Gosger Ready for Season Debut at Gulfstream

Winter vacation comes to an end March 21 for Harvey A. Clarke Racing Stable homebred Gosger when the 2025 Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up makes his 4-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, Gosger drew the rail and is the 6-5 program favorite against five rivals entered in the second-level allowance optional claimer going 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

"It's a good spot. He's been down here all winter and he's been working well. The intention was always to give him a run kind of around now and hopefully prepare him for the year ahead," Walsh said. "He's doing well. We backed off of him for a while and we've had him back working. He's been working really good, actually, so we're looking forward to Saturday with him."

This will mark the third straight year that Gosger has opened his season at Gulfstream. He was second in his lone start at 2, a six-furlong maiden special weight in December 2024, then was a clear winner in a similar spot in February 2025 going one mile, both races coming during the Championship Meet.

"Hopefully he gives a good account of himself," Walsh said. "Obviously he ran twice at Gulfstream and ran very well on the track. We don't have to ship him anywhere. We're just looking for a good run. Hopefully he can run well and give us something to build on going forward."

Gosger, named after former major league baseball player Jim Gosger, has breezed eight times since late January at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, including once on the turf. This will be his first race in 114 days since finishing sixth in the Nov. 28 Clark Stakes (G2) behind a trio of next-out winners, millionaires Magnitude, Hit Show, and Rattle N Roll.

"We've always liked him and hopefully he'll be a very good older horse beginning this year," Walsh said. "He just tailed off a little bit in the Clark last year. I think it was just coming to the end of a long year more than anything, but he's done well down here.

"He looks fantastic. You'll see on Saturday, he looks amazing. I think the last month he really blossomed," he added. "His last couple of works have been really nice and he looks like he's really found his zest for things again, so hopefully he shows that on Saturday and we'll have a good year with him."

Gosger ran seven times as a 3-year-old, finishing third or better five times including a win in the Lexington (G3) and seconds in the Preakness and Haskell (G1), beaten a half-length by Journalism both times. Leading up to his season finale in the Clark, he was sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1) and third as the favorite in the Fayette (G3).

"He had a super year even though he got beat, especially in the two races. The Preakness obviously was very close, and the Haskell," Walsh said. "It was a great thrill to have been as competitive as we were in races like that. It's a shame that he couldn't have won one or the other, but it was no reflection on him. He left it all out on the track both times. It was a great thrill. It's great to be involved in those Triple Crown races."

Though he has yet to lay out a long-range plan, Walsh has high expectations for Gosger in 2026.

"We'll just take it as it comes. You'd hope that he'd be right up there with the best of them and be able to compete at the highest level," Walsh said. "I'd have to say the last month has really given me hope with the horse. He's really, really come on a lot and I'm glad we backed off and gave him a chance. He had a long year last year, but he was pretty consistent the whole way through to the last race. Hopefully the freshening will do him good and we'll see a good display from him on Saturday."

Among the horses facing Gosger are Excite, third in the 2025 St. Louis Derby, and Forged Steel, stakes-placed on both turf and dirt at Gulfstream. It is carded seventh on a 12-race program headlined by the $125,000 Texas Glitter for 3-year-olds scheduled to sprint five furlongs on the grass.