Officials at Tampa Bay Downs have released the richest stakes schedule in its 92-year history, offering 28 black-type events worth a combined $3.65 million.
As usual, the GII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is the focal point of the schedule and features purse money of $400,000 an increase of $50,000 from 2016. The Derby, used as a springboard to Triple Crown race success by Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}), Super Saver (Maria's Mon) and Tapwrit (Tapit) in recent years, is one of three graded stakes on the Mar. 10 Festival Day, which also includes the $225,000 (up from $200,000) GII Hillsborough S. and the $200,000 GIII Florida Oaks. The Feb. 10 live program also features a trio of graded events, topped by the GIII Sam F. Davis, the traditional final prep for the Tampa Bay Derby, as well as the GIII Tampa Bay S. and GIII Lambholm South Endeavour S. The latter two races have each had their purses increased by $25,000 to $175,000.
“Not only are we offering more stakes than ever, with more available purse money, our schedule include races for all ages and types of horses on both dirt and turf,” said Tampa Bay Downs Vice President and General Manager Peter Berube. “We are proud of our record of attracting horses capable of winning at the highest level of the sport and pleased to offer our fans such a high quality of racing. We also strive to position our stakes races on the calendar to give horsemen the best opportunity to prepare for other major races across the country, which creates a 'win-win' scenario for them and for our fans who love seeing the big horses in their backyard.”
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