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.

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.

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.