The Road to the Kentucky Derby continues on Super Bowl weekend with the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes. The Grade 3 1 1/16 mile race for 3-year-olds is held at Tampa Bay Downs and offers Kentucky Derby points for the top four finishers (10-4-2-1). The race is one of the final minor Kentucky Derby preps ahead of the 16 Championship Series races that award 50 or 100 points to the race winners. That includes the Tampa Bay Derby on March 12.
Three other stakes races at Tampa Bay Downs precede the featured Sam F. Davis Stakes, which is race 10 on Saturday, Feb. 12, with post time at 4:54 EST.
Sam F. Davis field and odds
A full field of 12 is expected to go to post, with the horse race betting odds favoring Classic Causeway.
Post | Horse | Odds | Jockey | Trainer |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Mr. Rum Runner | 20-1 | R. Maragh | P. Biancone |
2 | Unpredictable Bay | 20-1 | A. Quinonez | A. Ali |
3 | Classic Causeway | 3-1 | Irad Ortiz Jr. | B. Lynch |
4 | Golden Glider | 12-1 | A. Gallardo | M. Casse |
5 | God of Love | 10-1 | R. Hernandez | M. Casse |
6 | Trademark | 15-1 | D. Centeno | V. Oliver |
7 | Make It Big | 9-2 | J. Ortiz | S. Joseph Jr. |
8 | Shipsational | 6-1 | J. Castellano | E. Barker |
9 | Howling Time | 5-1 | J. Talamo | D. Romans |
10 | Volcanic | 12-1 | E. Gonzalez | M. Casse |
11 | Strike Hard | 6-1 | L. Reyes | M. Williams |
12 | Kitten Mischief | 12-1 | M. Franco | J. Thomas |
Classic Causeway finished second and third in a pair of Kentucky Derby prep races at the end of 2021. He’s a son of great sire and 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Giant’s Causeway.
History of the Sam F. Davis prep race
The inaugural race was in 1981, and the Sam F. Davis Stakes earned Grade 3 status in 2009. No Sam F. Davis winner has ever won a Triple Crown race, but 13 of the last 15 editions have produced at least one Kentucky Derby runner, and 2016 winner Destin just missed in the Belmont Stakes, finishing second by a nose. Since 2000, there have been 28 Sam F. Davis runners that have gone on to race in the Kentucky Derby. That includes last year’s fifth-place Sam F. Davis finisher Known Agenda, who went on to win the Florida Derby and finish ninth in the Kentucky Derby at 10-1 odds. Hidden Stash finished third in last year’s Sam F. Davis and second in the Tampa Bay Derby but did not factor in the Kentucky Derby, finishing in 16th place at long odds.
The race is always worth watching, as it serves as a prep race for the Tampa Bay Derby on March 12, which awards 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner and secures a spot at Churchill Downs and a Run for the Roses.
The 2017 Sam F. Davis offered Kentucky Derby points for the first time since 2013, and the race drew its strongest field in years and offered more betting interest and competition. The favorite McCraken won the 2017 Sam F. Davis in a then-record time of 1:42.45, coming from more than four lengths off the pace at the three-quarter pole. Runner up Tapwrit, at 9-1 odds, finished second, and he went on to win the 2017 Belmont Stakes.
The following year, the 2018 Sam F. Davis winner set the new speed record, as Flameaway went wire-to-wire at 10-1 odds to win in 1:42.44, beating the race favorite Catholic Boy by a half-length and Vino Rosso a close third. Flameaway was a surprise winner who had run better on the turf and over sloppy dirt tracks. He went on to finish second in the Tampa Bay Derby but was never a factor in the Kentucky Derby.
Flameaway was sired by the late Scat Daddy, who also sired the 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify. But it was Vino Rosso who went on to have the best career of nearly any Sam F. Davis runner. Trained by Todd Pletcher, Vino Rosso missed the board running in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes but would go on to win nearly $5 million on the racetrack and finish his career with a Breeders’ Cup Classic win in 2019.
Trainer Todd Pletcher has won the race six times since 2016, including with Destin. Jockey John Velazquez has ridden four of those winners, including Destin and 2006 winner Bluegrass Cat, who finished second in the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes and Travers.