Tampa Bay Downs Expects Large Fields at Upcoming Meet

Tampa Bay Downs kicks off its 2018-19 season Nov. 24 with growing optimism about its well-supported racing, although off the track, the results of a state vote this month likely will make it more difficult to bring in added gaming.

The optimism centers around the track's large horse population and growing stakes program. This year it will offer some $3.74 million in added money events throughout the meeting. 

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Tampa's top stakes offerings, the $200,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) scheduled Feb. 9 and $400,000 Lambolm South Tampa Bay Derby (G2) March 9, are both qualifying races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, with the first offering 10-4-2-1 to the top four finishers and the latter 50-20-10-5. 

Graded stakes on turf, like the $175,000 Tampa Bay (G3T), $225,000 Hillsborough (G2T) for fillies and mares, $200,000 Florida Oaks (G3T) for 3-year-old fillies, as well as the $175,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes (G3T) for fillies and mares, in the past attracted such stars as champions Tepin and World Approval. 

With 15% boosts in purses for all six stakes on Florida Cup day March 30—$115,000 each—that afternoon of six stakes restricted to state-breds figures to attract a strong group of runners.

While the track appears ready for another big season of racing, there are concerns as it continues to compete with tracks that use slot machine money to boost purses. Tampa Bay Downs has managed to run a profitable pari-mutuel operation to support its racing, along with onsite poker, which accounts for approximately 6%-7% of its overall income.

This month's passage of Amendment 3 in Florida, which changed the approval method for alternative forms of gaming from a county-wide option to a state-wide ballot issue, is seen by many as a higher hurdle to any future plans to add slot machines, table games, or sports betting at Tampa.

"We (Tampa Bay Downs) were certainly disappointed to see Amendment 3 pass. We felt, and still do feel, that people in their own local counties who would be most directly affected by gaming coming to their communities had the most right to decide if that should be allowed or not," said Tampa Bay's vice president of marketing and publicity, Margo Flynn. "Having said that, we will continue to explore our options for the future and do everything we can to stay afloat in this most competitive of atmosphere.

"We are proud we've been able to produce quality racing and remain profitable, but we're also realistic enough to know that competing against other venues whose income is bolstered by outside income sources like gaming makes our job tougher and tougher every year."

In an effort to deliver the best racing possible, officials at Tampa have been doing their due diligence while reviewing applications for stalls, Flynn said.

"We've carefully researched our applicants from a standpoint of number of starts, past history both here and at other tracks, and other factors that would make a stable the type of outfit we want racing with us," Flynn said. "There's no question we're in a battle for horses, but that's the case everywhere around the business. It's no secret there are fewer horses to go around. We are encouraged to have outfits like that of Jason DaCosta and Michael Stidham returning this season. 

"Jason was here for several seasons before electing to stay up north last season but is back, and he brings an outfit that is just the type a racing program needs, with horses from bottom-level claimers right up to allowance and stakes-level runners. Stidham has a large operation that includes a number of top horses and has divisions at several tracks, and he isn't afraid to ship horses from one of the tracks where he races to another to get results," Flynn pointed out, "We've seen the requests for stalls increase from a number of our regulars. It seems quite a few stables have beefed up their outfits with more horses than the past few years, which is encouraging."