Gulfstream changes two run-up distances, including that of the Fountain of Youth
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Gulfstream Park management has announced that effective immediately there will be an additional run up of 85 feet added to the start of all 1 1/16-mile races and 53 feet for all future races run at 1 1/8 miles over the main track.
The change will have its first significant impact with Saturday’s running of the mile and one-sixteenth, Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
According to Bill Badgett, executive director of Florida racing operations at Gulfstream, the change was made at the behest of the local jockey colony as it gives horses a little longer distance to travel before they enter the clubhouse turn.
The new policy will not only make for safer conditions for horses and riders, but should potentially negate some of the disadvantage of drawing outside posts in races run at those distances, as has been the case since the track was reconfigured nearly 20 years ago.
The most notable examples of the post-position disadvantage are the $3 million Pegasus World Cup and $1 million Florida Derby, both of which are carded at nine furlongs.