Royal Palm meet begins; 31 stakes scheduled
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The Royal Palm meet at Gulfstream Park kicks off Thursday with a nine-race program topped by an entry-level allowance race restricted to 3-year-old Florida-breds at 5 1/2 furlongs over the synthetic Tapeta track. The event lured a field of seven, with stakes-placed Bronze Bullet likely to go postward a slight favorite coming off a third-place finish going a mile on the turf against statebred foes here four weeks earlier.
The Royal Palm meet, which runs through Aug. 31, will feature 31 stakes, highlighted by the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile and its filly counterpart, the $125,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, on May 9. The races will be decided at five furlongs on turf and offer automatic berths and a $25,000 travel stipend to one of the six juvenile stakes to be run at Royal Ascot in June.
As expected, trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. again dominated their respective divisions during the 2025-26 Championship meet. Joseph won 45 races from 255 starters, including a pair with Miami Frank and Barakah, on closing day here Sunday. The highlight of his meet was a one-two finish by Skippylongstocking and White Abarrio in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational.
“A lot of credit goes to the help,” Joseph said while reflecting on the meet. “Obviously, my name is on the program, but it takes all the owners and the staff. It’s a full team, and a lot of people make it possible.”
Joseph, 39, has won the last 15 Gulfstream Park training titles, including the last five at the prestigious Championship meet. He is just eight victories shy of the 1,500-win milestone for his career.
Despite riding out of town during the final week of the meet, Ortiz easily topped the jockey standings to capture his fourth consecutive and seventh overall Gulfstream Park Championship meet riding crown.
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