Gulfstream Park West opens Fall Turf Festival

MIAMI – Racing on the south Florida circuit shifts eight miles west to Gulfstream Park West when the Fall Turf Festival meet opens Wednesday and runs through Nov. 24.

Racing at Gulfstream West, formerly known as Calder Race Course, will be conducted Wednesdays through Sundays with racing also scheduled on Monday, Oct. 14 (Columbus Day). Post time is 1 p.m. daily.

The meet could be among the last at Gulfstream Park West after a Florida appeals court ruled last week that property owner Churchill Downs Inc. can convert its racing license at the site to a jai-alai license without losing the ability to operate slot machines at the property. Churchill leases the site to The Stronach Group, which conducts racing as Gulfstream Park West. The lease expires in 2020.

The stakes schedule at Gulfstream Park West begins Nov. 2 with a pair of 3-year-old turf races at a mile, the $75,000 Showing Up and its filly counterpart, the $75,000 Cellars Shiraz. The Sunshine Millions Preview card is on tap the following Saturday, with nine stakes, all valued at $75,000, many of which serve as preps for the Sunshine Millions program on Jan. 18 at Gulfstream Park.

The 2019-20 Gulfstream Park Championship meet opens Nov. 29.

“The Fall Turf Festival serves as the perfect bridge between the summer season and our Championship Meet,” Bill Badgett said prior to leaving his post as Gulfstream Park’s vice president of racing earlier this week. “Over the last several weeks, we’ve seen more stables ship to South Florida in preparation for the winter racing season, and over the next several weeks we will begin to see more horsemen from throughout North America shipping in and running at Gulfstream West.”

The opening-day feature, to be run as the seventh event on an eight-race program, is a an optional-claiming sprint worth $45,000 for fillies and mares at six furlongs on the main track. The headliner lured a field of seven, including the ultra-consistent Bella Tormenta from the barn of trainer Jorge Navarro who figures to go postward the solid favorite.

Bella Tormenta has not finished worse than third in five career starts. The Florida-bred daughter of Flashstorm posted back-to-back victories during the recently concluded Gulfstream Park summer session, including a first-level allowance dash restricted to Florida-breds on Aug.11. She is coming off her best performance yet from a Beyer Speed Figure standpoint, earning an 83 for finishing second, beaten a neck following an extended pace duel, on Sept. 12.

Bella Tormenta will race with blinkers on for the first time Wednesday.

My Sarasota Star, who dueled with Bella Tormenta for nearly the entire six furlongs before dropping a neck decision Aug. 11, will take a second shot at the favorite while breaking from the rail Wednesday. She won a restricted allowance event in wire-to-wire fashion for trainer David Braddy in her last start.

Trainer Aubrey Maragh will send the pair of Worth Avenue and Tiz Possible Dear. Worth Avenue has won four races, although she is still without a victory this season. Tiz Possible Dear has finished third in her last two starts and won a statebred allowance earlier in the year.

Zayas wins another crown

Reigning Gulfstream Park West jockey champion Edgard Zayas returns to defend his title after adding the Gulfstream summer meet to the spring crown he captured earlier in the year. Zayas won 66 races during the summer session.

Zayas missed the final three months of the 2018-19 Championship Meet after suffering a fractured femur in his right leg in a spill on Dec. 30.

Victor Barboza Jr. ran away with the training title during the summer meet, recording 28 victories, while Arindel led all owners for a third straight year with 19 tallies.