Anticipation is building to a fever pitch for the Grade III,
$250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-olds at Tampa Bay Downs, one of
three official Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands prep races
scheduled across the nation for Saturday.
The Davis is the focal
point of Festival Preview Day, which marks the first time in the
track’s 87-year history three graded stakes will be contested on the
same card. The others are the Grade III, $150,000 Florida Oaks for
3-year-old fillies on the turf and the Grade III, $150,000 Endeavour
Stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf. Entries will be taken
Wednesday in the racing office for all three races, each to be run at a
mile-and-a-sixteenth.
The Sam F. Davis is part of the new points
system being employed by Churchill Downs to determine which 20 horses
qualify for the 139th running of the $2-million Kentucky Derby Presented
by Yum! Brands on May 4. Churchill Downs had used graded-stakes
earnings as the criteria since 1986.
The Davis is one of 36
stakes races comprising the points race and one of 19 races in the
"Kentucky Derby Prep Season" category. As such, it will award 10 points
to the winner, four to the second-place finisher, two to third and one
to fourth.
A total of 17 races, including the Grade II, $350,000
Tampa Bay Derby on March 9, comprise the "Kentucky Derby Championship
Series," with the Tampa Bay Derby falling into the First Leg and
awarding 50 points to the winner, 20 to second, 10 to third and five to
fourth.