The $200,000, Grade 3 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park has attracted a competitive field of 10 older horses. While the race is open to 3-year-olds and upward, every entrant is at least 4 years old, including a seasoned 7-year-old gelding. Experience is a defining theme of this year’s renewal, as the field has more than $7.2 million in combined lifetime earnings. Defending winner Major Dude returns for a repeat bid after capturing this race last year as a 4-year-old.
Here’s a look at the field from the rail out. Steal Sunshine, a 6-year-old son of Constitution, won his lead-in start at Gulfstream Park in mid-November on dirt and will be switching back to the turf. He has made 25 of his 33 career starts at Gulfstream, including both dirt and turf. The seasoned veteran of the group, Wolfie’s Dynaghost, posted a career-best 114 Equibase Speed Figure last time out at the age of 7 for his 2 ¾ length victory in the Grade 3 River City Stakes at Churchill Downs and will be making his second career start for the Brian Lynch stable following a trainer switch. Back in January, Chasing the Crown finished third by just 1 ¾ lengths in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes at Gulfstream and will be making just his fourth start of the year for trainer Mike Maker. Siege of Boston is fresh off a 1 ¾ length victory at the allowance optional claiming level last time out at Laurel Park. In August of this year, Beach Gold set a track record at Ellis Park, going a mile on the turf in 1:31.76 when winning the KY Downs Preview Mint Millions Turf Mile Stakes and earning a career-best 116 Equibase figure. Cugino drew post 6 for trainer Shug McGaughey and has two consecutive stakes wins going into the Ft. Lauderdale. Naptown will be making his career debut at Gulfstream Park; however, the gelding is cross-entered in a Dec. 21 stakes race at Turfway Park. Defending Ft. Lauderdale winner Major Dude drew post position 8 for the Hall of Fame duo of Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez. Quatrocento is also cross entered Dec. 21 at Turfway Park. If he runs, the War Front colt will be making his third consecutive graded stakes start in the Ft. Lauderdale. Divin Propos drew the far outside and will be making his third start for the Saffie Joseph Jr. stable following a trainer switch.
Analysis and Main Contenders:
Cugino has been remarkably consistent throughout his career, recording six wins and four seconds from 13 starts, all of which have come in turf routes. His only three finishes outside the exacta have been in tough graded stakes company. A son of Twirling Candy, Cugino is also proven over the Gulfstream Park turf, where he has a win and two runner-up finishes. Last December, Cugino won the Tropical Park Derby by a neck going 1 1/16 miles on Gulfstream’s turf course before taking a six-month layoff to begin his 4-year-old campaign. He returned in June with a win in an allowance optional claiming race in his first start off the break. In August, he finished sixth in the Grade 1 FanDuel Fourstardave Stakes at Saratoga before delivering a career best performance in the Red Bank Stakes at Monmouth Park where he posted a one-length victory and earned 109 Equibase Speed Figure. He followed that effort by battling gamely down the stretch to win the Grade 2 Red Smith Stakes by a nose at Belmont at the Big A in his most recent start. Cugino returns to Gulfstream Park for the first time since his Tropical Park Derby victory a little over a year ago and shortens up in distance from the 1 3/8-mile Red Smith to his preferred 1 1/8 miles. At this 1 1/8-mile distance, he has finished in the exacta in both starts, including a 4 ¼-length victory in the Audubon Stakes at Churchill Downs in June of 2024. Jockey Flavien Prat has two wins from four starts aboard Cugino. Over the past three years, the Shug McGaughey-Flavien Prat partnership has been especially effective in turf routes, winning at a 36% clip together with 10 wins from 28 starts and a 65% return on investment. Hall of Fame trainer McGaughey has also excelled with horses who won last time out, winning at 31% and 59% in the money over the past year across all tracks. Given his recent form, proven ability at the distance and over the Gulfstream turf, and the strength of his connections, Cugino appears well positioned to win the Ft. Lauderdale Stakes.
Wolfie’s Dynaghost, the most experienced runner in the field, has shown no signs of slowing down with age. Last time out, he won gate-to-wire in the Grade 3 River City Stakes, setting fast early fractions and covering 1 1/8 miles on the Churchill Downs turf in 1:45.58, just 0.07 seconds shy of the track record set by She Feels Pretty. He earned a career best 114 Equibase Speed figure in the River City and enters this race off back-to-back wins by a combined winning margin of 6 ½ lengths. That 114 is the highest last-out figure in this field, and over the past year horses with the top last-out Equibase figure in graded turf stakes have won at a solid 26% from 242 starts. The Ghostzapper gelding also has experience at Gulfstream Park, where he is 2-for-2 on its all-weather track and where he finished second in his lone turf appearance. In 2025, Wolfie’s Dynaghost has made two starts at this 1 1/8-mile distance, and both resulted in both gate-to-wire stakes victories by a combined winning margin of 7 ¼ lengths. This will be Wolfie’s Dynaghost’s second start for trainer Brian Lynch, who has been outstanding over the past month, winning at 44% from 32 starts. Lynch has also excelled over the past year with horses coming off a win, posting 16 victories from 43 starts (37%) and 58% in-the-money with an 85% return on investment. Irad Ortiz Jr., who set the single-season North American earnings record for jockeys this year, picks up the mount for the first time since the gelding posted a three-length victory in the Bert Allen Stakes at Colonial Downs in September 2022. Ortiz Jr. and Wolfie’s Dynaghost have three prior starts with two wins together. Wolfie’s Dynaghost could win Saturday, though the key question is whether he can reproduce his dominant performance from last time out.
Ft. Lauderdale Stakes defending winner Major Dude checks a lot of boxes, ranking first in average speed with a 107 Equibase Speed Figure and second in average class with a 113 in this field. The 5-year-old son of Bolt d’Oro has four graded stakes wins on his résumé and has earned a triple-digit Equibase figure in 12 of his 26 career starts. After winning the Ft. Lauderdale last December, Major Dude went 0-for-7 until his most recent start, where he took the Artie Schiller Stakes at Belmont at the Big A in mid-October going a mile on the turf. Despite his 1-for-8 record this year, he has produced solid efforts in every start, finishing in-the-money five times and never losing by more than 4 ½ lengths, all in stakes or graded stakes races. He stretches out to his preferred 1 1/8-mile distance here where he has two wins and a second from four starts. John Velazquez, who is 4-for-9 at Gulfstream over the last 30 days, will be aboard Major Dude for the fourth consecutive time. Pletcher and Velazquez win at 27% together in all races at Gulfstream Park over the last year as well. Major Dude worked a bullet four furlongs in :48.13 in his most recent breeze and seems to be in strong form as he attempts to repeat his 2024 Ft. Lauderdale victory.
The rest of the field, with their best Equibase Speed Figures in similar races is, Steal Sunshine (110), Chasing the Crown (118), Siege of Boston (113), Beach Gold (116), Naptown (103), Quatrocento (115), and Divin Propos (112).
Win Contenders in Preference Order:
Cugino
Wolfie’s Dynaghost
Major Dude
