Upon its annual racing meeting, which takes place from December all the way to April, Gulfstream Park is among the most significant locations for horse racing in North America. Hosting some of the most prestigious sporting functions in Florida and throughout the United States. Gulfstream Park is indubitably one of the most popular equine racing venues in the continent.
Gulfstream Park was launched on Wednesday, February 1, 1939, staging a four-day sporting meeting. The former meeting elicited a sizable crowd of 18,000 fans. In 1944, the racetrack was re-launched by James Donn for a twenty-day sporting function in December. The Gulfstream Park Handicap was initially held in 1946 and then the Florida Derby started in 1952. In the same year, the racecourse’s clubhouse was built as well as the Grandstand was markedly expanded.
Gulfstream Park unveiled turf racing events for the very first occasion in 1959.In 1952 the Gulfstream Park clubhouse was set up and a fresh addition was built on the grandstand. Around this time, the inaugural version of the Florida Derby was staged. The year after, the Florida Derby established prestige the very first stakes in the state with a whopping $100,000 purse cash. The 1955 Kentucky Derby champion and the most victorious Horse of the Year Swaps established a then amazing record of 1:39 3/5 per mile and 70 yards as it carried 130 pounds in the well-attended Broward Handicap. The year after was just as stirring at Gulfstream when Gen. Duke hit the global record of 1:46 4/5 in trouncing Bold Ruler during the widely watched Florida Derby.
In 1959, a new epoch at Gulfstream started with the establishment of its globally popularized turf course. Around 1961, James Donn took over as president of Gulfstream Park Racecourse. This also marked the establishment of what immediately became the world’s biggest tote board. In mid 1961, James Donn took over from his father as the chief executive of Gulfstream Park Racecourse. In the same year, the Clubhouse was significantly extended and the then-world's hugest totalisator board was set up inside the racing facility. A notable break for Gulfstream Park arrived in 1972 as the racetrack received a prestigious award "middle dates" for a forty-day January up to April race meeting.
Sometime in 1982, the Gulfstream Park’s Grandstand was beautifully redesigned with new architectural innovations and in early1984 the expensive redevelopment of the state-of-the-art clubhouse was finished after over two years of extensive structural amelioration. In mid 1986, the significant renewal of the Gulfstream Park racetrack was also finished with the newly set up Gulfdome, a gorgeously domed dining terrace for first-class guests and sporting sightseers.
Around the middle months of 1989, Gulfstream Park Racecourse famously played host to the Breeders Cup for the very first time (which it held for the second time in 1992 and again in 1999).Gulfstream Park additionally played host the first Breeders’ Cup World Championships that were staged at the venue in 1989. The important sporting function was notably highlighted by the epoch-making match-up pitting Kentucky Derby against Preakness champion Sunday Silence and Belmont Stakes victor Easy Goer. The prestigious racecourse would later host the Breeders’ Cup another time in 1992.
YouTube