By Jim Freer
The Gulfstream Park West meet will open on Wednesday at Calder in Miami Gardens.
First post is 1:15 p.m. for an eight-race card.
The GP West meet will have 40 race days, mostly Wednesdays through Sundays, and extend through Nov. 26.
Gulfstream Park and its parent The Stronach Group are leasing the Calder track, stables and racing operations from Calder and its parent Churchill Downs Inc. in an arrangement that began in 2014 and runs through 2020.
Calder this year completed the teardown of its grandstand.
(Photo on home page is Calder in October 2016, by Barry Unterbrink of HorseRacingFLA)
As in 2015 and 2016, the only seats at Calder are benches in the apron area near the track.
There will be fewer than ten places to bet–a combination of walk-around tellers and machines. The only places to eat are in a lunchroom inside the jockeys building and at restaurants and snack bars in the adjacent casino.
Gulfstream will be open for simulcast wagering on every Gulfstream Park West racing day.
Gulfstream is in Hallandale Beach, eight miles east of Calder.
In its program and in announcements by race-caller Pete Aiello, Gulfstream suggested that fans go to Gulfstream, where refreshment stands are open.
On GP West races, the takeouts are the same on bets made at Gulfstream as in bets made at GP West (Calder). In both cases, 50 percent goes to Gulfstream and 50 percent goes to the Florida Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association to be put into race purses.
