History

American Oaks and Alabama Stakes. 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 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 “Maddie” Rowland, an 18-yearold apprentice jockey who scored her first career victory on Dec. 10, astounded onlookers by riding 34 winners, good for a ninth-place finish in the standings. She capped her meet with a four-victory 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. Endsley Oaks Farm 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.

2023 – The accomplishments of two women linked with Tampa Bay Downs over the past several decades, track owner Stella F. Thayer and trainer Kathleen O’Connell, were among

2023 – numerous highlights during the Oldsmar oval’s 97th anniversary season. The entire racetrack community and fans far and wide celebrated Thayer’s election in April to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., as a Pillar of the Turf. Thayer’s guidance as President since purchasing the track at auction in 1986 with her brother, Howell Ferguson, helped to elevate Tampa Bay Downs to a position of prominence within the Thoroughbred racing industry. Soon after taking the helm, Thayer named Controller Lorraine M. King as General Manager, marking the first time a Thoroughbred track had separate female ownership and top management. Other initiatives undertaken by Thayer include the introduction of Sunday racing that first season; the addition in 1990 of simulcast wagering, fueling numerous purse increases and the growth of Tampa Bay Downs’s popular stakes program; the construction of a heralded turf course, which opened in 1998; and the creation in 2003 of The Downs Golf Practice Facility and The Silks Poker Room, making Tampa Bay Downs the premier multi-entertainment destination on Florida’s west coast. A member of The Jockey Club and past President of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, Thayer is an attorney and shareholder in the Tampa-based law firm of Macfarlane, Ferguson and McMullen, where she is engaged in the practice of Estate Planning, Probate, and Corporate Law. O’Connell, who started her eponymous racing stable in 1981, became North America’s all-time leader in victories by a female trainer with a win by 3-yearold gelding My Eagle Soars, on March 12. The previous day, O’Connell tied record-holder Kim2023 – Hammond’s then-total of 2,385 with a triumph by first-time starter Dream Concert. O’Connell won training titles at Tampa Bay Downs in 1998-1999 and 2009-2010. Her nine career graded-stakes wins include the Grade II Tampa Bay Derby in 2011 with Watch Me Go and the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes in 2019 with Well Defined. Given her determination and talent, it might not be long before she gets to celebrate winner No. 2,500. On the racetrack, trainer Gerald Bennett earned his eighth consecutive title with 49 winners. The crown was his ninth here overall, tying Jamie Ness for the most in track history. Samy Camacho became the sixth jockey in Tampa Bay Downs annals to win three consecutive titles by riding 114 winners, 58 more than runner-up Jose Ferrer. Owner-trainer Juan Arriagada was the leading owner with 25 victories and Laureano Sosa was the top apprentice jockey with 21 winners. Bennett and Camacho teamed for the biggest shocker of the 2022-2023 meet on Feb. 11 in the Suncoast Stakes, as 38-1 shot Dreaming of Snow edged reigning Eclipse Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Wonder Wheel by a neck. That same day, Litigate won the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes, giving Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher a record seventh victory in the event. Just as noteworthy was a victory by 5-year-old gelding Sibelius in the Pelican Stakes in stakes-record time of 1:08.75 for the 6 furlongs, which his connections used as a springboard to success 6 weeks later in the Dubai Golden Shaheen Sponsored by Nakheel at Meydan Racecourse. On March 11, 3-year-old colt Tapit Trice staged a whirlwind rally under jockey Luis Saez to win the Grade III, $400,000 Lambholm

South Tampa Bay Derby, a record sixth triumph in the race for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Tapit Trice followed that victory with one in the Grade I Toyota Blue Grass at Keeneland and was one of two horses with Oldsmar form to compete in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. Also on March 11, jockey Antonio Gallardo rode trainer H. Graham Motion’s 3-year-old filly Mission of Joy to victory in the Grade III Florida Oaks in course recordtying time of 1:41.12 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth distance on the turf. Total wagering handle on the Festival Day 43 card was $17,457,354, second in track history to the previous season’s Festival Day handle of $20,778,222. Possibly the season’s most impressive performance belonged to 3-year-old filly Munnys Gold, another talented Pletcher trainee. The Florida-bred daughter of Munnings won the Stonehedge Farm South Sophomore Fillies Stakes on March 26, Florida Cup Day, by 17 ¼ lengths from Dreaming of Snow under jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. Munnys Gold’s time of 1:20.09 for the 7-furlong distance obliterated Win Win Win’s track record by .80 seconds. Emmanuel, a 4-year-old colt who broke his maiden here as a 3-year-old in his second career start, returned on Feb. 4 in the Grade III Tampa Bay Stakes with guns blazing. He raced the mile-and-asixteenth distance on the turf in stakes and courserecord time of 1:39.25 for trainer Pletcher and jockey Javier Castellano.