Looking ahead, Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., will reopen for live racing Tuesday, Dec. 26, close Wednesday, and then run Thursday through Sunday.
On Saturday, Dec. 30, Gulfstream will offer four stakes races, three graded, including the $150,000 Harlan's Holiday (G3), a prep for the Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1), and the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G3), a prep for the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1). There will also be a mandatory Rainbow 6 Saturday with the Harlan's Holiday and Fort Lauderdale part of the sequence.
The Harlan's Holiday, contested at 1 1/16 miles, drew a field of 11 including Fayette (G2) winner O'Connor, Remsen (G2) winner Dubyuhnell, and multiple graded stakes placed Ny Traffic.
The Fort Lauderdale, at 1 1/8-mile on the turf, has 10 entered including Calumet Farm's Running Bee, multiple graded stakes placed Grand Sonata, and Stone Age, runner-up in the 2022 Breeders' Cup Turf (G1)
For more information on Pegasus World Cup Day Jan. 27, go to PegasusWorldCup.com.
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Cindy Kaminski figured she needed a miracle Saturday to grab one of the top two spots in the Tampa Bay Downs' 10 Days of Festivus Challenge Handicapping Contest, an online event.
Truth be told, her situation was more dire than that. She was in 23rd place, and the fields for both of Saturday's Festivus Challenge Races, the sixth and seventh, included top-heavy favorites coming out of high-percentage barns.
But Kaminski, a retired school system paraprofessional from Mays Landing, N.J., stayed firm in the belief that a path to victory existed.
“I knew I had to go with a longshot,” said Kaminski, who settled on The Skipster in the seventh race, the Lambholm South Race of the Week on the turf. “I checked his past performances and they didn't look too bad, and I saw nobody (in the contest) had bet him. My bankroll was $76 at that point and the leader was around $130, so I thought that was my only shot.”
The 5-year-old Arkansas-bred gelding went off at 76-1 (numerology students, take note) in a race in which Conversing, the eventual winner, was 1-2. Under jockey Jose Batista, The Skipster was poised to pull off a shocker before Conversing took over in deep stretch.
The Skipster paid $26.20 to place and $13 to show, making the result as good as a victory for Kaminski. The $39.20 boost to her bankroll rocketed her to $115.20, $10.80 ahead of runner-up Tom Driscoll of Flagler Beach, Fla.
Kaminski receives the first-place Festivus Challenge prize of $1,000 and Driscoll collects $500. There were 1,020 participants, but only 13 remained after nearly everyone ran out of lifelines and was eliminated.
Kaminski had scored with another longshot on the second day of the contest when 4-year-old gelding Bold Medication won and paid $22 to win, $11.20 to place and $6.40 to show.
This was Kaminski's second year playing the Festivus Challenge.
“My husband, Alex, and his friend are big horse racing people, and they encouraged me to play,” she said. “It's amazing. I don't watch the races – it's sort of a superstition, I guess–so my husband lets me know what's happening.”
Alex could barely keep his jaw from hitting the floor as the race unfolded. “I thought (The Skipster) was going to win,” he said.
“It was worth taking a shot. You never know what will happen,” Cindy said, before trying to make sense of things with a dose of Yogi Berra-ese: “When a horse goes off at 70-something-to-1, what are the odds?”
Driscoll, a former Zephyrhills resident who still raves about the lobster panini in the Tampa Bay Downs clubhouse, credits years of experience playing the Festivus Challenge for his second-place performance. “My wife Andrea discovered this contest 10 or 12 years ago, and it was like a Christmas present for me,” Driscoll said. “Every year it's a blast.”
The Driscolls founded the Panda Hugs Learning Center, a child-care center in Tampa, before selling it three years ago. Tom Driscoll is a huge fan of Thoroughbred racing, spending a few days this year at Saratoga.
Driscoll was in fifth place entering Saturday's action, about $30 behind the leader, and like Kaminski knew a longshot was needed to cash in. His choice, 18-1 shot Good Enough for Me in the sixth, finished a non-threatening sixth, but Driscoll aimed his focus on the future.
“I'll definitely be playing again next year, and I'll be going for the win,” he said.
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Team Valor International LLC's Romagna Mia (GB) has been installed as the 6-5 morning-line favorite for Tuesday's $125,000 Via Borghese at Gulfstream Park, where the 1 3/8-mile turf stakes for fillies and mares could well turn out to be a steppingstone for the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Jan. 27.
The 4-year-old Mastercraftsman filly, a Group 2 winner in Europe, has gotten off to a solid start in the U.S., finishing third in the Beverly D. (G1) Aug. 12 at Colonial Downs and a victory in the Dowager (G3) Oct. 22 at Keeneland.
“The goal was to try to get a Grade 1-placing, which we did. That was a big score,” trainer Graham Motion said he said of the filly's Beverley D. effort. “Then she came back to win really comfortably at Keeneland.”
Romagna Mia settled off the pace in the 1½-mile Dowager before surging in the stretch to win by three lengths.
“I think she's pretty exciting,” Motion said. “Just watching her breeze and train, she seems to do things very easily. I thought her win was very impressive.”
John Velazquez has the return call on Romagna Mia.
Roger Keith Long Revocable Trust's Miss Yearwood enters the Via Borghese off a seven-month layoff in her search for her third straight victory. The 4-year-old daughter of Will Take Charge, who is rated second at 9-5 on the morning line, captured the 1 ½-mile Keertana Stakes at Churchill Downs in May.
Chris Landeros has the return call on the Ian Wilkes-trained graded stakes-placed homebred.
AMO Racing USA's Maman Joon (IRE) is slated to make her U.S. debut after competing in group races in Europe. The Jorge Delgado-trained daughter of Sea The Stars will be ridden by Miguel Vasquez.
Indicia, Viva La Red, Sensitivity, Coco, and Tass round out the field.
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