"Mesa" May Have Final Say in Old Hat as Gulfstream Park Opens

(Tuesday, January 4) Gulfstream Park gets underway on Wednesday with a nine-race card, with the opening day feature the $100,000 Old Hat (G3) for three-year-old fillies going six furlongs on the main track.

Gulfstream Park will run five days a week, Wednesday through Sunday until April 24.

I will be covering the meeting until April 3, the day of the $1 million Florida Derby (G1), then I will be switching my tack to Keeneland for their spring meeting.

There are plenty of reasons to think Gulfstream Park is going to have an outstanding meeting.

The barns are full, and many of the top horses, trainers, and jockeys will call Hallandale their home for the next few months.

We will see many of the top Kentucky Derby contenders come through Gulfstream Park leading up to the Florida Derby, the marquee event of the meeting.

Among the key Florida Derby preps are the $400,000 Holy Bull (G3) on Jan. 30, and the Fasig Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) and Hutcheson (G2) on Feb. 26.

The Sunshine Millions is set for Jan. 29, and the $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) and the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) will be contested on Feb. 5.

While Santa Anita is being hammered by disgruntled horseplayers with their takeout hike, Gulfstream Park is doing the exact opposite for their meeting.

The takeout on Pick 3 and Pick 4 wagering has been reduced to 20% (Santa Anita's is 23.68%), and will offer a 50-cent Pick 5 wager with a record low takeout of just 15%.

There will also be 50-cent wagering on all Pick 3 and Pick 4 wagers offered at the track.

The Pick 6 will be a 10-cent wager, with the pool only being paid out if there is one winner. If there are multiple winners with all six winners correct, 60% of the pool will be shared by the winners while 40% of the pool will carry over to the next racing day.

While Santa Anita is already having trouble filling races, Gulfstream Park has plenty of large fields over the first three days of the meeting, which bodes well for horseplayers looking for value while not getting their bankroll fleeced by increasing takeout rates.

To purchase Michael Dempsey's full card reports for Aqueduct and Gulfstream Park click here.

Let's head out to Gulfstream Park for Wednesday's opening day feature:

Gulfstream Park Race 8 The Old Hat G3 (Post time 4:23 ET)
Final Mesa 7/2
Quantum Miss 2/1
Roxy Gap 9/5
It's Me Mom 4/1

Final Mesa is making her first start since August for the Wesley Ward barn and she has won three of her four career starts including her lone start on conventional dirt. She won her first three career starts by open lengths, then came up short when shipped to Del Mar for the Sorrento (G3) where she pressed the early pace, took command on the far turn, but ran out of gas in the stretch and weakened to finish sixth as the 9/5 favorite. The Sorrento was a tough field, with the winner Wickedly Perfect winning the Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland in her most recent outing and runner up A Z Warrior winning the Frizette (G1) on Oct. 9. The filly has been working steadily over the main track at Gulfstream Park for a barn that hits at a 30% clip (with a +ROI) with horses coming back off a 61-180 day layoff. The 7/2 morning line looks fair enough in this compact field.

Quantum Miss trounced Pennsylvania breds last out at Penn by 16 lengths and earned the top last out speed fig in the effort. She beat a pretty weak group, with the runner up and third place finisher coming into that race off rather unimpressive maiden scores. Her maiden score two back was a solid effort and four of the runners she left behind all came back to graduate in their next starts. The filly has shown improvement in each outing and she owns a solid pace profile throughout. If Tony Dutrow ships a young runner to Florida for the winter, we know they have some talent.

Roxy Gap is perfect in three starts in Canada, two on poly and the other on turf, and was not really tested in any of those outings. The barn only started three runners here last year, going 0 for 3. It is tough to get a read on how good this gal will be on dirt, but she has a dirt pedigree (Indian Charlie out of a Saint Ballado mare), but the barn is on the light side off the bench, hitting at a 11% clip with horses coming back off a 61-180 day break, and the 9/5 morning line looks on the light side.

Wagering
WIN: Final Mesa to win at 5/2 or better.
EX: 3,5 / 3,5,6
TRI: no play

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