The Gulfstream Park 2024-’25 Championship Meet runs from Nov. 28 to March 30 and will bring together the best trainers, jockeys, grass horses, and stakes action at this time of year all into one must-bet meet for horseplayers and handicappers throughout the winter season.

Big days will be a big part of the Gulfstream championship meet as you would expect, and the first headline day of the season will be Pegasus World Cup day on Jan. 25, highlighted by eight stakes races including the Grade 1, $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes and the Grade 1, $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes.

The meet will host important prep races for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, such as the $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 1 and the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 1, leading up to closing weekend’s $1 million Curlin Florida Derby, which tops a day of 10 stakes races, including five graded stakes, on Saturday, March 29.

Gulfstream continues its current status as the only three-surface racetrack in America with racing carded on the dirt main track, the turf course, and a Tapeta all-weather track. The season customarily begins with horses shipping to Florida from all over the East Coast and Midwest to join the cream of the crop of local South Florida horses. Generally, the shippers from places like Kentucky and New York can have an edge versus the local horses, especially in allowance and optional-claiming races and on the grass, but times have changed, and the local trainers, jockeys, and horses win more races at the meet than ever before, especially during the first month of the meet, in claiming races, and on the Tapeta all-weather surface. In late December and early January is when you really see the quality of Gulfstream racing jump up a notch to the highest level it will reach all year in January, February, and March.

Gulfstream’s Top Jockeys

Irad Ortiz Jr. after a 2023 win at Gulfstream (Eclipse Sportswire)

A premier jockey colony will be based at Gulfstream for the championship meet. The leading jockey at last year’s corresponding meet was Irad Ortiz Jr., who racked up 119 wins from 526 mounts for a 23% win percentage. The next winningest jockey at last year’s meet was Jose Ortiz with 94 wins, but Jose has announced plans to ride regularly at Fair Grounds this season, so his wins will now go to other jockeys. Irad Ortiz also was the Gulfstream leading rider at this meet two years ago with 128 wins when he won the jockey title by more than 50 winners over second leading rider Luis Saez (71 wins). Saez was Gulfstream’s leading winter rider the previous year when he ran away with the 2021-’22 title with 122 wins. Saez had 70 wins last season and, with Jose Ortiz riding elsewhere, Saez should see his win total climb this year.

Paco Lopez is annually a major factor in the Gulfstream jockey standings. He won 92 races last season to rank third in the win standings. Other notables in the star-studded Gulfstream jock’s room include Tyler Gaffalione, the leading rider at multiple Kentucky meets in 2023 and 2024 who won 51 races (14%) at Gulfstream last winter; Javier Castellano, the winner of the 2023 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes who scored 34 wins (13%) at this Gulfstream meet a year ago; Junior Alvarado, who is coming off a 35-win meet (14%) at Gulfstream last winter; and Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez, who won 29 races at last year’s championship meet (14%). Several Gulfstream journeymen jockeys also will be prominent in the standings including Jorge Ruiz (27 wins, 9% at last year’s meet), Emisael Jaramillo (26 wins, 12%), Edwin Gonzalez (25 wins, 11%), Leonel Reyes (20 wins, 6%), and Miguel Vasquez (34 wins, 10%), and particularly Edgard Zayas, who won 56 races (13%) at last year’s meet to place fifth in the standings.

Top Gulfstream Trainers

Saffie Joseph Jr. ran away with the Gulfstream training title at last year’s championship meet with 66 wins for a win percentage of 21%. Joseph was also the 2022-’23 leading trainer with 47 winners. Joseph enters by far the most horses at the winter meet with 321 starters last year and 238 starters two years ago, so it’s not surprising he amasses the most wins. Todd Pletcher has been the second-leading trainer the last couple years — he sent out 37 winners a year ago (21%) and 41 winners two years ago (22%). Expect more of the same this season.

The next tier of Gulfstream winter trainers is very likely to be fairly extensive and led by some of the top names in the game such as Mark Casse (31 wins, 17% at this meet last year), Mike Maker (17 wins, 13%), Bill Mott (15 wins, 17%), Christophe Clement (17 wins, 18%). They will join stalwarts like Jose D’Angelo (26 wins, 14%), and Antonio Sano (18 wins, 17%), Brian Lynch (22 wins, 23%), Martin Drexler (20 wins, 21%), Fernando Abreu (19 wins, 20%), Carlos David (16 wins, 17%), Rohan Crichton (16 wins, 16%), Jorge Delgado (15 wins, 19%), and George Weaver (14 wins, 23%). Chad Brown is in the mix too, but his stable can be more quiet than usual at this time of year, which was on display last winter when he scored 11 wins from 92 starters for a win percentage of only 12%.

Gulfstream Dirt Sprint Track Trends

2024 Inside Information Stakes at Gulfstream. (Eclipse Sportswire)

The prevailing running style preference in Gulfstream dirt races favors horses with early speed, or at least tactical speed, at all distances. Deep closers generally don’t do well on this main track, especially in dirt sprints and one-mile races (one turn), and that was on full display at the 2023-’24 Championship meet, where closers performed exceptionally poorly and burned a lot of their supporters’ money.

In Gulfstream dirt sprints at the 2023-’24 championship meet, closers coming from four lengths or more off the lead were terrible bets, accounting for wins in only seven of the 161 dirt sprints run at the meet. This stat was similar two seasons ago when closers won only eight dirt sprints the entire meet. Meanwhile, speed horses on or close to the pace, as defined for this article as racing on the lead or within one length of the front at the first call, won 85 of the 161 dirt sprints accounting for 53% of the races. Stalkers racing between one and four lengths of the lead won 69 of the sprints to account for 43% of the wins. There appeared to be no favoritism in terms of post positions for any of the various running styles.

Dirt Mile and Route Preferences

Gulfstream dirt mile races are run around one turn and are more like long sprints than routes. These can’t be lumped in with the other sprints, however, because while the front-end advantage still exists, it is not as strong of a bias as in sprints. Horses on or close to the lead won 51% of the 57 dirt miles run last season. Notably, closers also have a slightly better chance at this distance, where they won 14% of the miles last season.

When handicapping mile races, give an edge to proven milers or horses stretching out from sprints as opposed to horses cutting back from 1 1/16 or 1 1/8 miles.

Gulfstream two-turn dirt routes are mostly run at the distances of 1 1/16 miles and 1 1/8 miles but these races are becoming more and more infrequent with only three races at 1 1/8 miles and 15 races at 1 1/16 miles last season. The biggest long-term trend for handicapping two-turn dirt routes at Gulfstream favors inside posts and inside running paths. Anything outside post-position #5 is a bad draw.

Gulfstream Park Turf Tips

A large part of the winter action at Gulfstream Park takes place on the grass. The long-term stats for Gulfstream turf routes show very little advantage or disadvantage to either inside or outside posts at Gulfstream, so don’t shy away from a contender if your horse draws post-position #11 or #12. They can win from way outside at Gulfstream.

A race on the turf course at Gulfstream in March 2024 (Eclipse Sportswire)

When searching for the preferred running style in turf routes, Gulfstream has been known through the years as a turf course where it is difficult to win going wire-to-wire, but the turf routes run at both the 2022-’23 and 2023-’24 Championship meets were exceptionally fair both in terms of post position and running style. Horses on or close to the lead managed to win 46 of the 143 turf routes run last season to account for nearly a third of the winners.

Gulfstream runs a lot of 7 ½-furlong turf races, which are around two turns and play like routes, not sprints. The odd distance with a short run to the first turn is actually extremely popular, with 32 races run at 7 ½ furlongs at last year’s meet. Counterintuitively, the outside posts did the best in these races with 14 winners breaking from post #7 and higher to account for wins in 44% of the races at the distance. Closers did OK at 7 ½ furlongs two years ago, but last year betting closers in these races was like lighting your money on fire when they won just 3 of the 32 races. Keep an eye out for how it’s playing this season.

In Gulfstream turf sprints run at five furlongs, speed is king. The turf dashes are often dominated by horses on or close to the early lead. In 43 turf sprints run at last year’s meet, 22 were won by front-runners. At most meets that number is actually even higher. Don’t bet closers in Gulfstream turf sprints because it is difficult for horses from the back half of the field to win or even make a dent. Only six winners in 43 races at last year’s championship meet closed from more four lengths behind, and two years ago only there were only four closing winners in 46 turf sprints.

Gulfstream Tapeta Trends

The Gulfstream Tapeta all-weather surface has had a few years to break-in and seems to play fair. The most common distances are 5 ½ furlongs for sprints and 1 mile and 70 yards in routes.

In Tapeta sprints at Gulfstream, speed is the preferred running style and closers do terribly. In 181 Tapeta sprints run at Gulfstream at this same meet last year, front-runners won 57% of the races while closers won just 4% (8 wins in 181 races). Post positions play fair.

In Tapeta route races, from a sample of 196 races run at last year’s championship meet, the track played fairly in terms of running styles and post positions. The narrow advantage goes to stalkers racing between one and four lengths off the pace, who won 92 of 196 to account for winning 47% of the races. The best time to bet speed on Tapeta is in wet conditions, but unfortunately wet Tapeta is not a condition notated in the charts or past performances.

We wish you a great Gulfstream championship winter meet.  Enjoy the best racing of the season at Gulfstream Park and good luck!