Tampa Bay Downs

[GaryG]

Opens Saturday...:jump: :jump: :jump:

11 races with overflow fields....yum yum! They start racing on Sat and Tue but ramp up after Christmas. No better track if you like big competitive fields of relatively cheap horses.

[skate]

sounds good to me, thanks.


i think i need a few more hours in the Day.

FG also has a nice card, 5th thru 11th, on this Sat.

[john del riccio]

TAM is a great place to play.

Turf racing is very under-rated as well.

John

[Bristol]

Tampa is an example of a place doing something right.:)

[john del riccio]

Tampa is an example of a place doing something right.:)

....except that they don't deal with ADW's.

John

[onefast99]

I have two there and cant wait until they run on the 21st.

[equicom]

11 races with overflow fields....yum yum!

Only useful if they are quality races. If they had 20 races and they were all rubbish ones, then it is just more opportunities to lose your money.

[GaryG]

Only useful if they are quality races. If they had 20 races and they were all rubbish ones, then it is just more opportunities to lose your money.Don't know what you mean by "rubbish". I much prefer to bet medium grade tracks rather than CA and NY. There are many good betting opportunities and they aren't all 6-5. Some great Pick 4 payoffs there.

[trigger]

....except that they don't deal with ADW's.

John

Tampa is listed n Youbet's track list. It's my understanding that they don't deal with CRW type operators and rebaters.

[Grits]

You may not have noted the quality at Gulfstream in their last two seasons of winter racing.

Tampa's racing is every bit as good, on any afternoon, as Gulfstream's. Their turf events are excellent, while most players that focus on turf, have long since learned so.

Only useful if they are quality races. If they had 20 races and they were all rubbish ones, then it is just more opportunities to lose your money.

[JimG]

If TVG had any sense, they would feature Tampa every day of the meet. I'm not even sure they are broadcasting Tampa this year. They were listed as a feature track in the recent HRTV promotional materials.

Jim

[john del riccio]

If TVG had any sense, they would feature Tampa every day of the meet. I'm not even sure they are broadcasting Tampa this year. They were listed as a feature track in the recent HRTV promotional materials.

Jim

The first month at TAM I usually tread lightly because I like to see a race over the surface. Many many horses with seemingly more talent don't then they show care for that surface or at least take a race or two to get used to it. By January, its a great place to play.

John

[john del riccio]

The first month at TAM I usually tread lightly because I like to see a race over the surface. Many many horses with seemingly more talent don't then they show care for that surface or at least take a race or two to get used to it. By January, its a great place to play.

John

I meant to say...

Many many horses with seemingly more talent then they show, don't care for that surface, or at least take a race or two to get used to it.

I still don't know the interpretation of what I actually did say.....

John:confused:

[GaryG]

I agree John, although there are some opportunities for overlays in December with shippers coming in from everywhere. Tim Ritchie is there this year and jock Jose Velez.

[john del riccio]

I agree John, although there are some opportunities for overlays in December with shippers coming in from everywhere. Tim Ritchie is there this year and jock Jose Velez.

Gary,

Ritchie is a solid horsemen for sure but I would be very leary of Velez at this stage of his career. he is an ALL or nothing jock. I iknow from personal experieince. If he wants to ride he will, the problem is determining if he is going to try his best. I've seen his riding decline at MTH over the past several years and he appreasd too be mailing it in on more occasions than not.

JOhn

[njcurveball]

I've seen his riding decline at MTH over the past several years and he appreasd too be mailing it in on more occasions than not.

JOhn

I always wonder why the owners do not simply take the guy off the horse. If someone not connected can tell this is happening, then it should be even more visible to the people paying the bills.

Racing is one of the businesses where you can fire people instantly for doing a bad job without worrying about getting sued over where they were born or their gender, age, etc. Bad workers should not be tolerated anywhere.

There are hungry jocks out there, if Velez mails in a ride at Tampa, I hope their stewards call him in and give him a weeks vacation.

[shanta]

Keep an eye on jock Jessie Garcia. Kid rides pretty good and flies under the radar lot of times.

[john del riccio]

I always wonder why the owners do not simply take the guy off the horse. If someone not connected can tell this is happening, then it should be even more visible to the people paying the bills.

Racing is one of the businesses where you can fire people instantly for doing a bad job without worrying about getting sued over where they were born or their gender, age, etc. Bad workers should not be tolerated anywhere.

There are hungry jocks out there, if Velez mails in a ride at Tampa, I hope their stewards call him in and give him a weeks vacation.

Jim,

Despite what I have read here on occasion, the jockey makes a HUGE difference in a horses performance IMO. Since we don't get to see Seattle Slew everyday, lets not use truly great or even erry, very talented horses as the common demoninator because the grade B & below jocks will never ride those types. If football is a game of inches then racing is a game of split second decisions. Race riding takes alot more talent, patieince, and decision making than people give it credit for. Then there is the interaction between horse and rider; chemistry if you will.

My point is that firing a jockey is easy but getting an adequate replacement is not. Regarding Velez, several years ago, I had a real nice turf horse that won a few in a row down at FG and was the ML favorite in a 50k claimer but we decided to scratch and ship him to Florida. te rteason being is that we were going to run at MTH and the trainer at the FG was not going to be stabled at MTH so we wanted to have the new trainer get familiar with him prior to th MTH meet. We ran him in a NW3x at GP in a FIVE HORSE FIELD. There were no killers in there and based on his form, running style, and figs, he had a great shot. We put Velez on him and velez had ridden him to vctory for twice before the previous summer at MTH so he was familiar with the horse.

He breaks from the rail, shows good interest early and Velez gets ancy approaching the firt turn so he pulls him back. Going around the first turn, he swings him wide and he is making a move to the lead in the clear on the outside. he takes back again going down the backside to LAST and gets on the rail. Approaching the top of the stretch he swings wide IN A FIVE HORSE FIELD and gets beat a length for the money. Velez gets off the horse and tells the trainer " he didn't try".

I almost threw my cell phone out the window. AGAINST MY JUDGEMENT, we ride velez back in his first race back at MTH and he didn't move a muscle on him. When he got off the horse, I was there to meet him and asked him what happened, he replied with "he didn't like the course". I said "Jose, he WAS 3-3 over this course, if you don't want to ride the horse, why don't you just say so". He just walked awy and that was the last time I ever rode him. He had won for me twice with this horse and a few other times in NY so its not like he didn't know me. We spent the next 5 races trying to find a jock that fit him and we never did. He lost interest, we dropped him in and he got claimed.

Velez used to be a tiger, he is barely a puddy-tat now.

John

[njcurveball]

. AGAINST MY JUDGEMENT, we ride velez back in his first race back at MTH and he didn't move a muscle on him.

This was EXACTLY my point. I think we can agree that any other jock is better than someone who doesn't want to ride your horse.

More owners should fire the guy on the spot rather than go through yet another no-win ride.

[rrbauer]

Speaking of jocks:

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=42377

[JustMissed]

Speaking of jocks:

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=42377

After Manoel Cruz left Tampa for Calder, some of those guys were definitely in the top tier.

I usually did well with T.D. Houghton and Joe Judice when they had one ready to pop.

Broke my heart when Don Rice got banned for milkshakes. Don with Tommy Pompel on a Bruccini horse was tuff to beat. For a while I thought I might actually have to get a job. :lol: :lol: :lol:

Good luck,

JM ;)

[JustRalph]

The first month at TAM I usually tread lightly because I like to see a race over the surface. Many many horses with seemingly more talent don't then they show care for that surface or at least take a race or two to get used to it. By January, its a great place to play.

John

Sometimes you can score in the early weeks of the meet by having lifetime pp's for a horse. Many repeat the same pattern for a few years........they show up at tampa and run a big one early..........I nailed a huge price from a horse coming down from Suffolk for the second year in a row. He had won off a layoff a year earlier almost to the day (at a price) and repeated it again.

[onefast99]

Gary,

Ritchie is a solid horsemen for sure but I would be very leary of Velez at this stage of his career. he is an ALL or nothing jock. I iknow from personal experieince. If he wants to ride he will, the problem is determining if he is going to try his best. I've seen his riding decline at MTH over the past several years and he appreasd too be mailing it in on more occasions than not.

JOhn
Got the same "once around" from him in 2 stakes races, should of known better got rid of him and the trainer!

[ElegantHorse]

Anyone know if Tampa is offering ten cent superfectas? I know that Calder finally has them.

[cnollfan]

Anyone know if Tampa is offering ten cent superfectas? I know that Calder finally has them.

Tampa is not yet offering 10-cent supers.