HALLANDALE BEACH - Tappan Street’s victory in Saturday’s $1 million Curlin Florida Derby placed an exclamation point on an action-packed 2024-2025 Championship Meet that came to a close Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

    WinStar Farm, CHC Inc. and Cold Press Racing’s 3-year-old son of Into Mischief defeated Coolmore Fountain of Youth winner Sovereignty by 1 ¼ lengths to earn 100 qualifying points for the May 3 Kentucky Derby.  Both Tappan Street and Sovereignty, who added 50 qualifying points to the 50 he earned in the Fountain of Youth, will bid to become the 26th Florida Derby starter to win the Kentucky Derby.

    C2 Racing Stable, Gary Barber and La Milagrosa Stable’s White Abarrio was the equine star of the meet that opened on Thanksgiving Day. The Saffie Joseph Jr.-trained 6-year-old rolled to a decisive 6 ¼-length victory in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and romped to a 5 ¼-mile score in the Gr. III Ghostzapper by 5 ¼ lengths on the Florida Derby undercard.

    Joseph collected his fourth consecutive Championship Meet training title with 70 victories and his 12th consecutive title overall at Gulfstream Park. He also topped the trainer standings with purses-won with more than $5.8 million.

    “This has definitely been our best meet because this is the first time we’re going to lead in earnings and winners. I think last year we got beat by a small margin in earnings, so it just shows that we have some quality horses,” Joseph said. “All the credit to the owners for giving us the horses. We’re very thankful to them.”

    Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who was aboard White Abarrio for his Pegasus World Cup and Ghostzapper wins, collected his third straight Championship Meet title with 109 wins. He has worn the riding crown in six of the past seven Championship Meets.

    “It feels great to have the support we need to win the title, all the support from the trainers and owners,” said Ortiz, who also gave credit to his agent Steve Rushing. “I love the weather down here in the wintertime. I have my family here. We’ve won some races with horses we followed down here.”

    Ken Ramsey topped the Owner Standings for a second Championship Meet in a row with 18 wins.

    The Royal Palm Meet will get underway Thursday and will run through Aug. 30. Racing will be conducted Thursday through Sunday weekly. First-race post is set for 12:50 p.m.

    The $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile and the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies will highlight the Royal Palm Meet stakes schedule on May 10. The five-furlong turf sprints are designated qualifiers for the Royal Ascot stakes in June. Last year, Jose D’Angelo-trained Gabaldon won the Royal Palm Juvenile and went on to finish a photo-finish second in the Windsor Castle at Royal Ascot. comments powered by Disqus