tampa bay downs

Mike Allen isn’t given to waxing nostalgic about his 32-plus years as a jockey, even after his 2,000th career victory Friday at Tampa Bay Downs unleashed a flood of memories. But the reaction from family, friends and horsemen helped him put the magnitude of the achievement in perspective. “I had one trainer say, ‘What percentage […]

Too Charming broke her maiden in the third race on the turf at Tampa Bay Downs on Sunday(contested before the skies opened), rolling to a length-and-a-quarter victory from Lemon Princess. Daniel Centeno rode the winner, a homebred dau ghter of Bernardini-Tout Charmant racing for Godolphin and trained by Tom Albertrani. The race featured the career […]

Mike Allen, who has been on both ends of enough photo finishes to know the score, had a quick quip for Samy Camacho after their mounts crossed the wire together in the first race at Tampa Bay Downs. “I said ‘You didn’t get me this time, Samy,’ ” Allen recounted after winning by a nose […]

The Tampa Bay Downs winner’s circle has seen many well-known racehorses in its time, from Kentucky Derby winners to Breeders’ Cup winners. But its most famous – and possibly most frequent – four-legged visitor is a rescued miniature horse named Mouse. Mouse has been the track’s official mascot for nearly a decade now, according to […]

Every time he exercised Navy Armed Guard this season, David Delgado thirsted for a chance to ride the 3-year-old gelding in a race. When that opportunity came on March 24 at Tampa Bay Downs, Delgado felt as giddy as a schoolboy before his first dance. “It was a long time since I’d been on a […]

With his 30th birthday next month, jockey Samy Camacho has discovered new levels of ability and maturity that are enabling him to excel on a day-in, day-out basis. The Venezuela native rode five winners on Saturday’s  card at Tampa Bay Downs, giving him nine victories over the last three racing days. With 66 victories during the […]

Jockey Jose Ferrer, a mainstay on the eastern seaboard dating back to 1982, will be on-hand at Santa Anita on Sunday, April 15 to receive the 2018 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award in a Winner’s Circle ceremony between races. Ferrer, 54, outpolled fellow riders Alex Birzer, Javier Castellano, Rodney Prescott and Joe Talamo in winning the 69th Woolf […]

Before today’s $100,000 Florida Cup Horse Races NOW Sprint at Tampa Bay Downs, Luis Carvajal, Jr., experienced the uneasy feeling most trainers get after sending a 1-5 shot postward. “Everybody said they were afraid of this horse because he finished second in the (TwinSpires) Breeders’ Cup Sprint, but it’s a horse race and we’ve seen […]

The Florida breeding and racing industries will be spotlighted Sunday at Tampa Bay Downs during the track’s 16th annual Florida Cup Day celebration. Many of the best registered Florida-bred horses in training, along with such top jockeys as Javier Castellano, Julien Leparoux, Jose Ortiz and Joe Bravo, will compete in six $100,000 races – three on the main […]

Scott Spieth keeps looking for new challenges. After winning the riding title last year at Delaware Park, the 51-year-old jockey plans to move his tack to Presque Isle Downs in western Pennsylvania at the end of the current Tampa Bay Downs meeting. Spieth will be accompanied by his wife, trainer Aldana Gonzalez, whose clients include […]