Gulfstream vows to run its races on time

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Opening day of the 2020-21 Gulfstream Park Championship meet on Wednesday featured a strong performance from the up-and-coming 3-year-old Ournationonparade winning the afternoon’s main event and a hat trick by jockey Paco Lopez. But what really had the racing world buzzing on Wednesday was that every race on the card went off at or very near the scheduled post time, a policy Gulfstream Park officials have decided to embrace throughout the entire 90-day session, which continues until March 28.

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Gulfstream Park has been notorious over the years for its post-time drags, with the majority of its races going off six to 10 minutes after the stated post time. That strategy was designed to give bettors more time to wager, which in turn translated to higher handle. But Aidan Butler, the chief operating officer of track owner The Stronach Group, said post-time drag would be a thing of the past.

“Aidan spoke to me about putting in place a new policy to run races at the scheduled post time starting opening day, and I agreed it was the right thing to do,” Mike Lakow, vice president of racing at Gulfstream Park, said Friday. “And from all the comments I’ve read and heard the past two days, every reaction to the decision has been extremely well received. I think it shows a greater respect for the industry, in general, to run races at the scheduled time rather than picking some arbitrary number every race, as had been the case here in the past.”

Lakow, who joined the Stronach team and assumed his position at Gulfstream Park 14 months ago, said it’s a little too early to judge just what effect the change will have on handle.

“Obviously, it will take a little time for the bettors to adjust to what we’re doing,” Lakow said.