Fans and horseplayers following the road to the 2024 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will direct their attention to Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla., March 9 for the 44^th running of the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby.

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The Grade 3 race is the final prep race on Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Derby prep schedule to offer a total of 105 qualifying points for the 150^th Derby on May 4, distributed to the top five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis. It has a purse of $400,000, $50,000 of which will only be awarded to the winner if the horse is a Florida-bred.

The 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby has sent one winner on to capture the roses at Churchill Downs: Street Sense in 2007. It’s become an increasingly important prep, however, over the past decade, with winners such as Destin (2016), Tacitus (2019), and Tapit Trice (2023) finishing in the top three in Triple Crown races and Tapwrit (2017) winning the Belmont Stakes. Read about some of the best winners in this article.

This year’s Tampa Bay Derby drew a field of 10 horses led by No More Time, winner of the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Feb. 10, and Domestic Product, runner-up in the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 3. The race will be televised live on FanDuel TV and has a scheduled post time of 5:18 p.m. ET.

Read on for more information about the 2024 Tampa Bay Derby starters.

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1. Heartened (10-1 morning-line odds)

Jockey: Jose Ortiz

Trainer: Todd Pletcher

Owners: St. Elias Stable, Ken Langone, C. Steven Duncker, and Vicarage Stable

Career record: 4 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $54,300

Earnings per start: $13,575

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Street Boss – Rare Find, by Bernardini

Color: Bay

Running style: Press the pace/stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: This Street Boss colt figures to get support at the betting windows and online betting accounts based on his connections – his ownership group also campaigns recent Gotham Stakes winner Deterministic – as well as his lead-in race. After finishing third, second (by a neck), and third in his first three outings, Heartened broke through with a 4 ½-length romp Feb. 10 in a one-mile and 40-yard, two-turn maiden race at Tampa Bay. He moved up to duel for the lead through the first six furlongs and found another gear coming out of the far turn to win going away under Jose Ortiz, who keeps the mount for the Tampa Bay Derby. His 94 Equibase Speed Figure from that win compares favorably with No More Time and Domestic Product, and if he can move forward in career start number five, Heartened can punch his Kentucky Derby ticket Saturday and extend Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher’s record number of wins in this race to seven. Look for Jose Ortiz to hustle Heartened out of the starting gate from the rail post position and engage No More Time for the early lead. Ortiz has won this race twice, aboard Tapwrit in 2017 and Tacitus in 2019. Pletcher’s wins came with Limehouse (2004), Verrazano (2013), Carpe Diem (2015), Destin (2016), Tapwrit, and Tapit Trice (2023).

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2. Everdoit (30-1)

Jockey: Antonio Gallardo

Trainer: Kevin Rice

Owner: Donald Ming

Career record: 5 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $46,750

Earnings per start: $9,350

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 82

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Gary D – Jaggermama, by High Cotton

Color: Gray or roan

Running style: Press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: This gelding is the only Tampa Bay Derby entrant bred in the Sunshine State and therefore the only one who could potentially snag the extra $50,000 awarded to the winner – and it’s very, very difficult to envision how he could, well, ever do it. He started in the Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 10, the local prep for Saturday’s race, and went off at 127.40-1 odds, second longest in the 12-horse field. To make matters worse, Everdoit hit the starting gate once it opened and tossed jockey Huber Villa-Gomez, and was thankfully corralled early on the backstretch after running loose. He has a couple of decent races on his résumé at Tampa from last December – a 2 ¼-length maiden win in a one-mile and 40-yard race and a runner-up effort in a 6 ½-furlong allowance race – but overall appears overmatched even against this average Tampa Bay Derby field. He also has a pedigree that is heavily tilted toward speed. His only victory did come on this track and around two turns, which should make him an early pace presence.

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3. Give Me Liberty (30-1)

Jockey: Pablo Morales

Trainer: Robertino Diodoro

Owner: Ken Ramsey

Career record: 3 starts – 0 wins – 2 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $46,957

Earnings per start: $15,652

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 83

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Constitution – The Dream, by Scat Daddy

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Stalker/closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Give Me Liberty ships into Tampa Bay Downs from Louisiana Downs after racing at Oaklawn Park in his last two starts as a maiden. He showed improvement in his most recent outing, when he finished second by three lengths in a 1 1/16-mile, two-turn race on a sloppy track in Hot Springs, Ark. He ran closer to the early pace in that start than in his two prior ones, and overcame some traffic trouble early on to rally alongside the eventual winner Dimatic coming out of the far turn. Dimatic subsequently finished a nonthreatening fifth in the Feb. 24 Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn, and overall, this son of good, young sire Constitution profiles as a longshot, back-of-the-pack type who is capable of picking off a few runners in the stretch if he gets a fast pace to close into. His dam, The Dream, a Scat Daddy mare, was a champion in her native Chile who performed best racing at a mile to a mile and a quarter but was overmatched in three stakes starts in the U.S.

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4. Good Money (15-1)

Jockey: Irad Ortiz Jr.

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owner: Calumet Farm

Career record: 1 start – 1 win – 0 seconds – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $18,560

Earnings per start: $18,560

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 82

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Good Magic – Cascading Cash, by Distorted Humor

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Although Saturday’s Tampa Bay Derby features the Sam F. Davis winner in No More Time and a colt shipping in from a runner-up effort in the Holy Bull Stakes in Domestic Product, the overall field is hardly awe-inspiring. That should help this first-out winner receive some betting support come post time, as Good Money flashed precocious talent in his debut outing back on Jan. 26 on this track. Breaking from the inside post in a seven-furlong race and facing nine opponents, Good Money stalked the early pace before moving up on the turn and taking over in early stretch. He held a fast-closing, odds-on favorite at bay to win by a length and certainly is eligible to improve off of that effort in his first start going two turns. Good Money will need to boost his 82 Equibase Speed Figure by about 15 points to have a chance at the upset. His pedigree is encouraging for stretching out: his sire, Good Magic, picked up his first Kentucky Derby winner last year with Mage and his dam (mother) is from the family of Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches, Jazil, and last year’s champion 3-year-old male Arcangelo. Reigning Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. gets aboard for the first time as well – another plus. Ortiz won the 2022 Tampa Bay Derby aboard Classic Causeway.

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5. Domestic Product (8-5)

Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione

Trainer: Chad Brown

Owner: Klaravich Stables

Career record: 4 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $104,200

Earnings per start: $26,050

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 92

Kentucky Derby points: 10

Pedigree: Practical Joke – Goods and Services, by Paynter

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Stalker

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Domestic Product should vie with No More Time for post-time favoritism in the Tampa Bay Derby come early Saturday evening. He made his 3-year-old debut Feb. 3 in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park and overcame a poor start to rally from off the pace and finish second behind Hades, who had dueled for the lead with heavy favorite Fierceness and put that foe away in early stretch. Domestic Product kept very good company in his three starts as a 2-year-old in 2023, finishing fifth in his debut against the likes of Just Steel and Locked, winning his second start by 4 ½ lengths in a 1 1/8-mile race at Aqueduct, and then trying that distance again in the Remsen Stakes last December at Aqueduct and checking in a distant seventh behind Dornoch and Sierra Leone, who both recently came back to win graded stakes on the Derby trail. He’s been training well for Chad Brown at Payson Park Training Center in recent weeks and could be about to put it all together under Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Domestic Product for the first time in the Holy Bull and stays aboard Saturday. The pace in the Tampa Bay Derby should be swift enough to set up this colt’s rally, and look for him to be in contention when the stretch running begins with a big chance to win.

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6. Catire Vizcaya (30-1)

Jockey: Marcos Meneses

Trainer: Juan Carlos Avila

Owner: Hablan Los Caballos and Marco Berne

Career record: 4 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $62,725

Earnings per start: $15,681

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 76

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Anchor Down – Bristol’s Brooke, by Spieghtstown

Color: Gray or roan

Running style: Press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: After impressing at the Saratoga meet last summer in a pair of sprint races, this Anchor Down colt has shown little since then and will need to improve significantly to have any chance at finishing in the top five Saturday and earning enough Kentucky Derby points to convince his owners to make him a late supplemental entry to the May 4 classic. Catire Vizcaya finished second in his debut at the Spa, and then won his second start of 2023 meet by 1 ¼ lengths, setting him up for what appeared to be more progress in the fall. He threw in an absolute clunker in his two-turn debut, however, finishing last of 10 and defeated by 50 lengths in the one-mile Rocky Run Stakes Oct. 14 at Delaware Park. Perhaps the muddy track played a part in that finish, and Catire Vizcaya did improve somewhat in his 3-year-old debut Feb. 16 at Tampa Bay Downs, checking in fifth of eight starters and 10 ½ lengths behind the winner in a seven-furlong allowance-optional claiming race. As it stands, his Equibase Speed Figures are around 20-25 points below the top-tier Tampa Bay Derby candidates, and it’s hard to see him making much of an impression in this race based on current form.

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7. No More Time (7-5)

Jockey: Javier Castellano

Trainer: Jose D’Angelo

Owner: Morplay Racing

Career record: 4 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds

Career earnings: $156,780

Earnings per start: $39,195

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 94

Kentucky Derby points: 20

Pedigree: Not This Time – Baroness Juliette, by Speightstown

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Pacesetter/press the pace

Notable achievements and interesting facts: No More Time has a good chance to go off as the post-time favorite in the Tampa Bay Derby based on his solid win in the Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 10, the traditional prep for Saturday’s race. He shipped to Tampa for the Sam F. Davis off of a fifth-place finish in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes Jan. 1 at Gulfstream Park that was better than it appeared on paper, as he was hard to handle early on in the one-mile test but did move up loom a threat on the far turn before evening out late. Bettors in the Sam F. Davis recognized that and made No More Time the 3.30-1 favorite last month, and the Not This Time colt had a much better trip under Paco Lopez, setting a comfortable, yet honest pace in the 1 1/16-mile race to score by 1 ¼ lengths over a rallying Agate Road. Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, who won the 2016 Tampa Bay Derby aboard Destin, will ride No More Time for the first time Saturday and figures to have him forwardly placed again. He’s already proven capable of handling two turns and trainer Jose D’Angelo is striking at a 31% rate during the current Tampa Bay Downs meet. No More Time is the one to beat Saturday, and he should have some company up front with Heartened and, possibly, Good Money sent along early to make sure he doesn’t set a dawdling pace.

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8. Crazy Mason (12-1)

Jockey: Mychel Sanchez

Trainer: Gregory Sacco

Owners: Donna Wright and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing

Career record: 7 starts – 2 wins – 2 seconds – 1 third

Career earnings: $104,150

Earnings per start: $14,879

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 84

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Coal Front – Izshelegal, by Maria’s Mon

Color: Gray or roan

Running style: Closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: With a bounce-back effort, this Coal Front colt could hit the board in the Tampa Bay Derby, although his win chances are remote. Crazy Mason will make his fourth consecutive start at Tampa Bay Downs after finishing second in last December’s Inaugural Stakes, winning a one-mile and 40-yard allowance-optional claiming race on Jan. 14, and then finishing a nonthreatening six of 12 starters in the Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 10. He raced near the back of the pack early on in the Sam F. Davis and picked off some runners in the homestretch with a mild rally, but still checked in 11 lengths behind pace-setting winner No More Time. Overall, Crazy Mason has finished in the top three in five of seven starts, and he’s paired well with jockey Mychel Sanchez, who’s been aboard for all three of his Tampa starts. If No More Time and Heartened hook up in an early duel and set a solid early pace, that will help this runner’s chances to make some noise late and possibly fill out the trifecta or superfecta at good odds. He’ll add blinkers on Saturday.

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9. Grand Mo the First (12-1)

Jockey: Samy Camacho

Trainer: Victor Barboza Jr.

Owner: Granpollo Stables

Career record: 4 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $86,650

Earnings per start: $21,663

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 91

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Uncle Mo – Lilies So Fair, by Giant’s Causeway

Color: Dark bay or brown

Running style: Stalker/closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Grand Mo the First profiles as a longshot win candidate in the Tampa Bay Derby who’ll need a career-best effort to reach the winner’s circle and has shown enough potential through four starts to take that next step. The son of champion Uncle Mo has already had an interesting racing career as he won both of his first two outings sprinting on Gulfstream Park’s Tapeta Footings all-weather track and was then shipped across the country for his stakes debut in the Zuma Beach Stakes on turf at Santa Anita Park. Grand Mo the First started slow in that one-mile turf race and recovered enough to run on and finish third behind Endlessly, a talented turf runner who had already won a graded stakes prior to the Zuma Beach and who has since trained on to win the El Camino Real Derby earlier this year. Shipped back to Gulfstream, Grand Mo the First made his first start on dirt and once again had a rough trip in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes Feb. 2, getting bumped and having to steady early on. Once again, he responded and finished well to nab third behind Frankie’s Empire and Le Dom Bro, and those horses finished third and second, respectively, when stretching out for their next start in the Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes. Grand Mo the First’s pedigree suggests that he’ll do his best racing around two turns, and he gets the services of Tampa Bay Downs’ leading jockey Samy Camacho for the first time Saturday. With better racing luck, an upset could be within reach for this well-bred colt.

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10. Sturdy (8-1)

Jockey: Junior Alvarado

Trainer: George Weaver

Owner: Repole Stable and R. A. Hill Stable

Career record: 3 starts – 0 wins – 1 second – 2 thirds

Career earnings: $38,300

Earnings per start: $12,767

Top Equibase Speed Figure: 82

Kentucky Derby points: 0

Pedigree: Mitole – Holidays Saratoga, by Harlan’s Holiday

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker/closer

Notable achievements and interesting facts: Another intriguing upset candidate despite being winless, this son of Mitole held his own against tough competition in his two juvenile starts last fall, and then nearly won his 3-year-old bow off of a 17-week layoff Feb. 24 at Gulfstream. In that 1 1/8-mile, two-turn race, Sturdy stalked the pace in fourth through the backstretch and then made a sustained rally that came up a half-length short and he finished third behind highly regarded Shug McGaughey trainee Corporate Power. In his two 2023 starts, this runner finished third behind Locked and Drum Roll Please (both subsequent stakes winners) at Saratoga and then second to Tampa Bay Derby foe Domestic Product in a 1 1/8-mile maiden race at Aqueduct in late October. There’s plenty of upside here and drawing the outside post should not hinder him since he prefers to come from off the pace. Junior Alvarado gets aboard for the first time, and the Gulfstream Park-based rider is coming off of arguably his career peak, having won the $20 million Saudi Cup two weeks ago aboard Senor Buscador. If Sturdy can progress enough in his second start off of the layoff and bump up his Equibase Speed Figure by 10-15 points, he’s a threat to fill out the exacta and perhaps even do better than that.