Gulfstream Park's 2025-26 Championship Meet will offer a stakes schedule with 68 stakes, 27 graded, worth $15.2 million in purses, highlighted by the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) and the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (G1T) Jan. 24, and the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 28.
Gulfstream's annual Championship Meet, the winter home of Thoroughbred racing's most accomplished horses, trainers, and jockeys, will begin Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27 and run through March 29.
Stall applications for the 84-day meet are due Sept. 28.
The 10th Pegasus World Cup day program will offer 10 stakes worth $5.55 million in purses. The 1 1/8-mile Pegasus World Cup, the richest dirt race in the United States for older horses outside of the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), and the Pegasus World Cup Turf, a 1 1/8-mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up on turf, are among seven graded stakes on a program that includes the $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2T), a 1 1/16-mile turf stakes for older fillies and mares.
Pegasus World Cup day also includes the 1 1/2-mile W.L. McKnight Stakes (G3T) for 4-year-olds and up and the newly christened 1 1/2-mile Christophe Clement Stakes (G3T) named after the late trainer who won his first graded stakes race at Gulfstream and six editions of the race formerly known as the La Prevoyante Stakes.
The Pegasus World Cup Championship Invitational series has welcomed legendary Thoroughbred racehorses, including Arrogate (2016 Longines World's Best Racehorse and inaugural 2017 Pegasus World Cup Invitational winner), two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome , and Horses of the Year Gun Runner , Knicks Go , and Bricks and Mortar; Preakness Stakes (G1) winner National Treasure ; Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) winner City of Light , and Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan. Six of the nine previous Pegasus World Cup Invitational winners have also won Breeders' Cup races. Meanwhile, the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational has welcomed horses from Japan, Ireland, the United Kingdom, and South America.
Pegasus World Cup day has also been a premier event on the Miami and South Florida social calendars. Postrace performances have included Post Malone, Black Coffee, Calvin Harris, and Snoop Dogg while celebrities attending have included Jennifer Lopez, Camila Cabello, Pharrell Williams, Lenny Kravitz, and Usher.
The 75th Florida Derby will headline a program with 10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.45 million in purses. Forty-six starters in the 1 1/8-mile event for 3-year-olds have gone on to win a remarkable 62 Triple Crown races, including 26 Kentucky Derbys. The $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2), a 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-old fillies, will also be featured on the Florida Derby undercard along with the Orchid Stakes (G3T), Ghostzapper Stakes (G3), and Pan American Stakes (G3T).
Tappan Street won this year's Florida Derby by 1 1/4 lengths over Sovereignty, who has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes (G1), Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), and Travers Stakes (G1).
The Road to the Florida Derby begins in earnest Jan. 31 with the running of the $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes (G3), a 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-olds that will headline a card of five stakes, including the $150,000 Forward Gal Stakes (G3), a seven-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies.
The $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), a 1 1/16-mile dress rehearsal for the Florida Derby won by Sovereignty last winter and eventual Belmont Stakes winner Dornoch in 2024, will be featured on a Feb. 28 program with nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.8 million in purses. The $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes (G2), a mile event for 3-year-old fillies, the $200,000 Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes (G2), a mile stakes for 4-year-olds and up, and the $200,000 Mac Diarmida Stakes (G2T), a 1 3/8-mile turf stakes for 4-year-olds and up, will be featured on the Fountain of Youth undercard.
Once again, Gulfstream will be the place for turf racing with 38 stakes races scheduled for the grass. Five turf stakes, four graded, will be run on Pegasus World Cup day while six turf stakes, five graded, will be contested on Fountain of Youth day. Gulfstream's Dec. 20 program will include the Fort Lauderdale (G3T), Suwannee River, and Janus stakes scheduled on the turf.
The 2025-26 Championship Meet stakes schedule will be kicked off with the $100,000 Wait a While Stakes, a 7 1/2-furlong race for 2-year-old fillies on turf, Nov. 27 on a Thanksgiving Day weekend that will feature the $600,000 finals of the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders' and Owners' Association Florida Sire Stakes Series Nov. 29. Florida-bred 2-year-olds will contest the 1 1/16-mile In Reality Stakes, while Florida-bred juvenile fillies will run in the 1 1/16-mile My Dear Girl Stakes.
The Fort Lauderdale Stakes, Harlan's Holiday Stakes (G3), and Suwannee River Stakes, which have served as prep races for Pegasus World Cup day, will be contested Dec. 20.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
