OLDSMAR, Fla. – He was supposed to win – just not that way. Tapit Trice, away sluggishly from the starting gate, rallied from dead last in a full field of 3-year-olds to win the Tampa Bay Derby going away, stamping himself as a major player on the Kentucky Derby trail in the process. “The start was a little slow, but as he started to get going, he got big-time position for us,” said Luis Saez, who was aboard Tapit Trice, the 1-2 favorite in a field of 12 in the Tampa Bay Downs marquee event Saturday. The two-length victory over Classic Car Wash essentially gives Tapit Trice a spot in the starting gate for the 149th Kentucky Derby, to be run May 6 at Churchill Downs. The gray Tapit colt earned 50 of the 100 qualifying points at stake in the 43rd running of the Grade 3, $360,000 Tampa Derby. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2023: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Tapit Trice returned $3 after finishing in 1:43.37 over a fast track. Classic Legacy was third, another 1 1/4 lengths behind Classic Car Wash. Tapit Trice was assigned an 88 Beyer Speed Figure for the Tampa Bay Derby. The win also allowed the colt’s Hall of Fame trainer, Todd Pletcher, to extend his own record for most wins in the Tampa Derby to six. Pletcher, who watched from his Atlantic Coast base, already has the early Kentucky Derby favorite in Forte, the reigning divisional champion who won the Fountain of Youth Stakes the preceding Saturday at Gulfstream Park, along with several other hopefuls. Tapit Trice is co-owned by his breeder, Gainesway Stable, in partnership with the Whisper Hill Farm of Mandy Pope, who has become widely known in recent years throughout the Thoroughbred industry for an outstanding breeding program. “Oooh, I’ve never gotten any of these!” Pope exclaimed upon eyeing a garland of flowers designed for the winner’s withers after she entered the Tampa winner’s circle. “How nice!” Tapit Trice was making both his stakes and two-turn debuts after winning 2 of 3 starts, the latest an eight-length allowance romp going a one-turn mile Feb. 4 at Gulfstream after laying just off the early pace. “I feel like he is still learning,” Pletcher told Tampa publicity afterward. “Luis fits him well. He understands the way he needs to be ridden and he knows he’s not going to come out of the gate quickly. He gave him plenty of time to get going.” :: Bet the races on DRF Bets! Sign up with code WINNING to get a $250 Deposit Match, $10 Free Bet, and FREE DRF Formulator.  Amid spectacular weather, and with 6,023 in attendance, several longshots rushed off to contest the early pace of the Tampa Derby while Saez lagged well back. With a half-mile to go, Tapit Trice was still ahead of only two others, and with a quarter-mile left, the situation was still sort of bleak. Classic Car Wash, with Emisael Jaramillo riding, had forged to a short lead in a close scramble with about 100 yards to go. But after wheeling well outside of the pack, Tapit Trice came flying, with Saez pumping hard and throwing crosses and giving the colt an occasional thwack of his whip until it became apparent his mount was tons the best. “Once he got clear down the lane, he really extended himself,” Pletcher said. “I loved the way he finished up. He relished the two turns, and the longer he goes, the better he’ll get.” “I thought we were a winner,” said Mark Casse, trainer of Classic Car Wash, a 13-1 shot. “I don’t even know where that other horse came from.” After the top three, the order was Prairie Hawk, Lord Miles, Dreaming of Kona, Shesterkin, Groveland, Zydeceaux, Mikey Bananas, Champions Dream, and Freedom Road. Pletcher’s prior winners of the Tampa Derby were Limehouse (2004), Verrazano (2013), Carpe Diem (2015), Destin (2016), and Tapwrit (2017). Pletcher also has won the local prep, the Sam Davis, a record seven times, and in fact he won the latest Davis on Feb. 11 with Litigate, who runs next in the Louisiana Derby on March 25 at Fair Grounds. His winter base is the Palm Beach Downs training center in Delray Beach. Pletcher said that assuming all goes well in the interim for Tapit Trice, the colt probably will have his final pre-Derby prep in the Blue Grass Stakes on April 8 at Keeneland, near where Whisper Hill and Gainesway are located. Only one horse, Street Sense in 2007, has won both the Tampa Derby and Kentucky Derby. The $2 exacta (6-2) paid $22, the $1 trifecta (6-2-3) returned $47.60, and the 10-cent superfecta (6-2-3-12) was worth $47.27. All-sources handle on a 12-race card that included four other stakes was $17,460,257, up 11 percent over 2021. The 2022 Tampa Derby card drew nearly $21 million, but that was aided by cancellations that same date at Aqueduct and other East Coast tracks. The Tampa Derby was the only Kentucky Derby qualifier scheduled for this week or next. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.