This is not only a great time of the year for my sister, who flees Cape May, New Jersey to go to Florida for three months but also for horse players that have an eye toward the Triple Crown and thrive to see the year’s action at Gulfstream.

The Sunshine State got back on track Sunday January 3 for and the meet will go to April 24. Those that have aspirations for the Kentucky Derby will be recognized and will try to springboard from this meet to the classic events.

At the end of this month, the annual Sunshine Millions Program will be run featuring Cal-breds and Florida-breds aiming for big dollars to the tune of $1.8 million.

The highlight of the meeting will be the March 20th $750,000 Florida Derby at a mile and an eighth for the sophomores pinning their hopes on the Kentucky Derby and the Triple Crown.

If the opening day card, where 105 horses were entered, is any indication, this meet will surely offer astute bettors tons of opportunities to make a score.

The race I commented on for the Racing Form was fully subscribed with 16 including alsos entered and you could have gone a plethora of ways for a key horse.

As the meet went on last year both the grass and the main track played rather fair with an edge on the grass for those that could stalk or rally.

More importantly, it may be more beneficial for players to concentrate on the human element that makes things go round rather than get caught up in what may or not be a conceived track or racing bias.

Those idiosyncrasies are evident every day and are up to interpretation so lets examine the facts of the top pilots, the projected hot new rider and the guys that really stir the drink, the trainers.

First the chauffeurs. Jose Lezcano had his coming out party last year at this meet winning the title with 71 happy endings and almost 20 more than the next guy. He will be challenged every step of the way this year by veterans like Elvis Trujillo, Kent Desormeaux, Jorge Velazquez and possible 2009 Eclipse Award winner Julien Leparoux.

The latter excels in getting horses to relax especially on grass and after winning three Breeders’ Cup races will be much in demand.

The new kid that could be a ‘sure hit’ is Luis Saez. The apprentice held his own with the veterans all 2009 at Calder but has not forgotten his roots of sleeping in the tack room in Panama waiting for his big chance.

That chance came when he graduated from the famous Laffit Pincay Jr. Jockey School and he has success story ridden all over him.

As for the conditioners, the usual suspects of Todd Pletcher, Ken McPeek, Nick Zito, Bill Mott and Marty Wolfson should all vie for the top slots this winter but a stalwart to watch is former rider Wesley Ward.

He finished third in the standings last year but popped at a sensational 34.3% clip. His forte is young horses and first time starters but know that he will be saddling live babies all winter.

Everything Peter Walder sends out must be respected off his 30% win clip last year but there are a few off-brand guys that need to be followed.

Angel Penna was 6 for 23 at the meet last year and his average winner paid over $26. Joe Orseno hit with nearly 19% of his starters but the average price was a solid $21 and change and Michael Matz, of Barbaro fame, popped with an average price of nearly $22.

One word or caution regarding clasy horseman Nick Zito. Know that of his 69 turf starters through the end of the last meeting at Gulfstream, he greeted only 2 in the charmed circle.

Like anything else in life, horse bettors must use common sense when trying to differentiate action from one meeting to another but with the proper homework and with the proper tools like a year or 2 archive of Racing Forms, the winners able to be unearthed will surely pay for the blood sweat and tears on the kitchen floor.

Happy hunting.