Six stakes draw 12 or more entries
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Full fields will be the rule for the eight-race, $3.6 million Sunshine Millions card, to be run simultaneously on Saturday at Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita, Magna Entertainment Corp.'s two flagship tracks.
The Sunshine Millions, which pits California-breds against Florida-breds, will also mark the end of jockey Jerry Bailey's Hall of Fame career, which concludes at Gulfstream following his ride aboard Silver Tree in the $500,000 Sunshine Millions Turf.
Four of the Sunshine Millions races, including the $1 million Classic, will be shown live on a 90-minute NBC broadcast that begins at 4:30 p.m. Eastern.
Six races drew at least 12 horses, the maximum allowed to run, when post positions were drawn Monday, including the 1 1/8-mile Classic, which lured 14 entries. The will highlight the Santa Anita portion of the card, which also consists of the $250,000 Dash for 3-year-olds, the $300,000 Filly and Mare Sprint, and the $500,000 Filly and Mare Turf.
Bailey's final ride in the Turf will cap the four Gulfstream races. The others are the $300,000 , $250,000 Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, and the $500,000 Distaff.
"It should be a great day of racing featuring large and competitive fields and topped off by Jerry Bailey's final ride," said Dave Bailey, Gulfstream's racing secretary, who put together the card along with his Santa Anita counterpart, Rick Hammerle.
Grade 1 winners Lava Man, Proud Tower Too, and Buzzards Bay top the lineup for the Classic.
Lava Man won the Grade 1 Hollywood Gold Cup by 8 3/4 lengths in July and finished third in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic the following month but tailed off badly at the end of the year, checking home a distant seventh in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup and 11th in the Japan Cup Dirt.
Buzzards Bay will try to revert to the form that saw him upset the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in early April. He went winless in his final four starts at 3.
Proud Tower Too, on the other hand, closed out his 2005 campaign winning three of his last four starts, including the Grade 1 Malibu on Dec. 26.
Silver Tree will likely be the favorite in the Turf not only for sentimental reasons but on the strength of his resume. It includes near misses to division leaders Artie Schiller and Leroidesanimaux in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch and Fourstardave handicaps last summer at Saratoga, and a season-ending victory in Calder's Grade 3 Tropical Turf Handicap.
Eleven of the 12 starters in the Turf will be Florida-breds, with only longshot Night Dash representing the Californians. Other top contenders in the race include Captain Squire, Icy Atlantic, We All Love Aleyna, Eastern Sand, and Dream On Dream On.
One of the more intriguing races of the day could come in the Dash, which features Plagiarist, sensational winner of his only start last month at Hollywood Park; Da Stoops, 8 3/4-length winner of the California Breeders' Challenge in his last start at 2; and In Summation, the Calder 2005 juvenile champion.
Sunshine Millions
| Race | Track | Purse | Distance | Eastern | Pacific |
| Oaks | Gulfstream | $250,000 | 6 furlongs | 3:20 pm | 12:20 p.m. |
| Dash | Santa Anita | 250,000 | 6 furlongs | 3:50 | 12:50 |
| Sprint | Gulfstream | 300,000 | 6 furlongs | 4:05 | 1:05 |
| FM Sprint | Santa Anita | 250,000 | 6 furlongs | 4:20 | 1:20 |
| Turf | Gulfstream | 500,000 | 1 1/8 miles (T) | 4:45 | 1:45 |
| FM Turf | Santa Anita | 500,000 | 1 1/8 miles (T) | 5:05 | 2:05 |
| Distaff | Gulfstream | 500,000 | 1 1/16 miles | 5:20 | 2:20 |
| Classic | Santa Anita | 1,000,000 | 1 1/8 miles | 5:45 | 2:45 |
* Television: Saturday, 4:30-6 p.m.. (Eastern), NBC
* All races restricted to Florida- and California-breds