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Weekend Lineup: Gulfstream Swings Into Championship Meet With Pegasus Preps

The Gulfstream Park Championship Meet goes into full swing this weekend, with five graded stakes on Saturday's 11-race New Year's Eve program at the South Florida track. Several horses with designs on the Jan. 28 Pegasus World Cup day program will be competing.

Saturday's Gulfstream Park card gets under way at 12:10 p.m. ET.

Out west, Santa Anita has three graded stakes on Saturday and one on Sunday, the Grade 3 Santa Ynez Stakes, the latter serving as a qualifying points race for the Kentucky Oaks.

Both Saturday and Sunday's programs at Santa Anita begin at noon PT/3 p.m. ET

The first Kentucky Derby points race of the new year is also on tap Sunday with Oaklawn presenting the Smarty Jones Stakes.

Oaklawn's Sunday program kicks off at 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET.

Here's a brief look at some of the New Year's weekend major stakes:

Saturday

1:10 p.m. ET – Grade 3 Sugar Swirl Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Frank's Rockette finished second as the 11-10 choice in last year's Sugar Swirl and the Bill Mott runner will be the favorite again this year. The daughter of Into Mischief is a steady check collector, with 21 of 24 in the money finishes, but she's been runner-up just as often as she wins. Philip Bauer-trained Coppelia could be the up and comer in this lineup and she bids for her third consecutive win in her South Florida debut.

Sugar Swirl Entries

3:09 p.m. ET – Grade 3 Suwannee River Stakes at Gulfstream Park

A Group 1 winner in her native Argentine, Scotish Star is 1-for-5 in this country over the last two years but seems to be going in better form on the East Coast than when she arrived in this country in California in 2021. She looks to be the speed in this field and expect Luis Saez to take advantage of the No. 1 post position draw.

Suwannee River Entries

4:00 p.m. ET – Grade 3 Robert J. Frankel Stakes at Santa Anita

Very contentious group of 11 fillies and mares contesting this year's Robert J. Frankel, including Queen Goddess, the 5-2 morning line favorite who won the G3 Santa Ana over the Santa Anita turf course last March. England's Rose was no match for Regal Glory in the G1 Matriarch at Del Mar Dec. 4 but she should benefit from the additional furlong here.

Robert J. Frankel Entries

4:10 p.m. ET – Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Park

Colonel Liam, the 8-5 morning line favorite, really has his work cut out for him as he will break from the outside post in a field of 12 in a race that could determine whether or not he bids for a third consecutive victory Jan. 28 in the G2 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational. The 5-year-old by Liam's Map had only one start after last year's Pegasus Turf, that being a ninth-place effort in the G1 Dubai Turf at Meydan in March.

Fort Lauderdale Entries

4;40 p.m. ET – Grade 3 Harlan's Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream Park

How good is the Chilean start O'Connor, who romped by six lengths in his October U.S. debut in a Gulfstream Park allowance/optional claimer for Saffie Joseph Jr.? Though he won 10-of-18 in Chile, including a G1 race, he'll get tested for class as the 8-5 morning line favorite in the Harlan's Holiday, which figures to determine whether or not he will go on to the Pegasus World Cup Jan. 28. Joseph also saddles Skippylongstocking, whose best may be good enough but isn't the most consistent type.

Harlan's Holiday Entries

Sunday

5:10 p.m. ET – Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn

Brad Cox brings the unbeaten Tapwrit colt Victory Formation to Oaklawn for this $250,000 race that offers 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the winner. He's never raced around two turns but has speed and gets the riding services of Flavien Prat, who flies in from California for the mount. Denington made a belated rally to be fifth at Churchill Downs in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes and figures to improve for trainer Kenny McPeek.

Smarty Jones Entries

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Rainy Forecast Forces Adjustments To Santa Anita’s Holiday Schedule

A picturesque opening day at Santa Anita with temperatures reaching the high 70s helped drive an on-track attendance of 41,446 and a record all-sources opening day handle of $26.3 million.

Weather-wise, it will be different story this holiday weekend at the The Great Race Place, which has led to some changes in the racing program including an all-dirt card on Sunday.

On Friday's nine-race program, five are scheduled for the turf including both the $100,000 Eddie Logan and $100,000 Blue Norther. The card is expected to go as scheduled. But then things start could change on Saturday. The National Weather Service forecasts a “100 percent chance of precipitation” with up to an inch of rainfall in Arcadia.

As a result, both of Saturday's turf stakes are carded early on the program to try and avoid the pending rainstorm. The opener will be the Grade 2, $250,000 Joe Hernandez on the hillside turf course with the Grade 3, $100,000 Robert J. Frankel going as race three.

“For today and tomorrow, everything should go according to plan,” said Santa Anita Director of Racing and Racing Secretary Chris Merz. “The really hard rain on Saturday isn't supposed to hit until about 6 o'clock on Saturday. And talking with our turf guy (Jessie Martinez), despite the rain we have already had, he felt everything is right where it is supposed to be.”

For Sunday, the Racing Office took no chances. The eight-race program will be run exclusively on dirt. As for the scheduled Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas on the hillside turf course, it was moved to the special New Year's holiday card on Monday.

“We might see traces of rain Sunday, but it shouldn't affect how we do business,” Merz said. “And then on Monday, there is a lot of sun and wind in the forecast. We're hoping to be full steam ahead.”

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Mahoning Valley: $33,099 Pick 6 Carryover, Mandatory Payouts Friday

Anchored by a $33,099.11 carryover in the Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6, mandatory payouts of the Pick 4, Pick 5, and Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6 wagers will highlight the final day of live racing action in 2022 at Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course on Friday, December 30.

The unique Friday card will feature nine races headlined by the $75,000 Joshua Radosevich Memorial Stakes and Bobby Bricker Memorial Handicap. First race post time is set at 12:45 p.m. and also marks the beginning of the 15 percent takeout Pick 5 sequence.

The 20-cent minimum Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6 starts in Race 4 with an approximate post time of 2:09 p.m. in a sequence that features an average field size of 10 horses before scratches.

Closing out the string of mandatory payout wagers is the 15 percent takeout Pick 4 beginning in Race 6 with an estimated post time of 3:05 p.m.

The Buckeye Jackpot Pick 6 will return to its normal single ticket payout rules on Monday, January 2.

Hollywood Gaming Mahoning Valley Race Course races Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with a first race post time of 12:45 p.m. and a closing day Saturday card on April 15, 2023 with a first race post time of 12:15 p.m. The 2023 Winter/Spring race meet dates are January 2, 2023 – April 15, 2023.

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Tampa Bay Downs: Friday Card Features Carryovers In Pick 5, Ultimate 6

A string of long-shot winners, including back-to-back first-time starters in the seventh (Hoku, $39.20) and eighth (Froshado, $35) races, combined to create some large carryover pools into Friday's nine-race card at Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar, Fla.

The carryover for the 50-cent Pick-5, which will begin with the fifth race, is $84,143, with no bettors correctly selecting all five winners of the fifth through ninth races.

A carryover of $30,265 will greet 20-cent Ultimate 6 players Friday who tackle the challenge of picking races four through nine. There is also a carryover of $22,511 and change into the first Super High-5 race, requiring bettors to pick the first five finishers of the race in order.

For the last 12 months, almost, Tampa Bay residents were counting the days until they got to celebrate the holiday season with family and friends.

But having to stoke the fireplace (if they have one) while receiving a steady diet of bad-weather news to go with their cookies and egg nog created an area-wide epidemic of cabin fever.

The longing to get back outside took root today at Tampa Bay Downs, where the combination of bright sunshine, gentle breezes and the 2003 Tampa Bay Downs Calendar Giveaway attracted a crowd of 2,889 for the midweek program.

With a forecast of “more of the same” for the next several days (temperatures are expected to climb into the high 70s, although afternoon thunderstorms are possible Saturday), the track's management team is hopeful the post-holiday action will gather momentum (like a snowball effect) heading into the meat of the Oldsmar oval's stakes program.

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