As the road to the 147th Kentucky Derby rolls along, US Racing looks back at some history of many of the prep races that now offer qualifying points to Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs on May 1.
By Margaret Ransom
In the earliest running’s of Tampa Bay Downs’ $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3), set for its’ 41st edition on Saturday, the race wasn’t typically considered a serious race for trainers with legitimate sophomores headed toward the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.
All that changed, however, in the early 2000s when a talented and fan-favorite runner named Burning Roma, who was fourth in the previous year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), captured the race before going on to win the Tampa Bay Derby and establishing himself as a legit graded stakes performer who ran at the elite level 36 times in his career.
Road to the Derby points
Bluegrass Cat, who was second in the 2006 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1), followed soon after, as did notable names Any Given Saturday, General Quarters, Vinceremos, McCracken, Flameaway, Well Defined and Sole Volante a year ago. Though no classic winners so far have emerged from a win here, the 1 1/16-mile event has turned into a popular spot for Derby hopefuls, especially since it offers valuable Road to the Derby points to the top-four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 scale.
Tampa Bay Derby
This race, which was named for the former president of Tampa Bay Downs and one of Tampa’s best-known businessmen who passed away in 1993, was inaugurated in 1981 and has served as the traditional prep for the Tampa Bay Derby (G2), which has been set for March 6. Five winners of the Sam Davis have gone on to win the Tampa Bay Derby — Phantom Jet (1987), Speedy Cure (1991), Marco Bay (1993), Thundering Storm (1996) and Burning Roma (2001).
Todd Pletcher has saddled six winners of this race (Bluegrass Cat, 2006; Any Given Saturday, 2007; Rule, 2010; Brethren, 2011; Vinceremos, 2-14; and Destin, 2016) while John Velazquez has been aboard three winners, all for Pletcher (Bluegrass Cat, Rule and Destin).
Flameaway in 2019 posted the fastest time in 1:42.44.
And even though the winner of a Triple Crown race has yet to emerge from this race, a good field (11 were entered) will assemble Saturday with the winner hoping to turn that luck around and be a factor in one of the three jewels of the Triple Crown.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, fans and spectators are welcome to attend live racing at Tampa Bay Downs though all patrons are required to wear masks and maintain appropriate social distancing. In addition, all public areas are regularly and routinely sanitized.
Saturday’s morning rain showers are expected to diminish by the afternoon, but will likely pick up again during the late afternoon and into the evening, so a wet track is possible.
The race is carded as the 11th with a post time of 5:02 p.m. ET.
Sam F. Davis Stakes Field
By post position (with riders and trainers in parentheses):
- Hidden Stash (Hector Diaz, Jr., Victoria Oliver)
- Joe Man Joe (Huber Villa-Gomez. David Fisher)
- Known Agenda (John Velazquez, Todd Pletcher)
- Millean (Roberto Alvarado, Jr., Todd Pletcher)
- Smiley Sobotka (Daniel Centeno, Dale Romans)
- Runway Magic (Julien Leparoux, Rusty Arnold)
- Boca Boy (Antonio Gallardo, Cheryl Winebaugh)
- Nova Rags (Samy Camacho, Bill Mott)
- Candy Man Rocket (Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott)
- Ricochet (Jesus Castanon, Kelsey Danner)
- Lucky Law (Robby Albarado, Patrick Biancone)
- Last Investment (Ademar Santos, Stacy Hendry)
- Tiz Tact Toe (Alonso Quinonez, Bob Hess, Jr.)
California native and lifelong horsewoman Margaret Ransom is a graduate of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. She got her start in racing working in the publicity departments at Calder Race Course and Hialeah Park, as well as in the racing office at Gulfstream Park in South Florida. She then spent six years in Lexington, KY, at BRISnet.com, where she helped create and develop the company’s popular newsletters: Handicapper’s Edge and Bloodstock Journal.
After returning to California, she served six years as the Southern California news correspondent for BloodHorse, assisted in the publicity department at Santa Anita Park and was a contributor to many other racing publications, including HorsePlayer Magazine and Trainer Magazine. She then spent seven years at HRTV and HRTV.com in various roles as researcher, programming assistant, producer and social media and marketing manager.
She has also walked hots and groomed runners, worked the elite sales in Kentucky for top-class consignors and volunteers for several racehorse retirement organizations, including CARMA.
In 2016, Margaret was the recipient of the prestigious Stanley Bergstein Writing Award, sponsored by Team Valor, and was an Eclipse Award honorable mention for her story, “The Shocking Untold Story of Maria Borell,” which appeared on USRacing.com. The article and subsequent stories helped save 43 abandoned and neglected Thoroughbreds in Kentucky and also helped create a new animal welfare law known as the “Borell Law.”
Margaret’s very first Breeders’ Cup was at Hollywood Park in 1984 and she has attended more than half of the Breeders’ Cups since. She counts Holy Bull and Arrogate as her favorite horses of all time. She lives in Pasadena with her longtime beau, Tony, two Australian Shepherds and one Golden Retriever.