GP West Meet to Open Wednesday at Calder

The Gulfstream Park West meet will open on Wednesday at Calder in Miami Gardens.

First post is 1:15 p.m. for an eight-race card.

The GP West meet will have 40 race days, mostly Wednesdays through Sundays, and extend until Nov 26.

Gulfstream Park and its parent The  Stronach Group are leasing the Calder track, stables and racing operations from Calder and its parent Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) in  an  arrangement  that began in 2014 and runs through  2020.

Calder this year completed the teardown of its grandstand. 

As in 2015 and 2016, the only seats at Calder are benches in the apron area near the track.

There will be fewer than ten places to  bet—a combination of walk-around  tellers and machines. The only places to eat are in a  lunchroom inside the jockeys’ building and at restaurants and snack  bars in the adjacent casino.

Gulfstream will be open for simulcast wagering on every Gulfstream Park West racing day.

Gulfstream is in Hallandale Beach, eight miles east of Calder.

In its  program and in announcements by race-caller  Pete Aiello, Gulfstream suggested that fans go  to  Gulfstream, where refreshment stands are open.

On GP West races, the takeouts are the same on bets made at Gulfstream as in bets made at GP West (Calder).  In both cases,  50 percent goes to Gulfstream  and 50 percent goes to the  Florida  Horsemen’s Benevolent and  Protective Association to be put into  race purses.
--Jim Freer

--