Tampa Bay Downs is once again proud to host Festival Preview Day Presented by Lambholm South on Saturday, February 11, 2017.

A major day of racing with implications on the national 3-year-old picture, the event will run 10-12 races, including four stakes races:
 

  • The Grade III $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-old horses at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main dirt track which will award points on ‘The Road to the Kentucky Derby’ to the first four finishers toward qualifying for a berth in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands on May 6 at Churchill Downs
  • The Grade III $150,000 Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes for fillies and mares 4 years and upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf course
  • The Grade III $150,000 Tampa Bay Stakes for horses 4 years and upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the turf course
  • The $100,000 Suncoast Stakes – which has produced victorious 3-year-old fillies that went on to win Grade I Stakes – for 3-year-old fillies at a mile-and-40-yards on the main dirt track

The Sam F. Davis, considered a major preparatory race for the biggest race of the season – the Grade II $350,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby for 3-year-olds at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main dirt track – is scheduled on their March 11 Festival Day card this year at the Tampa Bay Derby.

And while there may always be a new cast of horses every year for their big races, fans of the festival may get the chance to see a familiar mare.

“This year we may have a returnee for the Lambholm South Endeavour Stakes, the 6-year-old mare Tepin,” track publicist Mike Henry said. “She won the race last year, as well as our Grade II $200,000 Hillsborough Stakes, which provided an impetus toward her being acclaimed as the best turf-course filly or mare in the world and winning her second consecutive Eclipse Award in the Turf Female category as a result.”

Festival Preview Day Presented by Lambholm South also marks the start of the ‘Live It Up Challenge’ handicapping contest that will run through April 2. The free online promotion offers a grand prize of $2,500 and a seat at the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas.