A visitor to the Tampa Bay Downs barn area this morning needed to spend only a short bit of time with first-day arrivals Alison Arriagada and Alejandro Mendieta to realize both are living the dream.
Arriagada, an assistant and the exercise rider for husband Juan Arriagada – last year’s second-leading trainer and the track’s three-time defending leading owner – cheerfully oversaw the unloading of 10 horses from Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania as the sun tried to peek through the clouds above their barn.
“I love being here,” said Alison, who remained at their nearby home most of the summer with their daughter while Juan was winning the trainer and owner titles in his first season at Presque Isle Downs. “I’ve been coming here 21 years as a trainer or galloping horses or working for people, and it’s pretty exciting every year to come back. And the horses seem to love it. The backside is wide-open and you can take a little more time with them.”
The track opens for training on Wednesday at 6 a.m. The 2025-26 Tampa Bay Downs meet begins Wednesday, Nov. 19.
Even on days when Juan doesn’t have a horse competing, the couple gets to enjoy the thrills of Thoroughbred competition vicariously while working on the backstretch.
“It’s one of the few racetracks I’ve been at where you can hear fans cheering from your barn,” Alison said. “There is no casino here and there are always people at the racetrack, and that makes it fun to run horses. It’s almost like a small Keeneland, maybe, where you can hear people screaming for the horses.”
Mendieta hopes it isn’t long before spectators are cheering for his 2-year-old colt My Boy Star, who he spent time grazing outside his barn upon arriving from Belterra Park in Ohio with five other horses following a 16-hour trip. The Florida-bred, a son of the two-time Grade II winner and fine stallion Bucchero, is the first horse the owner and trainer has ever bred.
He is out of Mendieta’s 9-year-old broodmare My Sarasota Star, who won seven races and $230,120 in her racing career and resides in Ocala.
“He (My Boy Star) had some good workouts at Belterra, but I decided to wait to run him so my wife and our daughters could watch him race,” said Mendieta, who trained 14 winners at Belterra. “I’m real excited to see him run for the first time. Plus, he’s a Florida-bred, so he can run for more money.”
Mendieta, a trainer since 2023, loves spending the late fall and winter months in Oldsmar and is sure his 20 horses do as well. “The weather is beautiful and the horses can relax and come outside their barns and eat good grass,” he said.
Tampa Bay Downs has released its stakes schedule, which consists of 24 races worth $3,535,000 in purse money. The track’s showcase race has a new sponsor, with the Grade III, $400,000 ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby for 3-year-old Kentucky Derby prospects highlighting the Festival Day 46 card on Saturday, March 7.
Esmark is a diversified, privately-held family company with a portfolio of industrial companies with strong roots in the steel industry. Over the years, Esmark has diversified its interests and operations into a number of businesses engaged in the industrial and commodity sectors, focusing on several key industries including steel services, oil and gas exploration, aviation, real estate, business services, technology and sports management.
The ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby is one of five stakes on the Festival Day 46 card, along with the Grade II, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares on the turf; the Grade III, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies on the turf; the Grade III, $125,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes for older horses; and the $125,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds on the turf.
The track’s other graded stakes, both on Jan. 31 on the turf, are the Grade III, $175,000 Tampa Bay Stakes for older horses and the Grade III, $175,000 Endeavour Stakes for older fillies and mares.
Lambholm South, which had sponsored the Tampa Bay Derby since 2016, has shifted its stakes sponsorship to Sunday, March 29 – Florida Cup Day – and the $110,000 Lambholm South Sophomore Turf for 3-year-olds.
A new Florida Cup Day sponsor is the AAA Feed & Tack Store, a Tampa Bay Downs fixture on the backside since 1976. Owned and operated by Jerry Porrello and his wife Nancy, the business will sponsor the $110,000 AAA Feed & Tack Turf Classic for older horses.
The first stakes Saturday of the meet is Dec. 6, featuring the $125,000 Inaugural Stakes for 2-year-olds and the $125,000 Sandpiper Stakes for 2-year-old fillies.
Officials and staff of Tampa Bay Downs invite Thoroughbred lovers and newcomers alike to share the excitement of the Oldsmar oval’s meet-long centennial celebration, marking the track’s opening on Feb. 18, 1926.
