Gulfstream Less Than Capacity

- Gulfstream Park as we know and love it is a thing of the past, but the lavish Magna Palace that will replace it will open on Wednesday….kind of. Track president Scott Savin would just assume that you go to Calder instead. "We have capacity issues. I would much rather the bettors ... they want to be able to place a bet, they want to be able to see the signal, they want to be able to see the odds.” [Sun-Sentinal] Yeah, those things would be nice. But Magna VP Dennis Mills said that opening on time is important for the "credibility of our meet, Magna Entertainment, and our chairman [Frank Stronach]." Nice to see they have their priorities straight.

I actually could have gone this weekend, though due to sad circumstances. The Head Chef’s dear friend Eileen recently lost her mom, and she is in dire need of assistance dealing with affairs related to her mother’s apartment, which happens to be in Hallandale. So the Head Chef is going down Friday morning. But with present on-track capacity believed to be limited to somewhere between 6,000 and 8,000 – and they don’t really seem to know for sure - and racing on Friday cancelled altogether, the idea wasn’t very appealing. Besides, the idea of being on my own and having the house to myself on a non-kids weekend is rather tempting. Can anyone say “Aqueduct-Meadolwands doubleheader?”

Fortunately for the top three-year olds stabled there, they won’t have to wait on long lines for food or restrooms. The spotlight has been on West Coast contenders such as Brother Derek and Stevie Wonderboy, who are apparently headed for a very early-season showdown in the San Rafael on Jan 14; but in the coming weeks at Gulfstream, we’ll see the likes of First Samurai, possible for the Hutcheson on Feb 4, Private Vow, who would have been at Fair Grounds had that meeting not been switched and shortened, and Remsen winner Bluegrass Cat, also possible for the Hutcheson, at which point the capacity at the track will hopefully be greater than it is now, whatever exactly it turns out to be.

This place better turn out to be nice, because it’s replacing what to me was a near-perfect racetrack experience. There was plenty of space, much of it green; ample seating and grandstand apron room; bountiful betting windows and machines, and likewise for the food stands, restaurants, and bars. The rooftop lounge out by the clubhouse turn on the 3rd floor was truly one of my favorite track hangouts, and I wonder if they’ll be anyplace as unpretentiously agreeable as that spot was. In fact, I could use that phrase to describe what the entire track was like – an unpretentiously agreeable and totally sufficient paradise in which to watch and participate in our favorite game. Already, Magna is sending the wrong message by herding everyone who doesn’t want to shell out an extra $10-$20 just to get into an unfinished building into a tent; c’mon Frank, you gotta be kidding!

- Wednesday’s feature is the type of wide-open turf allowance race with the kind of quality that hopefully will typify this meet and be the main attraction, at least until the slots parlors and movie theaters arrive. It’s almost like one of those harness handicap races, in which the better horses are assigned the outside post positions. Actually, Ecclesiastic, the one horse, is the morning line favorite. He chased better up here at Belmont this past fall, but doesn’t win much, as his 3 for 23 record attests, even in allowance company. I like Watershed Event, going from the nine post at 8-1 morning line for Dale Romans. He’s found new life since switching to the turf late last summer, winning three out of seven starts on the green. He’s shown a fierce closing kick in his last two in Kentucky despite being extremely wide, and with some pace possible from horses inside of him, could work out a winning trip with Mark Guidry at a good price.

- Undefeated Declan’s Moon will miss the Santa Anita meeting. The now four-year-old gelding is recovering from a slight injury to his left front cannon bone, detected by a nuclear scan in September. [Brisnet]