HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Add a pristine, completely renovated turf course and an influx of notable new barns to an already loaded trainer colony and a traditionally prestigious and rich stakes schedule and it stands to reason why expectations are running sky high for the 2023-24 Gulfstream Park Championship meet, which opens Friday and continues through March 31. After experimenting with moving the start of the South Florida winter season back to the final week in December a year ago, the Championship meet has returned to its regular spot on the calendar. Opening weekend features, for the first time in track history, the finales of the rich Florida Sire Series for 2-year-olds, the 1 1/16-mile In Reality and My Dear Girl stakes, that will be run Saturday. As usual, the four-month session is highlighted by the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational on Jan. 27 and the $1 million Florida Derby on March 30. Racing will be offered four days a week, Thursday through Sunday, before a five-day race week that includes Wednesdays begins on Dec. 24. First post is set for 12:10 p.m. daily. The old and at times much- maligned turf course has been totally overhauled, re-sodded, and widened by 15 feet since the conclusion of the 2022-23 meet. The rejuvenated surface will get tested right off the bat opening weekend with Mike Lakow, the track’s vice president of racing, carding eight grass races, including a $72,000 allowance event featuring the local return of reigning Pegasus Turf champion Atone on Saturday. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. “The course appears to be in terrific shape and I think word will spread quickly throughout the racing community just how great the course is, which is why I’m so optimistic we’re going to have a great meet,” said Lakow. “We’re going to take it easy with the course for starters. Horsemen are aware of that fact, and are fine with it.” The South Florida training colony is always second to none during the Championship meet but Lakow is excited about the prospect of bringing in some fresh faces. “Riley Mott has taken a full barn at Palm Meadows, John Ortiz is coming here for the first time, as are Brittany Russell and Brittany Vanden Berg, just to name a few of the trainers who have taken stalls around the area this winter,” Lakow enthused. “It’s really the most significant influx of new faces we’ve seen here in a while.” Lakow was also looking forward to Gulfstream Park implementing a new wager in conjunction with the renovated turf course, the Tropical Turf Pick 3, which will feature a low 15 percent takeout. The wager will encompass the final three turf races on the card every Saturday and Sunday throughout the meet. Vanden Berg will waste little time introducing herself to local racing fans, sending out the favorite, Bad Beat Brian, in a full field of a dozen turf specialists slated to go five furlongs for a $72,000 purse in the opening-day feature. Bad Beat Brian made seven of his first 11 career starts at Gulfstream, posting four wins on the turf, before ultimately being claimed by Vanden Berg for $40,000 at Ellis Park during the summer of 2022. The 6-year-old has gotten steadily better with age, having banked $194,700 in 2022 and $286,725 this season, including Grade 2 placings in both the Shakertown at Keeneland and Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs. Bad Beat Brian was entered for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, but did not have the earnings to qualify after the race overfilled. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures “We were really upset not getting into the Breeders’ Cup because I felt the way the race set up, he would have gotten the same kind of trip the winner [Nobals] did,” said Vanden Berg, who has 20 horses stabled at Gulfstream. “Unfortunately we had a couple of bad beats with him this year or he might have had the earnings to get in. “But we’re really pleased with the way he’s been running against some very tough company and I thought this race was perfect for him. I love the fact he’s drawn outside in post 9. I expect he won’t be too far out of it. Obviously, this being a new course, we’re not sure how it will play. But he couldn’t be doing any better coming into the race.” There should be no shortage of speed for Bad Beat Brian to run at in Friday’s headliner, a group led by Yes I Am Free, who has won nine of his 17 starts over the Gulfstream turf, including the Grade 3 Turf Sprint in gate-to-wire fashion on Feb. 11. Yes I Am Free has been freshened since finishing third, beaten less than a length by Nobody Listens, after contesting the pace in the Parx Dash on Aug. 22. The latter flattered the effort when returning to capture the Turf Monster over the same course in his next start. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.