HALLANDALE, Fla. – Gulfstream Park opens today for a star-studded three-day meet centered around tomorrow’s Breeders’ Cup. Today’s and Sunday’s supporting cards each features eight stakes races and have Pick Six pools guaranteedat $1 million. The Ultra Pick Six on tomorrow’s Breeders’ Cup carries a guaranteed $5 million bonanza.
But there is no guarantee on how the main track will play when they race over it, because Gulfstream has been closed since March. With little to go on, handicappers face these questions: Will it favor early speed or closers? Is the rail the place to be, or is it going to be better on the outside?
Several Breeders’ Cup riders on hand yesterday morning said it will take a while to figure out the track bias, if any, and that no riding strategy is etched in stone.
“The way the horses have been working, I think it’s going to be quick,” said Pat Day, who rides in seven of the eight Breeders’ Cup races. “Historically, it’s quick. Generally, it’s pretty fair but conducive to speed. We’ll get a little line on it [today].
“We’ll ride it like we find it. You go in with a general idea of who’s the speed, who’s the closers, what are the idiosyncrasies of the other horses and riders. You want to get decent position and orchestrate it as best you can to get around the brush piles.
“But you can study the paper from now to Christmas and not know how the race will unfold,” Day added. “There’s an old saying, ‘Study long, study wrong.’ You go in prepared but have to realize you’re facing the best of the best. You have to take it one step at a time.”
Jose Santos, whose four Cup mounts include Lemon Drop Kid in the Classic, said, “The track is brand new so it’s very hard to figure out right now. Usually over the short distances, speed holds up pretty good. But in longer distances, the horses behind have a better shot.”
The turf course here, very soft early in the week after heavy rains, has been drying out the last few days but still figures to be off tomorrow. [High tide for the nearby Atlantic Ocean, which raises the water base under Gulfstream, is scheduled for 12:14 p.m.)
“It makes a big difference if the turf is soft,” Santos said. “Out of 14 horses, maybe four can handle it. The rest struggle after running a half-mile.”
“The only thing you can do [to judge the trac] is to watch a few races before,” said Alex Solis, whose best hope in four mounts comes aboard Dixie Union in the Juvenile. “That will give you an idea. Still, you can’t change your horse’s style very much.”
Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron rides four in the Cup, including likely pace-setter Old Trieste in the Classic.
“The best way to prepare is to watch the races very closely on Friday and throughout the day Saturday,” he said. “Going into the races, I always plot my strategy and have something in mind. Sometimes it comes to fruition, but other times nothing goes right.”
Hall of Famer Gary Stevens, who worked Juvenile starter Anees here Sunday, said, “The track is in the best condition I’ve ever seen it, and I think it’s going to be very fair.”
Former jockey Larry Damore has been over this track as much as anybody recently as a top exercise rider for trainer Bob Baffert, whose horses shipped to Gulfstream 2 weeks ago and have been working sensationally since then.
“The track has been playing pretty even,” Damore said. “It’s one of the best surfaces I’ve been on this year, and I’ve been to a lot of race tracks. The last time I was here in January, it was cuppier and harder. Now it’s bouncier. The speed tends to hold more the way it is now.”
