Major Derby Preps This Weekend

There's the Tampa Bay Derby, the San Felipe Stakes and the Swale Stakes today.  Gary West makes the case that the Tampa Bay Derby is one of the most significant Derby prep races:

Based on results over the last 10 years, three races stand out: the Arkansas Derby, the Florida Derby and the Tampa Bay Derby. Together, they've produced 61 Kentucky Derby starters who have six wins, four seconds and four thirds in this most famous of races.
Yes, the Tampa Bay Derby has become one of the most productive and meaningful races on the road to Kentucky. And that, as much as anything, indicates how the sinuous path can veer in unexpected directions. In terms of its preparatory significance, the Tampa Bay Derby has assumed the position once occupied by the Fountain of Youth.
From 1953 through 2004, the Fountain of Youth was run at 1 1/16 miles. And during that period, such horses as Tim Tam, Kauai King, Forward Pass, Pleasant Colony, Spectacular Bid, Swale, Unbridled, Go For Gin, and Thunder Gulch used the race to prepare for the Kentucky Derby, which they all won.
For six of the last seven years, however, or since Gulfstream Park expanded its oval, the Fountain of Youth has been run at 1 1/8 miles (one mile in 2009). And during those seven years, the race produced 16 Kentucky Derby starters whose success was limited to a runner-up finish by Ice Box in 2010.
Over those same seven years, Tampa Bay's showcase race produced 13 Kentucky Derby starters. Two of them, Street Sense and Super Saver, won the roseate Derby, and two more, Bluegrass Cat and Musket Man, finished "in the money," or top three.

Take Charge Indy is one of the horses to watch in today's Tampa Bay Derby.