The Gulfstream Park Championship Meet will bring together the best trainers, jockeys, grass horses, and stakes action that horseplayers can find at this time of year. It is a must-see meet for handicappers, bettors, and racing fans throughout the winter season.

The 2025-26 Gulfstream championship meet begins on Thanksgiving, Nov. 27. The first portion of the season will race on a four-day-a-week schedule, Thursdays through Sundays. Wednesdays will be added starting Jan. 7, 2026, for five days of racing weekly through the end of the championship meet on March 29. A couple of Gulfstream’s biggest days will be Pegasus World Cup day, a day of 10 stakes races on Jan. 24, and Florida Derby day featuring 10 stakes races on March 28

Gulfstream continues to hold the distinction of being the only three-surface racetrack in America with racing carded on the dirt main track, the turf course, and a Tapeta Footings all-weather surface. The season customarily begins with horses shipping to Florida from all over the East Coast and Midwest to join the cream of the crop of local south Florida horses. In late December and early January is when you really notice the quality of the Gulfstream meet jumping up a notch to the highest levels of racing and wagering through the January, February, and March portions of the season.

Top Gulfstream Trainers

Saffie Joseph Jr. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Saffie Joseph Jr. ran away with another Gulfstream Park training title at last year’s championship meet with 70 wins from 353 starters for 20%. He won the title by a 30-win margin over second-leading trainer Jose D’Angelo who had 40 winners from 196 starters for 20%. Joseph was also the leading trainer two years ago with 66 wins (21%), and three years ago, when he saddled 47 winners. Expect another training title for Joseph at the 2025-’26 season, he enters by far the most horses at the winter meet and no other trainer can compete with him in terms of sheer volume. D’Angelo closed the gap on Joseph considerably at Gulfstream’s spring/summer and fall meets in 2025 and enters this year’s winter meet with momentum after winning two Breeders’ Cup races this fall. Perhaps he can give Joseph a run for his money.

The next tier of Gulfstream championship meet trainers is led by some of the top names in the game, such as Mark Casse and Todd Pletcher. Casse finished third on last year’s leaderboard with 34 wins for 13% after also putting together a good season two years ago with 31 wins for 17%. Pletcher sent out the fourth-most winners at last year’s championship meet with 31 victories (17%) and was the second-leading trainer both two and three years ago, but his winter production has been slipping from 41 wins for 22% in 2022-’23, to 37 wins for 21% in 2023-’24, to last year’s 31 wins.

Th list of trainers vying for spots in the top 10 in the Gulfstream winter trainer standings is extensive. Bill Mott will have a strong presence at the meet after compiling 14 wins from 100 starters last year, as will Mike Maker (14 wins, 13% last year) and Miguel Clement, who should arrive with a ready-to-win stable of turf horses. They will join Florida stalwarts with top 10 potential like Victor Barboza Jr. (27 wins, 23%), Carlos David (21 wins, 16%), David Fawkes (13 wins, 16%), and Antonio Sano (20 wins, 13%). Also keep an eye on and Martin Drexler (18 wins, 19%), Brian Lynch (17 wins, 16%), and Rohan Crichton (13 wins, 13%), plus heavy hitters such as Brad Cox (seven wins, 21%), George Weaver (nine wins, 21%) and Chad Brown (eight wins, 13%), each of whom will have a string of runners at Gulfstream.

Gulfstream’s Top Jockeys

Irad Ortiz Jr. (Eclipse Sportswire)

A premier jockey colony will be based at Gulfstream for the championship season. The leading jockey at last year’s corresponding championship meet was Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode 109 winners from 450 mounts for 24%. Irad’s numbers were very similar to his 119 wins from 526 mounts (23%) when he won the title two years ago. Otriz also had tremendous winter season in 2022-’23 when he won 128 races from 454 mounts for 28%. Based on his consistency at the Gulfstream winter meet, it’s easy to predict yet another riding title for Irad this winter. Last year’s second-leading jockey at the meet behind Ortiz was Tyler Gaffalione, who finished with 74 wins. Expect Gaffalione to maintain his second slot in the standings this winter.

The last time anyone not named Irad Ortiz won the riding title at Gulfstream’s championship meet was Luis Saez in 2021-’22, but Saez has announced that he will not be based at Gulfstream this winter and instead will ride at Oaklawn Park. Jockey Joel Rosario made the same announcement, meaning that both riders will make only occasional appearances at Gulfstream Park this season, for stakes mounts or during Oaklawn’s scheduled January hiatus.

After Ortiz and Gaffalione, more jockeys who are strong candidates to finish in the top 10 in the jockey standings this season include Edgard Zayas (68 wins for 15% at last year’s meet), Junior Alvarado (41 wins, 17%), Emisael Jaramillo (40 wins, 14%), Edwin Gonzalez (36 wins, 14%), Miguel Angel Vasquez (32 wins, 11%), and Hall of Famer John Velazquez (29 wins, 14%). Also, Leonel Reyes doesn’t win at a high percentage at this meet but earns a lot of victories (27 wins, 9%). Finally, keep an eye out for apprentice Micah Husbands, who arrived to ride at Gulfstream this fall, and as of Nov. 19 had already won aboard 20 of 71 mounts for 28%.

Gulfstream Dirt Sprint Track Trends

The prevailing running style preference in Gulfstream dirt races favors horses with early speed, or at least tactical speed, at all distances. Deep closers generally don’t do well on this main track, especially in dirt sprints and miles (one turn), and that has been on full display during the last year dating back to the beginning of the 2024-’25 championship meet.

Closers have done poorly and burned a lot of money in Gulfstream dirt sprints the past year. Closers, as defined for this article as horses coming from four lengths or more off the lead, were bad bets, accounting for wins in only 9% of the dirt sprints the last year (38 wins in 446 races). Meanwhile, speed horses on or close to the pace, as defined for this article as racing on the lead or within one length of the pace, won 249 of the 446 dirt sprints accounting for 56%. Stalkers racing between one and four lengths off the lead won 159 of the sprints to account for 36% of the wins. There appeared to be no meaningful post position favoritism.

Dirt Mile and Route Preferences

A two-turn dirt race at Gulfstream. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Gulfstream dirt mile races are run around one turn and are often more like long sprints than routes, but the front-end advantage that exists in sprints still results in an anti-closers bias at the one-mile distance. Horses on or close to the lead won 46% of the 141 dirt miles run over the last year and stalkers won the exact same amount of races. Closers, on the other hand, won only 11 of the 141 dirt miles run at Gulfstream the last year to account for wins in just 8% of the races. Stalkers did particularly well from the three inside post positions. This small segment of runners accounted for wins in 27% of all dirt mile races.

Gulfstream two-turn dirt routes are mostly run at the distances of 1 1/16 miles and 1 1/8 miles, but those races are becoming less and less frequent with only five races run at 1 1/8 miles and 26 races run at 1 1/16 miles the last year. The biggest long-term trend for handicapping two-turn dirt routes at Gulfstream favors inside posts and inside running paths. Anything outside post position No. 5 is a bad draw in two-turn dirt routes. In terms of running styles, stalkers and closers had the advantage over the last year. Speed horses won just eight of the 31 races at 1 1/16 miles and 1 1/8 miles.

Gulfstream Park Turf Tips

A large part of the action at the Gulfstream Park championship meet takes place on the grass, which hosts much of the country’s best winter turf racing.

Horses race on the turf at Gulfstream. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Turf handicappers generally are accustomed to downgrading outside post positions in turf routes, but the long-term stats for Gulfstream Park turf routes show very little advantage or disadvantage to either inside or outside posts at Gulfstream. Don’t shy away from a contender if your horse draws post Nos. 9 or 10 or 11 or 12 because horses from those posts can win from way outside at Gulfstream.

When searching for the preferred running style in turf routes, Gulfstream has been known through the years as a turf course where it is difficult to win going wire-to-wire and this has remained true over the last year, especially when the turf rails are close to the hedge. Horses on or close to the lead managed to win 94 of the 319 turf routes run the last year to account for less than one-third of the winners (29%). Surprisingly though, the bias against front-runners hasn’t meant that closers have done any better. Closers actually had the least successful running style in Gulfstream turf routes the last year with 67 wins in the 319 races to account for 21%. The big winners the past year in Gulfstream turf routes were stalkers racing between 1-4 lengths off the pace, who have won 159 of the 319 turf routes accounting for 50%.

Gulfstream Park’s turf sprints are all run at five furlongs (not counting occasional 7 ½-furlong races, which are two turns), and the name of the game in Gulfstream turf sprints is speed. The turf dashes are often dominated by horses on or close to the early lead and the stats from this past year are no exception. Front-runners won 55 of the 95 turf sprints run the past year to account for 58% of the races. Inside speed — from posts 1-3 in particular —  has been deadly, with that segment alone winning 25 of the 95 turf sprints. Stalkers won 29% of the turf sprints. The one thing you don’t want to do is bet horses coming from the back half of the field in these races. There have only been 12 winning closers in 95 races in the past year in Gulfstream turf sprints.

Gulfstream Tapeta Trends

The Gulfstream Tapeta all-weather surface has become a major part of handicapping at the winter meet. Sprints are run at five furlongs and 5 ½ furlongs. The most common distance for routes is 1 mile and 70 yards.

Just like in Gulfstream’s turf dashes, speed is king in Tapeta track sprints at Gulfstream at both 5 and 5 ½ furlongs. Gulfstream ran 433 Tapeta sprints and horses on or close to the lead won 59% of them. Closers, meanwhile, won just 10% of the sprints on the all-weather surface. The rest of the winners were stalkers. Post positions played fairly.

Tapeta route races have mostly played fair over the course of the last year, both in terms of running styles and post positions. From a sample of 414 races run the last year, post positions were mostly inconsequential for handicappers. The running style advantage was not great but did somewhat favor stalkers, who won 185 of the 414 races to account for 45% of the races. Often the best time to bet speed on all-weather tracks is in wet conditions, but unfortunately wet Tapeta is not a track condition notated in result charts or past performances.

We wish you a great Gulfstream Park championship meet.  Enjoy the best of winter racing and good luck!