Superstar jockeys Irad Ortiz, Jr., and Flavien Prat, along with Hall of Fame member Javier Castellano, Gulfstream Park mainstay Edwin Gonzalez and other out-of-town fortune-seekers, will descend on Tampa Bay Downs on Saturday for Festival Preview Day, highlighted by the $250,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes for 3-year-olds.
As would be expected whenever $625,000 in purse money is up for grabs, Ortiz and Prat – who have combined for seven of the last eight Eclipse Awards as Outstanding Jockey, with Prat winning the last two – are named to ride in all four stakes. They are likely to ride the two betting favorites in the Sam F. Davis, with Ortiz named on Renegade for trainer Todd Pletcher and Prat aboard Confessional for Brad Cox.
Prat won last year’s Sam F. Davis on the Cox-trained John Hancock. Ortiz has won the race twice, on Classic Causeway in 2022 and on Ocean Knight in 2015.
There is a good chance Ortiz could be on three betting favorites for the stakes. Pletcher’s 3-year-old filly Zany is almost certain to be the betting choice in the $125,000 Suncoast Stakes and 7-year-old gelding Concrete Glory, trained by Saffie A. Joseph, Jr., might end up the favorite in the $125,000 Pelican, which looks like the most wide-open of the stakes.
The Florida-bred 5-year-old mare Mystic Lake, another Joseph-trainee who will be ridden by Prat, is the probable choice for the $125,000 Minaret Stakes.
Although no Tampa Bay Downs-based jockey has won the Sam F. Davis since Pablo Morales in 2019 on Well Defined, you’re unlikely to hear complaints from any quarters when the best in the world – or certainly, at least, North America – come to town to get an early start to the year on adding to their substantial bankrolls.
The appearance of such rare talents as Ortiz and Prat – guys who might have found work more than a century ago as Wild West gunslingers, so consistent are their performances – stimulates betting, increases media coverage and gives the hometown riders a chance to create a lifetime memory, as Morales did seven years ago.
Saturday’s 11-race card begins at 12:10 p.m. The 6-furlong Minaret for older fillies and mares and the Suncoast Stakes for 3-year-old fillies will be run back-to-back as the fourth and fifth races, with the Pelican for older horses and the Sam F. Davis the 10th and 11th races, respectively.
Castellano will bid for his first Sam F. Davis trophy on The Puma, whom he rode to an impressive second-place finish in his lone career start on Jan. 10 at Gulfstream.
Gonzalez has a pair of Florida-bred stakes mounts for Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett: Fly Life in the Suncoast and 4-year-old Naughty Rascal in the Pelican. Gonzalez won last year’s Pasco Stakes on Naughty Rascal.
Tampa Bay Downs leading jockey Samuel Marin is the only “hometown” rider with four stakes mounts Saturday. He’ll ride Long Gone Sally in the Minaret for trainer Lynn Rarick; Lightscape in the Suncoast for Tom Proctor; Wound Up in the Pelican for Jose Francisco D’Angelo; and Dr. Kapur in the Sam F. Davis for Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
Heady stuff for the down-to-earth 24-year-old, who faces the challenge of putting aside his admiration for the sport’s top names when the starting gate opens.
“Just being able to ride in races like this, and knowing trainers want you to ride their horse even with the great riders coming from out of town, is something special,” Marin said. “It makes us want to keep working harder and harder to go for it and keep the ball rolling.
“It’s a great feeling to be part of races like this, especially against those kind of jockeys. I love it. It is something different and you get to learn a lot, not only from competing against them but by watching the races later.
“I have to give thanks to all of the trainers who have been supporting me this meet and to my agent (Mike Moran) who has been doing a great job for me,” added Marin, last year’s meet champion who has ridden 64 winners this season.
Israel Rodriguez is Martin’s Italian Jockey of Month. In his second season at Tampa Bay Downs, Israel Rodriguez has yet to achieve the level of recognition he enjoyed last year at Presque Isle Downs, where he finished fourth in the standings with 57 winners.
But the 30-year-old San Juan, Puerto Rico product is confident his time will come as long as he stays consistent in his approach.
“I’m trying to hustle every single day,” said Rodriguez, who has climbed into a tie for sixth place with 12 victories, earning the Martin’s Italian Jockey of the Month Award. “Every jockey back here is fighting for the same thing. There are a lot of good jockeys here with a lot of talent, so I’m trying to get on a lot of horses in the mornings” (to get his name better known).
Rodriguez tied for 12th in last season’s Tampa Bay Downs standings with 23 winners, despite riding without an agent. Working this season with John Moran, he is on pace to comfortably pass that total.
Rodriguez won a career best 81 races in 2025.
For any jockey, sticking to the task is a daily challenge. He and his wife Valeria Rosa have a 5-month-old son Noah, and sacrifices must be made, such as not always getting as much sleep as they’d like. Valeria also has a job, and with today’s rare Thursday card, rival and good friend Pablo Morales – who was done after the third race – offered to watch the youngster for a few hours.
Rodriguez has two other sons, 11-year-old Jared and 4-year-old Inael, living in Puerto Rico.
Although he is a relative newcomer to the Oldsmar oval, Rodriguez has been riding since 2014, getting his start at Camarero in Canovanas, Puerto Rico. He won three graded stakes races there from 2017-2018, but had already impressed stateside when given the opportunity.
Shortly after turning 19, he won the New York Stallion Series Stakes at Aqueduct aboard trainer Ken McPeek’s 2-year-old colt Chasing Bubbles.
At Tampa Bay Downs and Presque Isle Downs, Rodriguez has worked closely with trainer Kevin Rice. Last August they teamed to win the Satin and Lace Stakes with 4-year-old filly Ms. Tart. New opportunities keep arriving, and Rodriguez is determined to make the most of them.
“Everybody waits for their moment, and until it comes you have to keep working. You can’t look at the past. You just have to keep going every single day,” Rodriguez said. “I like it here and I like all the people. I’m blessed to be working with John Moran and I’m winning races, so I’m happy. I feel comfortable here and I want to keep trying because I know my moment will come.”
Around the oval. Thoroughbred racing continues Friday with a nine-race card beginning at 12:35 p.m.
