Handle increases at Gulfstream meet

MIAMI – Business during the Gulfstream Park summer-fall meet, which ended Saturday, was booming, with all-sources handle up 16 percent over last year’s corresponding meet, according to track officials. Betting on the Florida Sire Stakes, a series of restricted stakes, was up 13 percent compared with 2014, when the series was held at Gulfstream for the first time after many years at Calder Race Course.

Trainer Ralph Nicks and jockey Tyler Gaffalione were crowned champions of the summer-fall meet.

Nicks won 34 races, three more than runner-up Antonio Sano. Gaffalione dominated the jockey standings, posting 81 victories while finishing well in front of Eddie Castro, who finished second with 54. Gaffalione, a leading candidate for an Eclipse Award in the apprentice-jockey category, will lose his five-pound bug this weekend.

Fred Brei’s Jacks or Better Farm captured the owners’ title, capping off a big meet with a victory by Fellowship in Saturday’s $500,000 In Reality Stakes.