Gulfstream releases 2026-27 Championship meet stakes schedule; purse for Pegasus World Cup undecided

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational will again highlight the 2026-27 Gulfstream Park Championship Meeting. How much the race will be worth, however, is still to be determined.

Gulfstream Park officials released the stakes schedule for the upcoming Championship meet on Friday but did so without listing the purses for the World Cup and its two supporting co-features, the Grade 1 Pegasus Turf Invitational and Grade 2 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf. The date of those races also has been moved back a week from its traditional spot on the schedule, until Jan. 30, swapping places with the Grade 3 Holy Bull, which will be moved forward one week next winter to Jan. 23.

The 2026-27 Championship meet, which begins once again on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 26, and continues through March 28, will offer 66 stakes, 27 of which are graded. Track management said the purses for the three Pegasus World Cup races will be announced shortly.

“We are finalizing the final purse structure of the 2027 Pegasus World Cup and evaluating a few opportunities around that event that could impact the final purse,” said Mike Rogers, executive vice president of 1/ST Racing. “Rather than delay the release of the overall schedule, we felt it was better to publish the schedule now and list the Pegasus purses as to be determined.”

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Although the Holy Bull will be decided a week earlier than usual in 2027, the final two legs of Gulfstream Park’s traditional series of Kentucky Derby preps will remain in their regular spot on the calendar. The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth will be run Feb. 27 and the $1 million Florida Derby four weeks later on March 27.

The Grade 1 Florida Derby, which has produced four of the last 11 Kentucky Derby winners and 26 overall, highlights a card that offers 10 stakes, five graded, with purses totaling $2.45 million.

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