TAMPA BAY DOWNS: FIRST WAVE OF THOROUGHBRED ARRIVALS SPARKS EXCITEMENT

By Mike Henry —-

OLDSMAR – Four Tampa Bay Downs Security Guards stood outside the entrance to the barn area about 10 minutes before 7 this morning, sporting looks of eager anticipation that gave away their thoughts.
The first shipment of Thoroughbreds for the 2022-2023 meet was en route, and the guards could barely wait to start checking them in and greet the familiar faces of their handlers.
“I don’t know about you guys,” Heidi Blair said to her co-workers, “but it’s exciting to me because everything is waking up again.”
Trainer Steven Cahill, who raced at Belterra Park in Ohio this summer, drove up a few minutes later to confirm he would have four horses arriving later today. Cahill made little effort to hide his “kid in a candy store” expression as he contemplated competing at the Oldsmar oval, which is set to celebrate the start of its 97th anniversary season on Wednesday, Nov. 23.
Cahill said the area’s typical “winter” weather, which has drawn visitors en masse since the heyday of Man o’ War, is only one reason Tampa Bay Downs is so popular. Too many tracks, Cahill believes, emphasize the prospects of casino-gaming windfalls over the spectacle and thrill of horse racing.
“I love this place,” Cahill said. “I don’t care what day it is – people are out here cheering for the horses.”
Another 10 minutes passed before Blair and Co. got their first look at some of this season’s cast members, whose ranks will swell dramatically over the next few weeks. Owner-trainer Jim Tsirigotis, Jr. – also the manager of Papa Jim’s Kitchen, which caters to trainers, jockeys and backstretch personnel throughout the meet – delivered his 5-year-old Florida-bred mare Brycens Gold and his 4-year-old filly Lea Me Alone after vanning them down from Delaware Park, then getting some shut-eye at the nearby Innfields Training Center.
Tsirigotis, who expects to have seven horses stabled here, felt great to be home.
“We’ll be here as long as there is horse racing in Florida,” Tsirigotis said of himself and his mom Terry, the owner of Papa Jim’s, named after the late family patriarch. “The people, the weather, the atmosphere back here – it’s always good to come back.”
A couple of larger outfits from Monmouth Park, those of perennial leading Oldsmar trainer Gerald Bennett and Mike Dini, were next to arrive. Bennett assistant Juan Cacho Castro said he expected 22 horses by mid-afternoon, while Dini shipped 19.
“My wife and our three kids live here, so this is home,” Castro said. “I’ve been coming here 22 years, and it’s not the same anywhere else. You can see how happy the horses are by the way they’re acting. They love this weather and the environment here.”
“A lot of trainers basically have two seasons – Tampa and where we race the rest of the year,” Dini said. “And this place is very horse-friendly. It has a good racing surface that is probably one of the best in the country, and usually when your horses leave here, they’re going to do good if you put them in the right races.”
Tampa Bay Downs opens for training on Wednesday, Nov. 2.