucy’s Town in the Fillies and Mares Division of the Tampa Turf Test. Centeno, who rode 847 winners in Venezuela, is No. 1 all-time at Tampa Bay Downs with 1,429 victories and 54 stakes triumphs. Gallardo achieved a major career milestone of his own on Feb. 3 with career victory No. 2,000 on 5-year-old mare Do What It Takes. Both Lucy’s Town and Do What It Takes were trained by Jose H. Delgado. Gallardo became the 11th active Tampa Bay Downs jockey with 2,000 or more victories. 2022 - On March 12, trainer Brian Lynch’s 3-year-old colt Classic Causeway became the seventh horse to win both of the Oldsmar oval’s graded stakes for Kentucky Derby prospects when he triumphed in the Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, four weeks after his Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes score. The March 12 Festival Day card generated total allsources wagering handle of $20,778,222, an all-time track record and a 36-percent increase from the previous mark of $15.2-million set in 2021. Total handle for 89 days of racing climbed to $401,467,564, marking the first time since 2011 – when 121 more races were contested – that handle surpassed $400-million. Average handle per starter was $64,317, a 10.2-percent increase, while average daily on-track handle increased 20.6 percent. Horsemen reaped the benefits of the additional wagering activity, as Tampa Bay Downs paid out $18,204,465 in purse money, up 8 percent from 2020-2021 and a 17-percent increase from the 2018-2019 (pre-pandemic) meet. The average daily purse distribution of $204,545 was a track record. Mirroring trends at most North American racetracks, the average field size per race fell from 8.27 horses to 7.86, a decline attributable in large part to a steady drop in the size of the North American foal crop, to an estimated 19,200 in 2021. The shortage resulted in horsemen filling out claims slips at a record pace to restock their stables. When the dust settled, an all-time track record of 351 horses were claimed (131 more than last season) at a total cost of $3,970,000. On the racetrack, Classic Causeway was one of numerous Thoroughbreds to make lasting impressions. Bleecker Street, a 4-year-old turf-loving filly owned by Peter M. Brant and trained by Chad Brown, won the Grade III Endeavour Stakes and the Grade II Hillsborough Stakes under jockey Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr., to improve her career record to 5-for-5. Another impressive performance was turned in by trainer Todd Pletcher’s 3-year-old filly Nest, who won the Suncoast Stakes in stakes-record time of 1:39.30 for the mile-and-40-yard distance on the main track. After a subsequent victory in the Grade I Central Bank Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, Nest finished second to Secret Oath in the Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Nest’s victory in the Suncoast was one of five that day for south Florida-based jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr., who also rode Classic Causeway and Pelican Stakes winner Bank On Shea. Ortiz returned in March to win the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the Grade III

History

Florida Oaks on the turf on trainer Chad Brown’s 3-year-old filly Dolce Zel and the Columbia Stakes on the turf on Heaven Street. Also capturing graded stakes were trainer Roger Attfield’s 5-year-old horse Shirl’s Speight, who won the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes under jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson, and trainer Claude “Shug” McGaughey’s 4-year-old colt Scalding, who won the Grade III Michelob Ultra Challenger under Javier Castellano. For the second consecutive season, and third time in four years, Samy Camacho won the Leading Jockey title with 85 victories. Madeline Rowland, an 18-year-old apprentice jockey who scored her first career victory on Dec. 10, astounded onlookers by riding 34 winners, good for a ninthplace finish in the standings. She capped her meet with a fourvictory effort on May 7, Kentucky Derby Day. A familiar face to Tampa Bay Downs fans, Pablo Morales, also made headlines, riding five winners on Jan. 1 and repeating the feat on Jan. 8. Morales, who also had a four-victory day on March 6, finished second in the standings with 71 victories. Gerald Bennett, born almost 60 years before Rowland, won his seventh training title in a row with 36 winners. The crown was the eighth overall for Bennett. Along the way, on Dec. 8, 2021, he became the 14th trainer to win 4,000 races by saddling Florida-bred D’craziness for a turf victory for owner Averill Racing and jockey Antonio Gallardo. Endsley Oaks Farm, located 50 miles away in Brooksville, Fla., was Leading Owner with 24 victories. Rafael Schistl is the trainer for Endsley Oaks, which is owned by Bob and Jill Jones. The entire Tampa Bay Downs community was saddened when long-time trainer Bobby Raymond died on May 8 from septic shock.