Tampa Bay Downs Approved for Meet Extension to May 30

Florida regulators approved on April 23 a request from Tampa Bay Downs to extend its meet beyond its previously scheduled closing day of May 3, a decision that will continue the current meet through May 30. Tampa, one of just a handful of racetracks across the country still operating amid COVID-19, has been racing without spectators since March 18.

Like other southern ovals, Tampa draws horsemen from northern regions during the winter and early spring months before they leave as more locations open for late spring and summer racing. This year, with those tracks temporarily closed or delaying their stable openings, other stabling options are limited, if not absent.

Tampa officials alerted horsemen this week of their intention to extend the meet.

"It was a pretty easy decision once we realized the horse inventory on the backside was going to remain fairly constant through the month of May, depending on what tracks open up north," said Peter Berube, the track's vice president and general manager. "If all of a sudden the horse population declines, we have the ability to go back to the state and drop these dates. But I don't anticipate that happening. "

Kathleen O'Connell, a two-time leading trainer at Tampa, described the racing continuation as a lifeline.

"There is a whole group of us that go from Tampa to Monmouth," she said. "There is another whole group that go to Presque Isle, and another whole group that go to Indiana (Grand). And to at least have some relief, someplace to train horses, some racing to generate income, I'm sure I'm speaking for everybody in saying it's a godsend."

Tampa Bay Downs is running four days a week but will shift to a three-day-a-week schedule after May 3, running Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. 

"Being on a conservative side, hopefully we can have fuller fields going three days a week," Berube said. "Also, we've been using our turf course extensively through our regular meet, and we want to give it a break. So, again, three days a week, run 12 turf races rather than 16, that helps to prolong your meet."

O'Connell said horsemen are ecstatic to race, even on a reduced schedule.

"If somebody is giving you a free steak dinner, we're not going to (complain) that there was no sour cream on the baked potato," she quipped.

Tampa's purse structure and the composition of races it offers are expected to remain the same during the meet continuation. Many of the track's claiming races have purses in the $10,000-$12,500 range, and straight maiden and allowance races are worth $20,000 or higher.

"We feel pretty good in the sense that we're able to give our horsemen an outlet," said Margo Flynn, the vice president of marketing at Tampa who also works in horsemen's services. "Just training horses is very laborious, and you want to be able to see the fruits of your labors. Hopefully, this will put them in a good position before going up north—we're hoping this will be a big positive for them as well as us."

Tampa remains scheduled to conduct two days of racing June 30 and July 1, a summer festival that largely attracts participants based in Florida year-round.