Gulfstream Park added a new Grade 3 race to its 2021-22 Championship Meet stakes schedule, introducing the $500,000 Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf to its announced stakes slate.
The Florida track’s primary meet in its year-round schedule opens Dec. 3 and runs through April 3, 2022. It features 76 stakes – 37 graded – worth $14.26 million in purses. That represents a more than $1 million increase from the 2020-21 stakes purses.
The  1 1/16-mile Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf joins its older siblings: the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational and $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational, both Grade 1s. That card is Jan. 29 and features seven graded stakes worth $5.2 million.
Along with that race, Gulfstream Park officials increased purses on all of its 3-year-old Road to the Triple Crown races. Leading that windfall is the meet’s flagship race: the Grade 1 Florida Derby. That race, which produced 60 Triple Crown race winners, enjoyed a purse bump to $1 million. That’s a $250,000 increase from 2021’s race, won by Known Agenda.
Florida Derby goes on Gulfstream Park’s closing weekend
The Florida Derby is April 2. It headlines a six-graded stakes/10 stakes events day offering $2.2 million in purses.
Gulfstream Park’s Road to the Triple Crown opens with the New Year’s Day Mucho Macho Man. The 3-year-olds in that mile race run for $150,000, up from $100,000 last year. The 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Holy Bull is Feb. 5. It’s $400,000 purse increased $50,000 from this year’s.
The Holy Bull leads into the March 5 Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, also sporting a $400,000 purse that also reflects a $50,000 purse increase. The Fountain of Youth headlines a nine-graded stakes card sporting three other $200,000 Grade 2s: the Davona Dale for 3-year-old fillies, the Gulfstream Park Mile for 4-and-up and the Mac Diarmida, a turf race for older horses.
Gulfstream Park-Key Championship Meet Stakes Races
| Race | Grade | Distance | Eligible Horses | |
| Dec. 4 | Claiming Crown-Jewel | Listed | 1 1/8 miles | 3-and-up former claiming horses |
| Jan. 1 | Mucho Macho Man | Listed | 1 mile | 3-year-olds |
| Jan. 29 | Pegasus WC | I | 1 1/8 miles | 4-and-up-invite only |
| Jan. 29 | Pegasus WC Turf | I | 1 1/8 miles | 4-and-up-invite only |
| Jan. 29 | Pegasus WC Filly & Mare Turf | III | 1 1/16 miles | 4-and-up-invite only, fillies and mares |
| Feb. 5 | Holy Bull | III | 1 1/16 miles | 3-year-olds |
| March 5 | Fountain of Youth | II | 1 1/16 miles | 3-year-olds |
| April 2 | Florida Derby | I | 1 1/8 miles | 3-year-olds |
| April 2 | Gulfstream Park Oaks | II | 1 1/16 miles | 3-year-old fillies |
Greatest Honour won this year’s Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth before his upset loss to Known Agenda in the Florida Derby.
For the 10th consecutive season, Gulfstream Park welcomes back the Claiming Crown, the nine-race event for horses who have run for claiming tags at some point of their careers. Headlining the Dec. 4 card is the $125,000 Jewel, which, last year, crowned Jesus’ Team as a stakes winner for the first time. He parlayed that into a runner-up finish to Knicks Go in the Pegasus World Cup the following month.