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Tapeta Surface Unveiled at Gulfstream

A new era began Thursday at Gulfstream when the 4-year-old claimer Emoji Guy (Khozan) won the opening race on the card, the first to be run over the newly installed Tapeta track. It was the first of four races on the day run on the synthetic surface.

As is the case with all of the synthetic races, the first was largely uneventful. Trained by Kathleen O'Connell and ridden by Edwin Gonzalez, Emoji Guy was fifth early before launching a bid nearing the turn. He made the lead in mid-stretch and was comfortably in front from there, winning by 1 3/4 lengths.

“He was good and comfortable. The horse really liked it,” said Gonzalez. “You have to ride it like the turf. I wanted to make one move and I was pretty happy where he was. It's good. I have to tell you, they did a really good job. Right now, it's good, and when the tractors start working it more, it's going to be better.”

Early indications were that the track is going to produce slow times. The first, a mile-and-a-sixteenth $12,500 claimer, went in 148.08 and the third, a $16,000 maiden claimer run at 5 1/2 furlongs, was completed in 1:08.56. The fifth, a maiden special weight going 5 1/2 furlongs, went in 1:08.09. The final Tapeta race, the seventh, a mile-and-70-yard starter allowance, was completed in 1:45.36.

That didn't bother trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., whose Strategy Queen (Fed Biz) won the fifth, a $60,000 maiden special weight race on the Tapeta. The filly was ridden by Cristian Torres.

“We put a horse on it we thought would like it,” Joseph said. “Cristian said, at first, she was a little green, but there was no kick-back and she was able to maintain her position. One of the things about Tapeta is you don't get dirt in your face. I think that's why some turf horses run on it better than they do on dirt.”

Among the horses who started in the Tapeta races, not one had a prior start on a synthetic surface. But that didn't give handicappers any problems. Three of the four winners were the favorite and the fourth, Strategy Queen, paid just $11. The other winners paid $5.60, $5.40 and $4.40.

Nor was there any apparent bias. Two of the races were won wire to wire, a third winner stalked the pace and Emoji Guy was a winning closer.

O'Connell said she wasn't surprised that Emoji Guy won since he is a horse who seems to handle any surface he runs over. But she still doesn't know what to expect from other horses in her barn.

“It's an experiment and we're all going to have to learn as we go along,” she said. “The horse I ran today is what I would call an 'all-terrain' horse. He can handle any surface, so I was happy he was my first horse on Tapeta here. A lot of turf horses like the Tapeta, but not all of them do. I left Colonial one year and I took eight over to Presque Isle and four of them liked the surface and did well and four of them you couldn't find with a search warrant. It's an individual type of thing. But as long as it is safe for the horses I am all for it. That it's safe, that's all that I want.”

O'Connell said the Tapeta at Gulfstream appears to be different from the one at Presque Isle. She noted that the Gulfstream surface is much lighter in color than the one she has raced over at Presque Isle.

“It's a different kind of Tapeta here, which you can tell by the color,” she said. “The Tapeta at Presque Isle is very different. It's the consistency. Supposedly, this was made for the climate here.”

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Tapeta Era Dawns At Gulfstream Park On Opening Day Of Fall Meet

The ground-breaking Tapeta era dawned Thursday at Gulfstream Park, where four races were contested over the newly installed all-weather surface on opening day of the Fall Meet.

Kathleen O'Connell, the second winningest female trainer in history, notched Win No. 2279 after saddling Emoji Guy for a victory in Race 1 in the first Tapeta race run at Gulfstream, the very first racetrack with dirt, turf and all-weather surfaces.

“It means a lot,” O'Connell said. “I'm happy for the owners. They've waited for a long time. I just texted them, 'It's a new track record. Of course, it was the first race run on it.”

J S Stables LLC's Emoji Guy, the 9-5 favorite for the $12,500 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles, was timed in 1:48.08 in his all-weather debut under Edwin Gonzalez.

“He was good and comfortable. The horse really liked it,” said Gonzalez, who has ridden on all-weather tracks at Golden Gate, Presque Isle and Arlington. “You have to ride it like the turf. I wanted to make one move and I was pretty happy where he was.”

Gonzalez, who made a three-wide sweep to the lead on the far turn aboard Emoji Guy, expressed his satisfaction with the going on the Tapeta track and his belief that the surface will become tighter as time goes by.

“It's good. I have to tell you, they did a really good job. Right now, it's good, and when the tractors start working it more, it's going to be better.”

Emoji Guy won for the first time in eight starts, seven on turf, since breaking his maiden on turf.

“He's pretty much an all-terrain model, so I wasn't so much worried about him,” O'Connell said. “Some of the others I do worry about. I spent a couple of seasons at Presque Isle. Not all of them that like the turf like the synthetic. I've had some dirt horses that turned into synthetic specialists. You just have to be in tune with your horse.”

A $60,000 maiden special weight for juvenile fillies at 5 ½ furlongs on Tapeta was featured on Thursday's program. Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained Strategy Queen, who had shown promised in two starts on dirt, broke through with a deep-closing triumph under Cristian Torres in the Race 5 feature.

“Her dad won three times on it. Her sister won on it and her other sister won on turf. We put a horse on it we thought would like it,” Joseph said. “Cristian said, at first, she was a little green, but there was no kick-back and she was able to maintain her position. One of the things about Tapeta is you don't get dirt in your face. I think that's why some turf horses run on it better than they do on dirt.”

The daughter of Fed Biz had finished second in her most recent start after dueling from the start of the six-furlong $50,000 maiden claimer.

Wow Tapit, a daughter of Cairo Prince who finished third in her second career start in a recent off-the-turf sprint, took to the Tapeta to graduate in Race 3, a 5 ½-furlong maiden race for juvenile fillies. The Amador Sanchez-trained filly led throughout to score by 3 ½ lengths under Hector Berrios.

Monarch Stables Inc.'s Light Fury transferred his winning form on turf to the Tapeta in Race 7, an about-a-mile-and-70-yard optional claiming allowance. The Ron Spatz-trained son of Wicked Strong, the 6-5 favorite ridden by Samy Camacho, chased Vow Me Now into the stretch before taking the lead and holding on to win by a half-length. Light Fury was winless in eight starts on dirt before winning five times and finishing in the money nine times in 10 races on turf.

Five races will be run on the Tapeta track on Friday's nine-race program that will get underway at 12:50 p.m. Races 5, 7 and 9 will be included in the 20-cent Rainbow 6 sequence that will span Races 4-9. The Rainbow 6 jackpot pool will be guaranteed at $350,000.

The popular multi-race wager went unsolved Thursday for the 11th racing day since a Sept. 10 mandatory payout produced multiple payoffs of $313,299.84

The Rainbow 6 jackpot is paid out when there is a single unique ticket sold with all six winners. On days when there is no unique ticket, 70 percent of that day's pool goes back to those bettors holding tickets with the most winners, while 30 percent is carried over to the jackpot pool.

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Motion, Stidham Look Ahead To Gulfstream’s New Tapeta Track

With the onset of year-round racing at Gulfstream Park this year due to the closure of Gulfstream Park West, a Tapeta track has been constructed to provide a measure of relief to the turf course while offering a varied racing program for horses of all abilities – and Graham Motion and Michael Stidham are hardly complaining.

The pair of highly respected trainers have enjoyed significant success while training and racing horses on all-weather surfaces, as well as on dirt and turf.

“I applaud Gulfstream for making that move. I'm a little surprised that more tracks haven't done it to have an alternative track, whether it be an alternative surface to run on or an alternative surface to run on when the races come off the turf,” said Motion, whose stable is based at Fair Hill, the Elkton, MD training center, where a Tapeta surface is available for training year round. “I think it makes so much sense, and I'm excited that Gulfstream has gone forward with this.”

Stidham, who also trains at Fair Hill during the good-weather months, has applied for stalls for Gulfstream's upcoming Championship Meet for the first time.

“I've always been a trainer who likes the synthetic. I trained at Arlington over 20 years, and we loved training on the synthetic. We're at Fair Hill in the summer, and we have a Tapeta track there,” Stidham said. “We like it, and we think it's a good addition.”

Gulfstream Park is on the verge of making Thoroughbred racing history – scheduled to become the first racetrack to conduct racing on dirt, turf and all-weather surfaces when the first races are run over the Tapeta track Thursday, opening day of the Fall Meet.

One of Stidham's most memorable successes on an all-weather track came in a maiden special weight race at Arlington on Sept. 18, 2010.

“A million-dollar earner that I had, Willcox Inn, broke his maiden on it, and he went on to be a graded-stakes winner. I'll never forget that his first start was at Arlington against another first-time starter, Animal Kingdom. Willcox Inn and Animal Kingdom both made their first starts in the same race at Arlington,” said Stidham, whose multiple graded-stakes winning son of Harlan's Holiday prevailed by 2 ¾ lengths over Animal Kingdom, who rallied after being caught in traffic. “It was kind of interesting to see both those horses go on to be top horses.”

The Motion-trained Animal Kingdom, of course, went on to win the 2011 Kentucky Derby (G1) after qualifying with a victory in the Spiral (G2) over Turfway's all-weather surface. The son of Leroidesanimaux also went on to win the 2013 Dubai World Cup (G1) after prepping with a second-place finish behind Point of Entry in the Gulfstream Park Turf (G2).

“I think he was a brilliant horse who's an exception to all the rules. I think it's fair to say he was a brilliant horse – he won the two biggest races in the world – the Dubai World Cup and the Kentucky Derby,” Motion said. “When you have horses of that caliber, they usually handle what you throw at them. He was an exceptional horse. The chances of me having another one like him in my lifetime are very unlikely.”

Motion said he expects lower-level horse to benefit most from the addition of a Tapeta surface to Gulfstream's racing menu.

“I think at the high level, I think it's harder to find horses that are as good on each surface. I think at the lower level, I think it's easier to move them between surfaces. It gives people with lesser horses another option,” Motion said. “It also doesn't beat up on the turf course so much. Hopefully, it protects the turf course and gives another option with some of the lesser horses that don't get the option to run on the grass normally.”

Although horses have been successful going from dirt to Tapeta and vice versa, Stidham and Motion agree that turf horses seem to be more comfortable running on the all-weather surface.

“It's not a fast and true guarantee, but it's a step toward getting the same feel they get on the turf. It's a more consistent feel and footing for a horse than the dirt, where they hit the dirt and it kind of gives away,” Stidham said. “Synthetic is obviously more like turf. It's similar but not the same.”

Upperline, a multiple graded-stakes winner on turf who also won over the all-weather surfaces at Keeneland, Arlington and Woodbine; and Tizaqueena, a graded-stakes winner and multiple Grade 1 stakes-placed on turf who also won a graded stakes on Arlington's all-weather track; both showed versatility on both surfaces for Stidham during the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Training on Tapeta is essential in determining how comfortable a horse is on the new surface.

“I don't think it's good for every horse. It's just like any surface – it's a trial-and-error thing where you work a horse on it and see how they handle it and see how they come out of it,” Stidham said. “That tells you how much they like it or don't like it. It's not for every horse.”

Motion routinely trains turf horses on a synthetic surface.

“I think most turf horses handle the transition to synthetic,” Motion said. “When I breeze horses at Fair Hill, I tend to breeze them on synthetic. They're just much more comfortable on it.”

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Training Begins Over Gulfstream’s New Tapeta Surface; Racing Scheduled For Next Thursday

Training on the newly installed Tapeta track got underway Friday morning at Gulfstream Park, where horses galloped on the all-weather surface that is tentatively scheduled to open for races next Thursday afternoon.

Jockey Chantal Sutherland said she was impressed with the Tapeta surface after galloping Leon McKanas-trained Thenorthremembers, a 5-year-old Violence gelding who captured a mile turf race for $25,000 claimers in his most recent start.

“Of all the Tapetas and Polytracks this is, by far, one of the better ones. This is beautiful. The horse went over it effortlessly. It was super-soft, and you could not hear horses beside you making any noise on it. My horse, I couldn't hear hitting the ground,” Sutherland said. “They've done a great job on it. It seemed all level and really soft, very forgiving for horses.”

Joe Orseno-trained Timmy M. was among the first horses to gallop over the track that replaced the outer turf course. Twice stakes-placed on turf during his juvenile campaign, Timmy M., a 5-year-old son of Morning Line, has been competing in allowance optional claimer and claiming races since a fourth-place finish in November of 2019 in the Millions Turf Preview at Gulfstream Park West.

“He just ran the other day and we thought he was in a good spot where he could win. He didn't run very well. I was actually going to sell him, but then I said, 'You know what? Tapeta – let's try him,'” said Orseno, who was pleased with how Timmy M. looked getting over the new surface Friday. “We're going to run him at the end of the month on it, but today was just galloping for the sake of galloping. I thought it was a good experiment.”

Although most horses will be entering unknown territory on the Tapeta track, the new surface provides trainers with hope that some of their horses will improve over the new surface.

“You might get that odd horse that will go right up the ladder on it. Everyone's hoping that they have the one,” Orseno said.

Kathy Mongeon-trained Anonymous Source, a 4-year-old Florida-bred filly who won a $12,500 maiden claiming race on turf three starts back, was the first horse to step onto the Tapeta surface Friday with veteran exercise rider Walter Blum Jr. up.

“This felt amazing on the horse I was on. I think she really loved it,” Blum said. “People ask how do you know? When she first stepped on it, she was very light-footed, and when I went to pull her up, I could barely pull her up. She didn't even get tired and I let her clip around there finishing up.”

Blum has a wealth of experience galloping and breezing horses over all-weather surfaces.

“I rode Polytrack at Keeneland and Santa Anita. [The Tapeta surface] was so soft and nice. It had a lot of cushion to it, a lot of bounce,” Blum said. “I think it's going to be a fantastic surface once it works in in a week's time, once these guys are able to work on it, they're going to like this.”

Due to the closure of Gulfstream Park West, Gulfstream Park is scheduled to conduct racing year-round, prompting the construction of the Tapeta track. The new surface will provide a measure of relief to the turf course while offering a varied racing program for horses of all abilities. Gulfstream Park will become the first track to offer racing on dirt, turf and all-weather surfaces.

Thursday's program will mark the opening of the Fall Meet, during which races will not be scheduled on the turf course, which will undergo renovation for the Championship Meet. Six stakes, formerly run on turf, will be renewed on the Tapeta course.

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