A field of 12 3-year-olds headed by Sole Volante will compete for the winner's share of a $400,000 purse in the 40th edition of the Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is one of five stakes, four graded, on a Festival Day card offering $1-million in stakes purse money alone. It is also a "Road to the Kentucky Derby" points race, awarding qualifying points for the Run for the Roses on May 2 to the first four finishers on a 50-20-10-5 scale.

Sole Volante, the lone gelding in the field, drew the No.7 post position for the mile-and-a-sixteenth Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby on the main dirt track and has been established as the 2-1 morning-line wagering favorite, based on his impressive victory here on Feb. 8 in the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes.

Now 3-for-4 in his career, Sole Volante is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Andie Biancone and Limelight Stables Corp. and trained by Patrick Biancone. Florent Geroux will be the jockey, replacing Sam F. Davis-winning rider Luca Panici, who suffered a fractured collarbone in a fall on Feb. 21.

The second choice at 5-2 is Chance It, a Florida-bred colt owned by Shooting Star Thoroughbreds and trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. He will break from the No. 4 post under jockey Paco Lopez.

Chance It is 4-for-6 with three stakes victories, including a triumph in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes on Jan. 4 at Gulfstream Park in which he defeated Sole Volante. Chance It was scratched from last Saturday's Grade II Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream because of concerns about breaking from the extreme outside No. 11 post position and the short run to the first turn.

Although Sole Volante and Chance It possess excellent credentials, the high stakes involved virtually ensured a large Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby field.

Todd Pletcher, who has trained five Tampa Bay Derby winners, including three in a row from 2015-2017, will send out three lightly-raced starters: maiden winners Market Analysis and Texas Swing along with Unrighteous, who is still a maiden.

Market Analysis, who is owned by WinStar Farm and China Horse Club International, won his lone start going 7 furlongs on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream. Texas Swing, owned by Harrell Ventures, won his second career start, a mile-and-40-yard maiden special weight contest here on the Feb. 8 Sam F. Davis Stakes undercard.

Unrighteous, a homebred colt racing for Calumet Farm, has a fourth and a second in two starts at Gulfstream.

Pletcher's five Tampa Bay Derby winners are Limehouse (2004), Verrazano (2013), Carpe Diem (2015), Destin (2016) and Tapwrit (2017). He has won the Kentucky Derby twice, both times with horses that raced at Tampa Bay Downs. In 2010, his Super Saver won the Kentucky Derby after finishing third in the Tampa Bay Derby; in 2017, Pletcher sent eventual Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming here to break his maiden on Jan. 25.

The only other horse to win the Kentucky Derby after competing at Tampa Bay Downs was Street Sense, who won both the Oldsmar showcase and the Kentucky Derby in 2007.

Sole Volante, Independence Hall and Ajaaweed, the top three finishers in the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 8, are among 41 3-year-olds nominated to the 40th running of the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the showcase event on the March 7 Festival Day card at Tampa Bay Downs.

Sole Volante Looking for KY Derby Points in Tampa Bay Derby

Sole Volante, the Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes winner here on Feb. 8, is expected to head the field for the Grade II, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the main event on a stakes-laden afternoon of Thoroughbred racing at Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday, March 7.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is a "Road to the Kentucky Derby" points race, with the first four finishers awarded points on a 50-20-10-5 scale toward qualifying for a spot in the Run for the Roses starting gate on May 2 at Churchill Downs.

The 3-year-old gelding Sole Volante, whose name is Italian for "Flying Sun," improved to 3-for-4 with his Sam F. Davis score, punctuated by a powerful move around the far turn and a strong finish that resulted in a 2 ½-length victory from previously unbeaten Independence Hall. Sole Volante is currently ranked No. 2 on racing journalist Steve Haskin's "Derby Dozen" Presented by Shadwell Farm list of top Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve prospects.

Sole Volante will be ridden in the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby by Florent Geroux, replacing Sam F. Davis-winning jockey Luca Panici, who suffered a broken collarbone in a fall at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 21.

The 40th edition of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, run on the main track at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth, is one of five stakes on the Festival Day card, which offers a cool $1-million in stakes purse money.

Three of the four other stakes are also graded: the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes, for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf; the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; and the Grade III, $100,000 Challenger Stakes, for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track.

The fifth stakes is the $75,000 Columbia, for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.

Much can change between now and next Saturday, but Tampa Bay Downs Stakes Coordinator Gerry Stanislawzyk and the Racing Office have already established a firm foundation toward presenting an outstanding card that will draw nationwide attention.

Sole Volante's trainer, Patrick Biancone, said after the Sam F. Davis he was between the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and the Grade II TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby on March 21 at Fair Grounds for Sole Volante's next start. After Sole Volante bounced back in strong fettle from the Sam F. Davis, the decision was made to return to the Oldsmar oval.

Sole Volante, who is owned by Reeves Thoroughbred Racing in partnership with Biancone's daughter and assistant, Andie Biancone, and Limelight Stables Corp., worked out 7 furlongs Wednesday in 1:23 on the turf at Biancone's Palm Meadows Training Center base in Boynton Beach on Florida's east coast, with Geroux flying in from New Orleans for that assignment.

"After he won (the Sam F. Davis), we needed to see how he recovered and then take the best route possible," Biancone said this morning. "So we chose to come back to Tampa because, No. 1, he likes the track; No. 2, the people in Tampa are very nice; and No. 3, he is in good form and he improved in his last race."

With Kentucky Derby qualifying points at stake, there will be no shortage of challengers to the son of Karakontie-Light Blow, by Kingmambo. The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby may have picked up another quality entrant in the Florida-bred colt Chance It, a late scratch from today's Grade II Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream because of concerns about starting from the No. 12 post.

Chance It, who is owned by Shooting Star Thoroughbreds and trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., is 4-for-6 lifetime with three stakes victories, including the Mucho Macho Man Stakes on Jan. 4 at Gulfstream in his most recent start.

Other probable Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby runners as of today include the Godolphin homebred Spa City, a son of 2007 Tampa Bay Derby and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, from the barn of Kiaran McLaughlin; Louisiana-bred stakes-winning colt Relentless Dancer, trained by Michael Maker; Maker's Mo Mosa, a recent maiden special weight winner at Turfway Park; Letmeno, trained by Ian Wilkes; and King Guillermo, from the barn of Juan Carlos Avila.