Winner Take All!
Gulfstream Park has taken over as the premier track in Southern Florida.
After forcing Hialeah into retirement and granted Racino status it was
completely rebuilt by the troubled Magna group. The track with the tin
roof is now a magnificent structure for race goers to enjoy. Gulfstream
ranks near the top with a 40 purse value it maintains a great stakes
program which includes important Kentucky Derby preps and an outstanding
turf schedule which the northern winter tracks obviously cannot offer. A
far cry from when the track opened in 1939 and only was able to run four
days of a forty day meet. Gulfstream has hosted the Breeders Cup three
times.
One of the last strongholds of Magna Entertainment Gulfstream Park has been criticized since it's remodeling for being to much casino and not enough about horse racing.
In 2011 the 79 day meet ended in late April with Todd Pletcher winning his eight straight training title and Paco Lopez winning the riding title with 83 winners. Then in it's earliest start ever Gulfstream Park opened back up in early December for the 2012 meet. One major change was the reinstated distance of one mile and one sixteenth which was lost during the track expansion in 2004.
I finally made it to Gulfstream Park in 2002, when it still had the old metal roof. At that time it seemed like a pretty decent place for horse racing. Since then I knew that that the place was razed and rebuilt but I really didn't pay much attention till now. Robert Brennan eat your heart out, this place makes the old Garden State Park look a shack. On the other hand if it didn't have that one and one eight mile oval in front it, you wouldn't know it was a race track either. No wonder the Stronach Group is trying to gobble up Calder Race Course, this beast needs to be fed.