Deep Fields as Racing Resumes at Tampa Bay Downs

Tampa Bay Downs resumes racing Nov. 22 for a winter/spring season with a nine-race card that attracted 95 entrants, plus six also-eligibles. Wednesday is officially the second day of the meet because the Florida track conducted one day of racing July 1.

The jockey colony is also deep, with Mid-Atlantic rider Carol Cedeno part of a group of several dozen riders.

An additional $5.5 million in overnight purse money has spurred interest for the track's 98th anniversary season. Wednesday's featured eighth race, a six-furlong allowance/optional claiming race on the main track, offers total purse money of $53,000 for eligible Florida-beds, with 10 horses entered. The race is worth $32,500 for non-Florida-breds.

Cedeno is named to ride Dutch Racing Stable's John Jay , a 4-year-old gelding trained by Patrick McBurney. The 5-2 morning-line favorite is Daniel Walters' 4-year-old Florida-bred gelding Yes I'm a Beast , trained by Rohan Chrichton and to be ridden by Edwin Gonzalez.

Admission on Wednesday is free. The track will be closed on Thanksgiving Day, with racing set to continue Nov. 25-26. Tampa Bay Downs will race on a Wednesday-Friday-Saturday schedule before adding Sundays Dec. 24.

Tampa Bay Downs is introducing a slimmed-down "pocket program" that will cost $2.25, a $1.50 savings from last year's program cost. Daily Racing Forms will provide more detailed past performances.

The track has added a Pick-4 on cards of nine or more races. Wednesday's Pick 4s will begin with the second, third and sixth races.

On the outside, Tampa Bay Downs has replaced its traditional white wooden benches on the grandstand apron with new, more comfortable benches.

Another major addition is "Champions Row," a collection of three brand-new cabanas just beyond the finish line, to go with the nine cabanas that have been in use the past two seasons. Each of the "Champions Row" cabanas is named after an Eclipse Award champion to compete at Tampa Bay Downs: Not Surprising, the 1995 champion sprinter; Street Sense  , the 2006 champion 2-year-old male who won the 2007 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) and Kentucky Derby (G1); and Tepin , the 2015 and 2016 champion grass female and a Hall of Fame inductee.

"The tradition of outstanding racehorses competing at Tampa Bay Downs has been never-ending," said Margo Flynn, the track's vice president of marketing and publicity. "These three champions established a standard of excellence future Thoroughbreds will strive to equal or even surpass."