Gulfstream offers record $29 million in stakes during meet

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Gulfstream Park will trot out the new look Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series as the marquee event on a track-record 105-race, $29 million stakes program during the 2018-19 Championship meet, which opens on Dec. 1 and continues through March 31, 2019.

The third edition of the Pegasus World Cup comprises two events for the first time, the $9 million Pegasus World Cup at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, and the $7 million Pegasus Turf Cup at 1 3/16 miles. The Pegasus Turf Cup replaces the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf on this year’s schedule.

The Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series will be held Jan. 26 on a program that includes seven other stakes, four of them graded.

“We’re thrilled to expand the Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational Series into a multi-race event with the addition of a turf race,” said Tim Ritvo, the chief operating officer of track owner the Stronach Group. “Entering just our third year, we’re excited about the future of this series and the interest we are getting from horsemen around the world.”

While somewhat overshadowed the last two seasons by the Pegasus World Cup, the $1 million Florida Derby remains to many the highlight of the winter racing season in South Florida. The historic nine-furlong Grade 1 event for 3-year-olds has produced the winner of three of the last six renewals of the Kentucky Derby and caps off Gulfstream Park’s heralded 3-year-old program, which opens with the Grade 2 Holy Bull (Feb. 2) and Fountain of Youth (March 2).

The Florida Derby will be one of seven stakes on March 30, four of them graded.

Other major events at the meet include the opening-day Claiming Crown card; the Clasico Internacional del Caribe (Dec. 8), which received rave reviews when held for the first time outside of Latin America here a year ago; and the longstanding Sunshine Millions (Jan. 19) for Florida-breds. Gulfstream Park will also host the Eclipse Awards for a seventh consecutive season on Jan. 24 as well as the Fasig-Tipton select 2-year-olds sale on March 27.