Tampa Bay Derby 2024 | Tampa Bay Downs Picks [Kentucky Derby]

Aaron previews the 2024 Tampa Bay Derby (G3) from Tampa Bay Downs, then gives his top win pick from the Kentucky Derby prep race.

Can last-out winner No More Time build upon his impressive Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) score? Tell us YOUR thoughts in the Comments section!

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The press release:

A field of 10 3-year-olds will vie for “Road to the Kentucky Derby” qualifying points in Saturday’s Grade III, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, the main event on a 12-race Festival Day 44 card at Tampa Bay Downs.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby will be the 11^th race on a card scheduled to begin at 11:55 a.m. Admission is $15, with each patron receiving a “Mystery Mutuel Voucher” worth between $5-$1,000.

No More Time, the winner of the Oldsmar oval’s Grade III Sam F. Davis Stakes on Feb. 10, drew the No. 7 post position for the mile-and-a-sixteenth race on the main dirt track. Owned by Morplay Racing and trained by Jose Francisco D’Angelo, the Iowa-bred colt will be ridden by Javier Castellano.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is one of five stakes, four of them graded, on a 12-race Festival Day card offering $1-million in stakes purse money. The winner will earn 50 qualifying points, more than enough to qualify for the 20-horse field for the May 4 classic at Churchill Downs.

The runner-up earns 25 points, with the next three finishers picking up 15, 10 and 5, respectively. The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby has produced two winners of the Run for the Roses: Street Sense, who won both races in 2007, and Super Saver, who finished third in Oldsmar’s premier race before his Kentucky Derby victory.

Here is the full field for the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby in post position order, followed by trainer and jockey:

1. Heartened, Todd Pletcher, Jose Ortiz
2. Everdoit, Kevin Rice, Antonio Gallardo
3. Give Me Liberty, Robertino Diodoro, Pablo Morales
4. Good Money, Chad Brown, Irad Ortiz Jr.
5. Domestic Product, Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione
6. Catire Vizcaya, Juan Carlos Avila, Marcos Meneses
7. No More Time, Jose Francisco D’Angelo, Javier Castellano
8. Crazy Mason, Gregg Sacco, Mychel Sanchez
9. Grand Mo the First, Victor Barboza Jr., Samy Camacho
10. Sturdy, George Weaver, Junior Alvarado

The remaining stakes on the Festival Day 44 card include 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 course; the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks, for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf; the Grade III, $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes, for horses 4-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track; and the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.