Gulfstream opener has full fields and plenty of turf

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Entries for the first of the 89 cards to be run at the 2019-20 Gulfstream Park Championship meet were drawn Sunday. If opening day is any indication, fans can be assured of two things throughout the course of the winter – full fields and plenty of turf racing, weather permitting.

Friday’s program consists of 10 races, six on the turf, with an average field size of 10 horses per race. To sweeten the pot, management has created a guaranteed Rainbow 6 jackpot of $100,000 on opening day, an incentive sure to attract plenty of action right off the bat in the popular gimmick, which paid one lucky bettor over $2.2 million here on Sept. 27.

Post time on Friday is 12:35 p.m.

“We’re opening relatively early this year compared to previous years,” said Mike Lakow, the newly appointed vice president of racing at Gulfstream Park. “But I’m delighted with the field sizes and the fact we were able to fill a couple of allowance races.”

Lakow said turf racing will be the focus throughout the meet.

“We’re looking to run as many grass races as we can as long as the weather cooperates, because turf racing creates field size and field size creates handle,” said Lakow. “The grass course is in excellent shape and is a testament to our track superintendent, Tony Martinez, who is one of the best track supers in the country. We just completed the 40 day Gulfstream Park West meet without a single catastrophic injury, which is something we’re all very proud of here, and a lot of the credit for that has to go to the work he and his crew did over there on the racetrack.”