At Tampa Bay Downs, Opening Day is always an occasion for celebration.
The return of Thoroughbred race horses to Florida’s west coast — accompanied by dozens of trainers and jockeys who thrive on competition — enlivens the Bay Area’s sporting scene each November.
But rarely has any opener been as eagerly anticipated as Wednesday’s.
Despite two powerful hurricanes, Helene and Milton, that devastated large portions of the Gulf Coast and wreaked havoc on the track’s barn area, the 2024-25 season is set to go on as scheduled, with a nine-race card set to begin at 12:40 p.m.
The co-features are the first race, a $53,000, 6-furlong maiden special weight event for fillies and mares 3-years-old-and-upward, and the sixth, a $53,000, 6-furlong conditional allowance/optional claiming race for horses 3-and-upward.
Admission is free, as it will be each Wednesday throughout the 89-day meet.
Credit the track’s Maintenance Department, headed by Tom McLaughlin, for restoring the backside in time for horses to begin moving in two weeks ago. Standing water was pumped out, debris cleared and roofs and other structures repaired and rebuilt through a concerted, around-the-clock effort.
Both the main dirt track and the turf course (which, weather permitting, will see action on the second day of racing Saturday) largely escaped any damage, and McLaughlin and his crew have both surfaces in tip-top shape.
Familiar faces abound, with 12 of last season’s 15 leading jockeys and 12 of the top 15 trainers set to return.
Heading the jockey ranks is Samy Camacho, who has won five Oldsmar riding titles, the last four in a row. Camacho, 36, is in position to join rival Daniel Centeno and retired great Mike Manganello as the Oldsmar oval’s only six-time champions. Camacho is named to ride in eight races Wednesday.
It’s possible Camacho’s main rival will be 2023-24 runner-up Antonio Gallardo, another five-time Tampa Bay Downs champ. Gallardo, who set the track season record in 2014-15 with 147 winners, enjoyed an outstanding summer and early fall, winning the title at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pa., with 118 victories.
Besides Camacho, Gallardo and Centeno, past Oldsmar track champions Ronnie Allen, Jr., Jesus Castanon and Willie Martinez are set to compete this season.
Other top returning riders include Marcos Meneses and Melissa Iorio, who tied Centeno for fourth place last season with 41 winners; Pablo Morales; Jose Ferrer; Angel Arroyo; Jose Batista; Samuel Marin; Hector Rafael Diaz, Jr.; Alonso Quinonez; and Ademar Santos.
A notable newcomer is Joe Rocco, Jr., who has ridden more than 1,600 career winners. Rocco, who earned his first victory here in his career debut in 1999 at age 16 on Rainbow’s Rajab for late trainer Sam Cronk, is named on three horses Wednesday (his father, retired jockey Joe Rocco, rode his first winner here in 1979 when the track was called Florida Downs).
On the training side, Kathleen O’Connell, who began her career in 1981, will be looking to defend her title. She sent out 54 winners last season and was the only trainer whose horses surpassed $1-million ($1,310,431) in purse earnings. Her victory total of 54 enabled her to end runner-up Gerald Bennett’s incredible streak of eight consecutive training crowns.
O’Connell, who until recently was the sport’s No. 1 woman trainer in total victories (Linda Rice currently leads her by 2,519-2,512), is gunning for her fourth Oldsmar title, having also won in 1998-99 and 2009-10, when she tied Jamie Ness at the top (Ness, a nine-time champ who sent out 23 winners here last season, has elected not to return).
Other trainers coming back include Bennett, who has saddled 4,170 winners; Jose Francisco D’Angelo and Gregg Sacco, who tied for third last season with 31 winners; Juan Arriagada, who was fifth with 27 winners and was the track’s leading owner for the second year in a row; H. Graham Motion; Juan Carlos Avila; Eoin Harty; Saffie A. Joseph, Jr; Arnaud Delacour; Mike Dini; Derek Ryan; Tim Hamm; Anthony Granitz; David VanWinkle; Darien Rodriguez; Victor Carrasco, Jr.; Michael Simone; and Rohan Crichton.
Additions include Eric R. Reed, who won the 2022 Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve with Rich Strike, and Jon Arnett, the 2022-23 Oldsmar runner-up who trained in Louisiana last winter.
