Gullo starts Florida adventure with a bang

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Who was the hottest trainer on the East Coast last weekend?

The standard answers of Todd Pletcher or Mark Casse would be good ones. Pletcher won three races, including the Smooth Air Stakes here with Bal Harbor, while Casse registered a pair of stakes wins, one at Gulfstream with Miss Mo Mentum and one on closing day at Woodbine last Sunday.

But the correct response to the question would be Gary Gullo, who sent out six consecutive winners from Friday through Sunday, four at Aqueduct and two at Gulfstream, Alaskan Prince and Final Flurry.

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Gullo has sent a string of horses to south Florida for the first time in two decades and has gotten off to a fast start by aggressively placing them. Not surprisingly, he lost both Alaskan Prince and Final Flurry at the claim box, for $16,000 and $12,500, respectively.

“I came down to win, not lose races, and with the thought that we’re probably going to lose most of these horses at the claim box,” Gullo said. “I’m also going to be active claiming myself, trying to replace the ones we lose. I brought 13 horses down with me, the majority for the Bob Peterson Stable and Frank Belavia. They’re the reason I’m here. And I expect by the time we’re ready to head back to New York in the spring, we won’t have many of them left. We got off to a good start here right away, had a great weekend in New York as well, and hopefully we can just keep the roll going.”

Gullo said he’d be commuting back and forth from New York throughout the winter.

“I’ll be in and out, but once the weather starts really getting nasty up there, it will probably be more in than out,” Gullo said with a laugh.