Spring-summer session kicks off at Gulfstream

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The prestigious Gulfstream Park championship meet is over, but there’s still plenty of action ahead on the local front with the spring-summer session opening Thursday for the first of 108 programs scheduled through Sept. 29.

Racing here will be conducted on a four day a week basis, Thursday through Sunday, with the exception of four additional dates – one Monday and three Wednesdays – sprinkled throughout the meet. The stakes schedule is highlighted by the long-running Summit of Speed, featuring the Grade 2 $250,000, Princess Rooney and Grade 3, $250,000 Smile Sprint, two of five stakes to be run on June 29. The Princess Rooney is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.

As always, the focus in South Florida during summer will be on 2-year-olds, especially the Florida-breds, with the Florida Sire Stakes series races to be run on Aug. 3, Aug. 31, and concluding Sept. 28 with the $400,000 In Reality and My Dear Girl divisions.

“We’re looking forward to another tremendous spring-summer meet,” said Bill Badgett, Gulfstream general manager. “The barn area here will be filled to capacity with 1,600 horses. We also expect to have another 450 horses stabled across town at Gulfstream Park West and approximately 600 at Palm Meadows. A lot of the big stables from last summer will be represented here again, so I think we’re in pretty good shape with the population. We’re also looking forward to kicking off the 2-year-old program in April. Wesley Ward is leaving 32 2-year-olds down here, which should really help get things started.”

The first baby race in the condition book is carded at 4 1/2 furlongs with a $65,000 purse on April 12.

“Each year the purses have increased, the handle has increased, and the quality of the racing down here has increased,” said Badgett. “Every summer meet has shown growth after growth after growth.”

The eight-race program on opening day is highlighted by a $48,000 optional-claiming dash at six furlongs on the main track that drew a field of seven and features plenty of speed with Harryhee, Will’s Pioneer, and Front Loaded all signed on.

An honest pace could play in the favor of Santiamen, who returns to a more suitable spot after finishing a distant fifth in the Grade 3 Gulfstream Park Sprint in his last start.

“He came back full of mucus, I took care of it, and he’s doing good now,” said Antonio Sano, who trains Santiamen. “I expect him to run much better. And all the speed in there, it’s good for me.”

Harryhee, the old man in the lineup, is as sharp as ever at the age of 7 for owner-trainer Brett McLellan. The ridgling has won his last two starts in wire-to-wire fashion under regular rider Luca Panici, who is aboard on Thursday.

Take Command, on the other hand, is the youngest member and only 3-year-old in the lineup. He, too, is dropping out of graded stakes company after finishing a tiring ninth in the Grade 3 Swale on Feb. 2.

Reason to Soar will make the third start of his form cycle while trying to recapture the form that saw him win three races in a row here during the spring of 2018.