Gulfstream stakes worth $13M

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The $13 million stakes schedule for the upcoming 2020-21 Gulfstream Park Championship meet has been released, with the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf, and $800,000 Florida Derby topping the list of 75 stakes to be offered during the session, which begins Dec. 2.

The Pegasus World Cup at 1 1/8 miles will highlight a card featuring seven stakes on Jan. 23 worth $4.8 million, including the 1 3/16-mile Pegasus Turf. The Pegasus World Cup, to be run for the fifth time in 2021, has been won by champions Arrogate and Gun Runner, with Mucho Gusto having captured the fourth running earlier this year for trainer Bob Baffert.

Bricks and Mortar captured the inaugural Pegasus Turf in 2019 as part of an undefeated season that resulted in honors as champion turf male and Horse of the Year. Zulu Alpha won this year’s event, with Irish invader Magic Wand finishing second in each of the first two runnings.

The 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby will be run March 27 as part of a card that features nine others stakes, six of them graded. Tiz the Law won the 2020 Florida Derby and is a leading candidate for 3-year-old championship honors, having subsequently won the Belmont Stakes and Runhappy Travers and finished second in the Kentucky Derby.

The Florida Derby again culminates a strong 3-yearold program, which features two other important Kentucky Derby preps, the Grade 3 Holy Bull on Jan. 30 and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 27.

The stakes action begins, as it has for the past nine seasons, with the Claiming Crown on Dec. 5, offering nine stakes for both present and former claiming horses, highlighted by the $200,000 Jewel.

Strong cast for turf allowance

For a five-furlong, first-level allowance and optional claimer restricted to statebreds on the turf, Friday’s $38,000 main event at Gulfstream Park West attracted a pretty strong bunch. One of the keys to the race is how Kantharos’ Image will return off a 10-month layoff for trainer Steve Klesaris.

Kantharos’ Image closed his 2019 campaign with a win, a second, and a pair of thirdplace finishes, with his victory coming over the Gulfstream Park West course against opposition similar to Friday’s in early November. Now 7, Kantharos’ Image shows just four works prepping for his return, all at three furlongs over the main track at Gulfstream Park. He will compete under a $20,000 price tag Friday while breaking from post 2 under jockey Hector Berrios.

Harry’s Ontheloose has switched barns since his latest outing, returning to Herman Wilensky, who trained the son of Uncaptured to a win in five starts as a 2-year-old in 2018. Harry’s Ontheloose is coming off one of the best races of his career, a third-place effort behind turf sprint specialist Fully Loaded for which he earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure five weeks ago at Gulfstream Park.

R Man Joe and Allegedly Perfect both defeated open 3-year-old allowance and optional-claiming opposition on the grass during the recently concluded spring-summer Gulfstream Park meet and loom major players against older horses in Friday’s headliner. R Man Joe looks like the stronger of the pair, having never finished worse than second in six career starts with his Beyer Speed Figure increasing from a 57 in his debut to a 79 in his last race.