Four races carded on Tapeta as fall meet opens

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Action on the South Florida circuit, which traditionally has shifted to Gulfstream Park West during the months of October and November, will remain at Gulfstream Park for the next eight weeks with the fall meet to open Thursday and run through Nov. 21. Gulfstream Park West closed permanently at the end of the 2020 season.

Thursday’s opening-day program is expected to feature the first races to be run over the new Tapeta course, with four of the eight events on the card scheduled to be run over the all-weather surface.

Racing on the Tapeta course has already been postponed one week due to a delay installing the permanent railing. A temporary safety rail, from the inner turf course, will be used until the arrival of the permanent rail, which is expected to be here next week.

There will be no turf racing during the fall meet, which features six stakes, four of them over the Tapeta that had previously been decided on the grass at Gulfstream West.

Thursday’s program features the local return of Todd Pletcher, who has dominated the trainer standings during the Championship meets here for nearly two decades. Pletcher entered first-time starter Alarm Clock, a daughter of Not This Time, in the fifth race, a maiden special weight dash for 2-year-old fillies carded at about 5 1/2 furlongs on the synthetic track.

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A field of nine was drawn for the race with Alarm Clock expected to vie for favoritism with the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Strategy Queen, who finished a game second in her last start.

None of the nine horses in the field, or in any of the three others events carded for the Tapeta on Thursday, have had any previous experience over a synthetic surface.