Racing is finally scheduled to return to the turf on Thursday at the Gulfstream Park West meet, at Calder in Miami Gardens.
First post is 12:00 p.m. for a nine-race card.
The dirt is listed as Fast and the turf is listed as Good.
The first, third, fifth. seventh and ninth races will be on the turf.
The Weather Channel forecast is for just a five percent chance of rain during racing hours. That suggests that for the first time in the last eight race days, there will be no races moved off the turf because of rain or other wet conditions.
The carryover on the Rainbow 6 has grown to $73,678. The 20 cents per combination-only bet is on races four to nine with the sequence scheduled to start at 1:40 p.m.
Gulfstream is guaranteeing that the jackpot/carryover pool will be at least $150,000 if there is just one ticket with all six winners.
Beginning later this morning, we will have coverage of GP West racing on this blog.
Wednesday was the 18th day of the 40-day GP West meet.
Thus far, there have been fourteen days on which meet sponsor Gulfstream Park has taken one or more races off the turf because of rain and/or lingering wet conditions.
Through Wednesday, 50 of the 72 scheduled-for-turf races have been taken off that surface.
In all of last year’s 40-day GP West meet there were only eight days on which one or more races were taken off the turf.
That meet had 168 scheduled-for turf races, with 26 coming off that surface.
Watching and Wagering
The GP West meet is closed to spectators and does not have any live betting on site.
At its track in Hallandale Beach, Gulfstream has its north tent area open on GP West race days for simulcast betting on those races and on other tracks that are part of its regular simulcast menu.
Betting on Gulfstream West races may be done on most Advance Deposit Wagering (ADW) Internet and phone services. Many sports books, race tracks and OTB offices have simulcasting on GP West races.
Tampa Bay Downs, Hialeah Park and Pompano Park are among Florida pari-mutuels that carry the GP West simulcast schedule.
