GULFSTREAM PARK

Gulfstream Announces $3.775 Million Spring & Summer Stakes Schedule

By GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – G ulfstream Park’s spring and summer stakes schedule will offer horsemen $3.775 million in purses featuring the $1.55 million Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association Florida Sire Stakes and $300,000 Princess Rooney (Grade 2), which will be moved from June to September along with the $200,000 Smile Sprint (G3).

The spring racing season begins April 2. The stakes schedule kicks off on Kentucky Derby Day, Saturday, May 2, with the $100,000 Big Drama Stakes for Florida-breds and the Honey Ryder and English Channel, both contested on the turf.

The biggest change to the stakes schedule will be moving the Princess Rooney and Smile Sprint to Sep. 5. The distance of the Princess Rooney has been changed from seven furlongs to six furlongs and the purse increased $50,000. The race day will also include the

$75,000 Miss Gracie and $75,000 Bear’s Den. “Both the Princess Rooney and Smile were moved from the middle of the summer to September in hopes of more participation moving closer to the fall,” said Mike Lakow, Gulfstream’s Vice President of Racing. “We also noticed there was a void in filly and mare Grade 1 and 2 races under seven furlongs. Therefore we changed the distance of the Princess Rooney to six furlongs and brought the purse to $300,000.”

This will be the 39th anniversary of the $1.4 million Florida Sire Stakes, for 2-year-olds sired by accredited Florida stallions. The rich series, which has produced Awesome Feather, Three Ring, Big Drama, Smile and Jackson Bend, kicks off Aug. 1 with the $100,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Dr. Fager and $100,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Desert Vixen divisions. It continues Aug. 29 with the $200,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Affirmed and $200,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Susan’s Girl and culminates Sept. 26 with the $400,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes In Reality and $400,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes My Dear Girl. The $150,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes Wildcat Heir will also be run Sept. 26 for 3-year-olds and older going a mile.

Gulfstream’s live card on Preakness Day, May 16, will include the $100,000 Musical Romance for Florida-breds and the $75,000 Roar and $75,000 Powder Break, while Belmont Stakes Day, June 6, will feature the $100,000 Soldier’s Dancer and $100,000 Ginger Punch, both for Florida-breds. Gulfstream will also have stakes races on three Saturdays during Saratoga’s summer meet as well as three stakes on July 4 weekend.

“We set the stakes schedule to accompany important racing days and holidays,” Lakow said. ■ $1.55 Million Florida Sire Stakes Program Begins Aug.1