HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park will offer 3-year-olds a final chance to compete against their own kind for stakes glory on Monday with the $100,000 Tropical Park Derby and its filly counterpart, the $100,000 Tropical Park Oaks, heading up the much-anticipated opening-day card of the 2022-23 Championship meet. A wide-open field of a dozen colts and geldings will go 1 1/16 miles on the grass, weather permitting, in the Tropical Park Derby. The most noteworthy name and perhaps biggest question mark in the lineup being Golden Glider, who spent last winter on the Kentucky Derby trail before finishing a distant eighth in the Belmont Stakes. Saturday will mark his first start since July 29 in the Curlin at Saratoga and his first start on turf. “He had a hard campaign so we gave him a break as we often do and also gelded him since his last start,” said trainer Mark Casse. “He’s come back training extremely well and we’re confident he’s going to like the grass being a son of Ghostzapper. It’s always something we wanted to try with him and a good place to get him started back up, against straight 3-year-olds for one last time.” The Tropical Park Derby will bring together the top four finishers – Churchtown, Steady On, Grand Sonata, and Dakota Gold – from last month’s Gio Ponti at Aqueduct. :: Get ready for Gulfstream Park racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.  Churchtown led throughout and held on gamely for a half-length decision over Steady On in the 1 1/16-mile Gio Ponti, the third win in the last four starts for the homebred son of Air Force Blue, who is trained by Roger Attfield. Unfortunately for Churchtown, he is poorly drawn on the extreme outside in post position 12 and may find making the front a bit more difficult than breaking from the rail in the Gio Ponti. Steady On got jostled at the break, then sat a perfect three-wide stalking trip and had no excuse when falling a half-length short of catching Churchtown while making his stakes debut as the even-money favorite in the Gio Ponti. He finished a neck in front of Grand Sonata, who saved ground every step of the way and also failed to offer the necessary closing response. Dakota Gold was beaten two lengths by Churchtown after racing wide throughout. Red Danger, who won the Pulpit Stakes to close out his 2-year-old campaign here last December, will look to have similar success in his 3-year-old finale while returning to his preferred surface off a distant third-place finish over a sloppy track in the off-the-turf Commonwealth Stakes four weeks earlier at Keeneland. Stolen Base, winner of the Grade 2 American Turf at Churchill Downs earlier this season and runner-up in the Commonwealth, also looms a major player, as does the steadily improving Axthelm, who finished a sharp third making his stakes debut in the Grade 3 Bryan Station at Keeneland on Oct. 29. Tropical Park Oaks Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey will send out two of the leading contenders, Personal Best and Surprisingly, in the 1 1/16-mile Tropical Park Oaks. Personal Best has gotten better with every start and makes her stakes debut off her most impressive effort yet, a popular 4 3/4-length allowance victory at Aqueduct on Nov. 18 for which she earned a career-high 89 Beyer Speed Figure, the tops of any member of the Oaks lineup. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  “Her last few races have been really good, the last one especially. She’s a filly we’ve always been pretty high on,” McGaughey said of Personal Best. “A mile and a sixteenth may not be her best gig, but I like her a lot. I think, throughout the year, she’ll be a very useful horse. Surprisingly has been freshened since finishing a bit of a troubled seventh as the 5-2 favorite in the Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs on Sept. 6. She is one of four members of the Tropical Park Oaks lineup who competed in the Virginia Oaks, a group that includes Spirit and Glory and Candy Light, the first and third finishers, respectively, in that event. Spirit and Glory rallied from the rear of the bulky lineup, finishing full of run down the center of the course to register a 1 1/4-length victory over Sparkle Blue in the Virginia Oaks. Sparkle Blue flattered the race when returning to capture the Grade 3 Valley View at Keeneland in her next start. Candy Light rallied belatedly to finish another 1 1/4 lengths back in third. My Philly Twirl, who has won three of her four starts at Gulfstream Park, including the Sanibel Island here during the spring, will return to her favorite course. The field also includes Jumeirah, Frosted Oats, Omixochitl, Gunesh, and Diamond Wow. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.