2011 Tampa Bay Downs Preview

Live racing begins at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, December 11^th, and will continue for 91 racing days until Sunday, May 8th.  This will be the 85^th season of live racing at the Oldsmar track.  First race post time at Tampa is 12:25 Eastern.

I don't think I'm alone in saying that Tampa Bay Downs is quickly establishing themselves as a favorite track for many horse players during the winter.  Gulfstream, Santa Anita and Aqueduct may have the flashier graded stakes line-up, but Tampa has for several years put together a solid race meeting with large field sizes and friendly betting opportunities.

Wagering

The FanShot the other day noted that Tampa will make a slight cut in takeout for Pick 3, Pick 5, Super Hi-5 and Pick Six wagers this meet, and will also offer a $0.50 Pick 3 to go along with their $0.50 Pick 4s and Trifectas and $0.10 Superfectas.  Among the other player friendly feature at Tampa Bay is live video streaming of all races and free race replays on their website.

Takeout for all wagers at Tampa during the 2010-2011 will be as follows:

Win, Place, Show: 17.5%
Exacta: 20.5%
Trifecta, Superfecta: 25.9%
Daily Double: 18%
Pick 3, Pick 4, Super Hi-5, Pick Six: 18%

Tampa Bay offers rolling Daily Doubles, rolling Pick 3s beginning with the second race, two Pick 4s (early begins with race 3; Late ends with last four races), and a Super Hi-5 (race 4 and the last race of the day)

Daniel Centeno won the jockey title during the 2009-2010 meet, with 133 wins in 506 mounts.  Rosemary Homeister, Jr. finished second with 98 in 492. 

Kathleen O'Connell and Jamie Ness tied for the lead in trainers wins with 51 (O'Connell: 51-for-268, Ness: 51-for-143), and Ness led all trainers with $675,601 in earnings.

Graded Stakes

The graded stakes lineup at Tampa might not have the depth of Gulfstream or Santa Anita, but the track will feature a record five graded stakes races for the 2010-2011 meet.  The Tampa Bay Derby, elevated to Grade 2 status for the first time in 2011, will offer a purse of $350,000, up from $250,000 in 2010.  Additionally, the Tampa Bay Stakes received Grade 3 status.

Post Positions

Below are the stats for each post position from the 2009-2010 meet at Tampa Bay Downs.  Notice that races under a mile on the main track are pretty fair across the spectrum of positions, while raes over a mile see a fairly high concentration of winners from post 1 and 2.  The turf course is somewhat the opposite in that the Sprint races see a bit more inside bias than the routes, although it should be noted that there aren't that many turf sprints run at Tampa.

You can find this same post position information at the Tampa Bay Downs website (link).