Florida Derby Florida Derby The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Saturday in May. Thus the Florida Derby is currently run either at the end of March or the beginning of April. Added to the racing schedule in 1952, the Grade I race is run at miles on the dirt for a purse currently set at $1 Million. The Florida Derby was first run in 1952. It has long been
Tampa Bay Downs Tampa Bay Downs Tampa Bay Downs is an American Thoroughbred horse racing facility located in Westchase in Hillsborough County in the U.S. state of Florida, just outside Tampa. It opened in 1926 under the name Tampa Downs, and has also been known as Sunshine Park and Florida Downs and Turf Club. The track races most Wednesdays, Fridays, and weekends from the end of November to the beginning of May. The main track is a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval. The turf course is seven furlongs and includes a quarter-mile inner chute. Tampa Bay Downs, the only Thoroughbred race track on