Gulfstream Park announces $13 million stakes schedule for Championship meet

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $13 million stakes schedule for the upcoming 2020-21 Gulfstream Park Championship meet has been released, with the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf, and $800,000 Florida Derby topping the list of 75 stakes to be offered during the course of the session that begins Dec. 2.

The Pegasus World Cup at 1 1/8 miles will highlight a card featuring seven stakes on Jan. 23 worth $4.8 million and that also includes the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus Turf. The Pegasus World Cup, to be run for the fifth time in 2021, has been won by champions Arrogate and Gun Runner with Mucho Gusto having captured the fourth renewal earlier this year for trainer Bob Baffert.

Bricks and Mortar captured the inaugural Pegasus Turf in 2019 as a prelude to an undefeated season, for which he was named both champion turf male and Horse of the Year. Zulu Alpha won this year’s event, with Irish invader Magic Wand finishing second in each of the first two runnings.

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The 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby will be run March 27 as part of a card that features nine others stakes, six of them graded. Tiz the Law, easy winner of the 2020 Florida Derby, is currently a leading candidate for 3-year-old championship honors having subsequently won both the Belmont Stakes and Runhappy Travers and finishing second in the Kentucky Derby.

The Florida Derby again culminates a strong 3-year-old program that features two other important Kentucky Derby preps, the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 30 and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 27.

The stakes action begins, as it has for the past nine seasons, with the Claiming Crown on Dec. 5, offering nine stakes for both present and former claiming horses highlighted by the $200,000 Jewel.