Tampa Bay Derby awards top-five finishers 50-25-15-10-5 Kentucky Derby qualifying points

The Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby, scheduled on Saturday, March 8 and contested at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main dirt track, awards 50 "Road to the Kentucky Derby" points to the winner toward qualifying for the 151st Run for the Roses on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is the 11th race on the card. Owen Almighty drew the No. 1 post position in the seven-horse field.

It could be argued that 3-year-old colt Owen Almighty has been the hard-luck horse of the current Tampa Bay Downs meet.

He finished a length ahead of Naughty Rascal on Jan. 11 in the Pasco Stakes, but was disqualified and placed fifth for coming in and bumping Rookie Card near the 3/8-mile pole, giving the victory to Naughty Rascal.

Stretching out from 7 furlongs to a mile-and-a-sixteenth, Owen Almighty ran an even better race on Feb. 8 in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, only to come up a half-length short against trainer Brad Cox's John Hancock after a riveting stretch duel.

Brian Lynch, the trainer of Owen Almighty, won't go so far as to say Tampa Bay Downs owes Owen Almighty one. But he has no doubt the Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing-owned star deserves a chance to prove his quality in Saturday's 45th running of the Grade III, $400,000-guaranteed Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Irad Ortiz, Jr., again in the saddle.

Chances are, Owen Almighty will again need to be at the top of his game to earn the victory. He will face the 1-2 Chad Brown-trained duo of Chancer McPatrick, a two-time Grade I winner as a 2-year-old who is ranked No. 4 on Byron King's BloodHorse Top 12 Derby Dozen Presented by Spendthrift, and No. 11-ranked Hill Road, who finished third last fall at Del Mar in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

And, for good measure, he will again face Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett's Florida-bred colt Naughty Rascal - who briefly threatened the Sam F. Davis top two on the turn for home before dropping back to sixth - as well as three others.

Lynch believes his horse is up for the challenge.

"He (Owen Almighty) is coming out of his last race as good as we could have hoped, and he has trained on well since that race," said Lynch, who won the then-Grade II Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby and then-Grade III Sam F. Davis in 2022 with Classic Causeway. "So we're excited about bringing him back to Tampa to give him another try."

While Cox elected to give John Hancock more time before his next start, Lynch is confident Owen Almighty can handle the demands of another high-level race four weeks after the Sam F. Davis.

"There's always a concern when a horse runs as hard as he did, but he may have had more race experience (than John Hancock) to absorb it a little better," said Lynch, who plans to send Owen Almighty from his Palm Meadows Training Center base in Boynton Beach to Oldsmar the morning of the race. "He's given us every sort of vibe to say 'let's have another go.' "

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby awards 50 points to the winner on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" series determining the 20 qualifiers for the Run for the Roses on May 3. The mile-and-a-sixteenth event on the Oldsmar main track is one of five stakes races on a 12-race card beginning at noon Saturday.

Although the winner of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby will be virtually assured of having enough points to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, Lynch and Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing owner Travis Boersma have elected to remove Owen Almighty from the Kentucky Derby trail, looking to focus on 7-furlong and 1-mile stakes after Saturday.

"He's probably got some distance limitations," said Lynch, referring to the Kentucky Derby's mile-and-a-quarter, "and there are some very good (stakes) races for 3-year-olds over the summer at those distances."

Right now, Lynch is craving Saturday's opportunity to bring Owen Almighty home as a graded-stakes winner. His two victories as a 2-year-old came in his career debut in a maiden special weight race at Churchill Downs and the Ellis Park Juvenile Stakes at Ellis Park. He finished second to Jonathan's Way in his third start, the Grade III Iroquois Stakes on Sept. 14 at Churchill.

"We'd not trade spots with anyone. He deserves another chance to win a race like this, and the Tampa Bay Derby is a prestigious race at a great little track," Lynch said.

"He has run well over that track, but he's the sort of horse who wherever you're going to take him, he's going to show up. He's not in love with one racetrack - he's just a racehorse."

Here is the field for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby in post position order, with trainers and jockeys:

Owen Almighty, Brian Lynch, Irad Ortiz, Jr.; 2. Chancer McPatrick, Chad Brown, Flavien Prat; 3. Hill Road, Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione; 4. Brodeur, Mark Casse, Jose Ortiz; 5. Filoso, Chad Summers, Dylan Davis; 6. Naughty Rascal, Gerald Bennett, Samy Camacho; 7. Patch Adams, Brad Cox, Florent Geroux.

Chancer McPatrick Set for Tampa Bay Derby

March 2 - Chancer McPatrick was the toast of New York as a 2-year-old, winning the Grade I Hopeful Stakes on Sept. 2 at Saratoga and the Grade I Champagne Stakes on Oct. 5 at Belmont At The Big A with tremendous come-from-behind rallies.

A sixth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance on Nov. 1 at Del Mar, his first setback in four career starts, did little to tarnish his reputation as a leading Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve prospect for 2025. Trainer Chad Brown then gave the son of McKinzie time off to have "a tiny flake" surgically removed from a front ankle, according to a published report by the Daily Racing Form.

Chancer McPatrick began working out again on Jan. 26 at Brown's Payson Park Training Center base in Indiantown and has since posted six official breezes, including a 4-furlong move Saturday in 48 4/5 seconds. He is expected to return to competition next Saturday in the 45th running of the Grade III, $400,000-guaranteed Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the centerpiece of Festival Day 45 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Brown won last year's Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Domestic Product.

The Kentucky-bred Chancer McPatrick was purchased at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training for $725,000 by Sean Flanagan of Lowell, Mass., who as a youngster attended the races at Suffolk Downs in Boston and Rockingham Park in Salem, N.H.

A victory in Saturday's mile-and-a-sixteenth test on the Oldsmar oval main track would catapult his career earnings past his exorbitant sales price, but more importantly, it would earn him 50 qualifying points in the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" series that helps to determine the 20-horse field for the Run for the Roses on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

At press time, Chancer McPatrick's main competition was expected to come from Owen Almighty, a Grade III-placed stakes-winning colt who has already competed twice this winter at Tampa Bay Downs. He finished first on Jan. 11 in the Pasco Stakes but was disqualified to fifth for interference on the far turn, then finished a valiant second to John Hancock on Feb. 8 in the Sam F. Davis Stakes.

Owen Almighty, a son of Speightstown who has run near the front in each of his five starts, is owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and trained by Brian Lynch, who captured the 2022 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Classic Causeway.

Another probable starter is Brodeur, a son of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist owned by D. J. Stable and trained by Mark Casse, who won the 2012 Tampa Bay Derby with Prospective and the 2021 running with Helium. Brodeur won his most recent start, a mile-and-a-sixteenth allowance/optional claiming race on Jan. 26 at Oaklawn Park, in front-running fashion.

Other probable Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby starters include Patch Adams, the fourth-place finisher in the Grade III Southwest Stakes on Jan. 25 at Oaklawn Park, owned by WinStar Farm and CHC, Inc., and trained by Brad Cox, and Filoso, who finished third as a 2-year-old in the Grade I Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, owned by Gold Square and trained by Chad Summers.

45th Tampa Bay Derby - Fifty Nominations Released

Feb 26 - Nominations have been released for the 45th running of the $400,000-guaranteed, Grade III Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, a major "Road to the Kentucky Derby" points race, and four other stakes scheduled on Saturday, March 8 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Total purse money for the five Festival Day 45 races is $1,075,000, making it the most lucrative day in track history. The total includes $175,000 from the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association Stakes Fund earmarked for registered Florida-breds finishing first, second or third in any of the races.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, run at a distance of a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main dirt track, awards qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve to the top five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale.

Two horses have advanced from the race to win the Kentucky Derby: Street Sense, who won both races in 2007, and Super Saver, who finished third in the 2010 Tampa Bay Derby before his Run for the Roses triumph.

The other March 8 stakes include the 27th running of the Grade II, $225,000-guaranteed Hillsborough Stakes, for fillies and mares 4-years-old-and-upward at a distance of a mile-and-an-eighth on the turf course; the 42nd running of the Grade III, $200,000 guaranteed Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; the 34th running of the Grade III, $125,000-guaranteed Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, for horses 4-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track; and the 19th running of the $125,000-guaranteed Columbia Stakes, for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the Oldsmar oval's traditional showcase, has attracted 50 3-year-old nominees. The group includes such top Kentucky Derby prospects as Chancer McPatrick, a two-time Grade I winner as a 2-year-old owned by Flanagan Racing and trained by Chad Brown; Sovereignty, a Grade III winner bred and owned by Godolphin, LLC and trained by Bill Mott; Burnham Square, a Grade III winner bred and owned by Whitham Thoroughbreds and trained by Ian Wilkes; and John Hancock, the winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay Downs, owned by WinStar Farm and CHC, Inc., and trained by Brad Cox.

Other prominent Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby nominees include Owen Almighty, the Sam F. Davis Stakes runner-up owned by Flying Dutchmen Breeding and Racing and trained by Brian Lynch; Cox's unbeaten (3-for-3) Grade III winner Disco Time, bred and owned by Juddmonte; and Poster, the third-place Sam F. Davis finisher and a Grade II winner, bred and owned by Godolphin and trained by Eoin Harty.

Cox leads all trainers with 13 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby nominees. Todd Pletcher, who has won the race a record six times, has five nominees, including Donegal Racing's Grade III-placed Gate to Wire, who won the Swale Stakes on Feb. 1 at Gulfstream Park.

Brown, who won last year's Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby with Domestic Product, has four nominees, headed by Chancer McPatrick and Amo Racing USA's Hill Road, who finished third in November in the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance at Del Mar when trained by Adrian Murray.

Sam F. Davis Winner John Hancock Possible for Tampa Bay Derby (G3)

Feb 9 - The top three finishers in Saturday's $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs - John Hancock, Owen Almighty and Poster - have climbed into the top 13 of point-getters on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby," the series of races determining eligibility for the Run for the Roses on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

John Hancock, who set a stakes record of 1:42.27 for the mile-and-a-sixteenth distance under jockey Flavien Prat in only his second career start, earned 20 points to move into a six-way tie for third on the list (tiebreakers are employed to determine a horse's official standing).

Poster earned six points for finishing third, giving him 16 and a tie for 10th with Getaway Car. Next in line with 15 are Jonathan's Way and Owen Almighty, who earned 10 points for his game second-place Sam F. Davis finish.

The top 18 point-getters through the Lexington Stakes on April 12 at Keeneland qualify for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, along with the top point-earners from Europe and Japan.

John Hancock and Owen Almighty staged a race-long duel that wasn't far off the 2007 Grade III Tampa Bay Derby showdown between Street Sense and Any Given Saturday for excitement and flat-out Thoroughbred racing excellence.

With dominant Suncoast Stakes winner La Cara, Pelican Stakes winner Nutella Fella and Minaret winner Nic's Style contributing mightily to a non-stop afternoon of thrilling competition, plus a strong roster of out-of-town jockeys, Festival Preview Day 45 was a rousing success.

Currently atop the Kentucky Derby point standings with 60 points is Citizen Bull, trainer Bob Baffert's 2024 FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance winner who kicked off his 3-year-old season on Feb. 1 by winning the Grade III Robert B. Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita.

Speed King, who won the Grade III Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 25 for trainer Ron Moquett, is second with 25 points.

The "Road to the Kentucky Derby" returns to Tampa Bay Downs on March 8 with the 45th running of the Grade III, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, also at a mile-and-a-sixteenth. In addition to being the centerpiece of a stakes-laden Festival Day 45 card, the race is part of the Kentucky Derby Championship Series, with 50 points awarded to the winner, then 25, 15, 10 and 5 to the next four finishers.

Brad Cox, who trains John Hancock for owners WinStar Farm and CHC, Inc., told the Daily Racing Form after the race he would be inclined to give the son of Constitution more time before his next start, due in large part to the demanding nature of the Sam F. Davis. Regardless of his decision, there should be no shortage of top horses seeking points to stamp a ticket to Louisville.

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