The Road to the Kentucky Derby continues in Florida with the 2025 Tampa Bay Derby drawing a field of seven Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. The championship series race headlines five stakes races Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs on the 12-race Festival Day card March 8.

We’re just two weeks away from the major 100 points prep races as the May 3 Kentucky Derby field continues to take shape, along with the 3-year-old fillies for the Kentucky Oaks. The top-5 finishers in the championship series races all receive qualifying points.

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Saturday, March 8 (Tampa Bay Downs, all times Eastern)

• Race 5: $125,000 Grade 3 Challenger Stakes (1 1/16 miles) at 2:21 p.m.
• Race 7: $125,000 Columbia Stakes (1-mile) at 3:28 p.m.
• Race 9: $225,000 Grade 2 Hillsborough Stakes (1 1/8 miles, fillies & mares on turf) at 4:31 p.m.
• Race 10: $200,000 Grade 3 Florida Oaks (1 1/16 miles, fillies) at 5:03 p.m.
• Race 11: $400,000 Grade 3 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby (1 1/16 miles) for 3-year-old at 5:18 p.m.

Tampa Bay Derby

Chancer McPatrick (8/5), who won multiple Grade 1 races as a 2-year-old for trainer Chad Brown, makes his 2025 debut and is the race favorite on the opening parimutual odds. He’ll wear blinkers for the first time, and try to beat top challenger Patch Adams (2/1) for trainer Brad Cox. Patch Adams finished 2-lengths back in 4th as the 4/5 favorite in the Southwest Stakes late January. He’s a son of super sire Into Mischief. Hill Road (4/1), also for trainer Chad Brown and Owen Almighty (5/1) for trainer Brian Lynch and a Horse Racing Nation preferred win pick are the other leading contenders with odds below 10/1.

Horse Racing Nation provides insight on the contenders and fair odds based on research and data.

Check back for additional race picks Saturday from Tampa Bay Downs as contributing handicappers provide racing insight.

Bettors looking to cash in on Saturday’s biggest races through the Kentucky Derby can watch and wager on FanDuel Racing. The Tampa Bay Derby and other Saturday stakes races at Tampa Bay Downs will be shown live on FanDuelTV as part of their comprehensive daily package, along with races from other top race tracks.

FanDuelTV will be live on-site covering select stakes Saturday with exclusive coverage of the Road to the Kentucky Derby race in Tampa and providing horse racing analysis and picks plus behind-the-scenes coverage by FanDuelTV’s staff.

The Tampa Bay Derby has been contested at 1 1/16 miles every year since 1981. Since the Kentucky Derby went to a qualifying points series in 2013, trainer Todd Pletcher has saddled the winner five times including in 2013 and 2023. But Pletcher does not have a horse running in this year’s race. Last year’s winner Domestic Product was trained by Chad Brown, who has two runners in this year’s race with Flavien Prat riding the favorite Chancer McPatrick and Tyler Gaffalione riding Hill Road, who makes his 2025 debut and first start under trainer Chad Brown. He finished a distant 3rd as a huge longshot in the FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last Nov at Del Mar.

The next Road to the Kentucky Derby races are March 15 for the Virginia Derby from Colonial Downs – a new race on the Derby Trail. It’s also over the weekend of the National Horseplayers Championship at Horseshoe Las Vegas. Then it’s the biggest races on the Derby Trail with 100 points to winners and 50 points to the runner-up starting with the Louisiana Derby March 22.

You can bet on it.

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