Tag: Florida horse racing

Fearless, shown here winning the Gulfstream Mile, won three of his last four races at Gulfstream. He comes in as one of the horses to beat in Saturday's Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday Stakes. (Image: Lauren King/Coglianese Photos)

Fearless, Mighty Heart Seek Redemption In Harlan’s Holiday Stakes

- 3 min read

On what is generally a quiet weekend on the graded stakes front, one of the most intriguing duels this weekend involves Fearless vs. Mighty Heart, who led the parade into Saturday’s Grade 3 Harlan’s Holiday at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/16-mile Harlan’s Holiday is the primary prep for next month’s […]

Knicks Go made the Breeders' Cup Classic look like a workout. He comes into his final race at next month's Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup looking for his ninth win in his last 11 races. (Image; Horsephotos)

Cox Looking Ahead at Knicks Go’s Pegasus Finale with Mixed Feelings

- 3 min read

Brad Cox looks at Knicks Go standing in his barn. Then, the trainer looks ahead at next month’s Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational with a mixture of anticipation and sadness. Anticipation at seeing the likely 2021 Horse of the Year finish his career in a $3 million race that […]

Irad Ortiz Jr. points the way for Life Is Good after his dominant Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile victory last month. The next stop on the colt's race itinerary is the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park. (Image: Skip Dickstein)

Pletcher Points Life Is Good Toward Pegasus World Cup Invitational

- 3 min read

Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner and Eclipse Award candidate Life Is Good will open his 4-year-old season in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, a race trainer Todd Pletcher lacks on his Hall of Fame resume. Pletcher won the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational last year with Colonel Liam, […]

Gulfstream Park used its Fall Meet as a test for its new synthetic Tapeta track. The synthetic surface will be one of three surfaces used during Gulfstream's Championship Meet, which begins Friday. (Image: Ryan Thompson/Coglianese Photos)

Gulfstream Park Ready for its Tapeta Championship Meet Close-Up

- 2 min read

Gulfstream Park opens its Championship Meet this weekend as the first racetrack to conduct races on three surfaces: dirt, turf, and all-weather, synthetic Tapeta. And given what we saw on the Tapeta during the Florida track’s Fall Meet, horseplayers have expectations as to what they’ll see heading into the winter […]

Edwin Gonzalez became a trivia question when he rode Emoji Guy to the first victory on Gulfstream Park's new Tapeta track on Sept. 30. Gonzalez leads all Gulfstream jockeys with six wins on the new, all-weather surface. (Image: Gulfstream Park Twitter)

Bring a Closer’s Mentality to Betting Gulfstream Park’s New Tapeta Track

- 3 min read

Horseplayers seeking a trend that’s their friend can look no further than the newest course in North America: Gulfstream Park’s just-installed Tapeta track. And they need look no further at the betting window than their friendly closer. Over the first two weeks of racing on Gulfstream’s new all-weather track, closers […]

The Dec. 4 Claiming Crown card gives horses who once ran with claiming tags their day in the Florida sun. Gulfstream Park announced its 2021-22 Championship Meet stakes schedule this weekend. (Image: Gulfstream Park)

Gulfstream Park Adds New Pegasus Race to Championship Meet

- 3 min read

Gulfstream Park added a new Grade 3 race to its 2021-22 Championship Meet stakes schedule, introducing the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf to its announced stakes slate. The Florida track’s primary meet in its year-round schedule opens Dec. 3 and runs through April 3, 2022. It features 76 stakes […]

After winning the Holy Bull and the Fountain of Youth here, Greatest Honour goes for the Gulfstream Park Kentucky Derby prep hat-trick in Saturday's Florida Derby. (Image: Coglianese Photo)

Greatest Honour Chases Another Honor as Florida Derby Favorite

- 5 min read

The only thing standing between Greatest Honour and keeping Spectacular Bid company in the history books is one of the best Kentucky Derby preps on the calendar – Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Well, that – and the little matter of getting past 10 other horses in […]

Irad Ortiz rode R Mercedes Boy to victory in Gulfstream Park's ninth race. That was his sixth victory Saturday. (Image: Gulfstream Park Photo)

Ortiz Helps Himself to a Six-Pack of Gulfstream Victories

- 2 min read

Less than two weeks after picking up his third consecutive Eclipse Award as the nation’s top jockey, Irad Ortiz Jr. illustrated why he owns an Eclipse trifecta: riding six winners on Saturday’s Gulfstream Park card. Putting this into further perspective, Ortiz won half of Gulfstream’s 12-race Saturday card. “You never […]

Greatest Honour (left) captured Saturday's Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park by 5 3/4 lengths. His Kentucky Derby futures odds plummeted as a result. (Image: Coglianese Photos)

Greatest Honour Piggy-Backs Gulfstream to Holy Bull Record Handle

- 3 min read

As Greatest Honour joined the front row of Kentucky Derby contenders, he helped carry Gulfstream Park to a record Holy Bull handle day on Saturday. The south Florida track rolled up a total handle of $21.87 million. That surpassed last year’s total handle by 20% and blew past 2017’s previous […]

Ride a Comet outdueled Casa Creed down the Gulfstream Park stretch to win the Tropical Turf last weekend. Duplicating that in the Grade 1 Pegasus Turf Invitational will be a much bigger ask for the 6-year-old. (Image: Lauren King/Coglianese Photos)

Independence Hall, Coastal Defense, Ride a Comet Grab Pegasus Invites

- 2 min read

With Charlatan and Mucho Gusto passing up Pegasus invites, Independence Hall and Coastal Defense became the latest two invites for the Jan. 23, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational. They’ve earned spots on the also-eligible list for the Grade 1 race. Along with that, Ride a Comet parlayed his victory […]

Tampa Bay Downs plans to allow spectators when its 2020-21 meet opens next week. (Image: Tampa Bay Times)

With Precautions, Tampa Bay Downs Open to Fans for 2020-21 Meet

- 2 min read

With new health plans in place, Tampa Bay Downs announced Wednesday it will admit spectators for its 2020-21 winter/spring meet that begins Nov. 25, the day before Thanksgiving. This season is the track’s 95th-anniversary campaign. Headlining that campaign is the 41st Tampa Bay Derby, the track’s marquee event, and a […]

Going into Gulfstream Park West's ninth race Sunday, nine tickets were still live for the Rainbow 6. One ticket survived, good for nearly $250,000. (Image: @jasonblewitt30/Twitter)

Lone Horseplayer Finds Gold with $249,204 Rainbow 6

- 2 min read

A single bettor picked the lock of Gulfstream Park West’s 20-cent Rainbow 6 Sunday, cashing the lone winning ticket for $249,204. This followed on the heels of Gulfstream Park West’s sister track – Santa Anita Park – yielding a nearly half-million dollar Rainbow 6 last week. The Gulfstream Park West […]

(Image: Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun Sentinel)

Is Florida Horse Racing Booming amid Shutdown? New Races Added for April

- 3 min read

With most horse racing canceled throughout the country in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gulfstream Park in Florida finds itself a surprising beneficiary due to horsemen staying put in one of the few states still featuring live racing. As a result of a deeper-than-usual horse population – both in numbers […]

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