Gulfstream Park Is Right on Track
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Greg Melikov
Dec 1, 2004
There's good news for 3-year-olds hoping to get their feet wet this winter at middle distance races, specifically the mile. Gulfstream Park's enlarged main track awaits them.
The dirt track has been lengthened to 1 1/8 miles, with the backstretch chute also allowing sprints up to 7 ½ furlongs.
"Our horsemen and our fans both told us that they wanted mile races," said Scott Savin, track president and general manager, "and we did, too. We've been working on this for some time now and we're pleased that everything is in place for it to happen. It's a winner all around."
Inclusion of one-mile races in Gulfstream's condition book will have several advantages, according to David Bailey, Gulfstream's racing secretary.
"Trainers are more likely to try their sprinters at one turn than a two-turn route," he said. "For those horses who find 1 1/8 miles just a little too far, one mile is more suitable.
"It's an ideal distance to try off of a short layoff as well and a nice extension for promising 3-year-olds who have just broken their maidens at six furlongs. I expect that these races will be well supported at the entry box."
The first major race for 3-year-olds during the 86-day meeting that opens Jan. 3 is the $125,000 Aventura Stakes, reduced from 1 1/16 miles to a mile. It's one of three stakes scheduled for Jan. 8.
Since the Miami-Dade/Broward county line bisects the track property near the seven-eighths pole, horses going a mile with start in Miami-Dade and finish in Broward.
Cherokee Breeze, an unraced 2-year-old, was the first horse to gallop on the renovated main track Nov. 10. Trainer Billy Croll was impressed with what he saw.
"I'm 60 years old, and I've been in this business 43 years, and I can tell you this is the most impressive racetrack I have ever seen," said the son of Hall of Fame trainer Jimmy Croll. "The horse traveled very well and the exercise rider (Jenny Barker) said she was thrilled with the track."
No string of horses has been stabled at Gulfstream longer than those trained by the Croll family, who have wintered runners since 1952. That's includes '94 Horse of the Year Holy Bull.
There have been changes to the turf course, too. Often criticized, it has new grass and was widened by 170 feet.
"The new grass course will give us another new dimension," Bailey said. "I'll use it judiciously to start out, two races a day in January, but then we should be able to card three to four races per day throughout the remainder of the meet."
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