{"id":390989,"date":"2026-09-05T03:10:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390989\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T03:10:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T03:10:55","slug":"tampa-bay-derby-purse-increased-100k-to-500k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/390989\/","title":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Derby Purse Increased $100K to $500K"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tampa Bay Downs<\/a> has released its 2026-27 stakes schedule, featuring $3,460,000 in purses across 24 stakes races, a slate highlighted by a purse increase in the 1 1\/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby (G3) that brings its value to $500,000. Esmark, a steel company operating in the aviation, industrial, steel, and energy sectors, sponsors the race.<\/p>\n

“We’re proud to build on the momentum of our historic centennial season with our stakes schedule, as it continues to attract top talent from across the country,” said Elizabeth Swarzman, director of marketing and publicity. “We are honored that ESMARK has increased The Tampa Bay Derby purse by $100,000, making it our largest purse in track history.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Festival day on March 6, 2027, will also include the\u00a0Florida Oaks (G3T) for 3-year-old fillies on turf, with a purse of $200,000; the $125,000\u00a0Challenger Stakes (G3) for older horses;\u00a0the $125,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds on turf; and the $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T) for fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward on turf.<\/p>\n

The stakes program begins on Saturday, Dec. 5, with the Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-olds, along with the Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Other stakes races in January include the Wayward Lass Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward, the Pasco Stakes for 3-year-olds, and the Gasparilla Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, all to be run on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2027.<\/p>\n

The two stakes races, both with a guaranteed purse of $175,000, held on Saturday, Jan 30, 2027 include Tampa Bay Stakes (G3T)\u00a0for 4-year-olds and upward on turf, as well as Endeavor Stakes (G3T), for fillies and mares four-years-old and upward on turf.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Downs will run a Festival Preview day on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2027, featuring the Suncoast Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, the Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-olds, the Pelican Stakes for 4-year-olds and upward, and the Minaret Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward. Festival Preview Day will total $625,000 in guaranteed purse money.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To close out the month of February, the Turf Dash for 4-year-olds and upward, along with the Lightning Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old and upward on turf, will be held on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Six Florida-bred stakes worth $110,000 apiece will be contested the following month on March 28 when Tampa Bay Downs stages its Florida Cup day.<\/p>\n

Stall applications, available online<\/a>, are due Sept. 14 for the upcoming live-racing meet. The barn area opens Oct. 28, and the track opens for training Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tampa Bay Downs has released its 2026-27 stakes schedule, featuring $3,460,000 in purses across 24 stakes races, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":390990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[156318,156317,155819,156316,70874,45703,70875,135,79249,18970,156319,156315,137,136,45702],"class_list":["post-390989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-challenger-stakes","tag-endeavor-stakes","tag-florida-oaks","tag-hillsborough-stakes","tag-sam-f-davis-stakes","tag-southeast-region","tag-suncoast-stakes","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-derby","tag-tampa-bay-downs","tag-tampa-bay-downs-stakes-schedule","tag-tampa-bay-stakes","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-thoroughbred-racing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}