Winter racing continues to heat up with the opening of the Gulfstream Park Championship Meet on Wednesday. Racing will be conducted every Wednesday through Sunday through March 28.
Saturday at Gulfstream features the Claiming Crown, an event that began at Canterbury Park in 1999 showcasing the ‘working class heroes’ of the sport. It has grown to enormous proportions
in Florida and on Saturday will award $850,000 in purses.
Other events on the Gulfstream calendar include the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 23. Three-year-old Derby preps begin in earnest there with the Jan. 30 Holy Bull.
Tiz the Law had great success earlier this year winning the Holy Bull and the Florida Derby. He went on to win the Belmont and the Travers. He is scheduled to make his 2021 debut in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, the most lucrative of seven graded-stakes worth $4.8 million on the Pegasus Day.
Churchill Downs announced earlier this week the Road to the Kentucky Derby points schedule. Six of the 36 points-races have already been run, including this past Saturday’s Kentucky Jockey Club won by Keepmeinmind and trainer Robertino Diodoro.
Points will be awarded to horses that compete successfully without lasix. For more on the schedule go to this Paulick Report story. The Canterbury Racebook remains closed due to executive order but is scheduled to reopen on Dec. 19 which coincides with the Los Alamitos Derby, awarding 10 Derby points to the victor.
Santa Anita opens Dec. 26 and then Oaklawn Park Jan. 22.
