Upcoming Coverage: GP West, Gulfstream, Tampa and Breeders’ Cup

THoroughbred racing is heading into the  homestretch for 2017, and HorseRacingFLA will  be writing about the action from coast to coast.

Here are details of some of the races and other  stories that we will be covering at Gulfstream Park West (Calder), Gulfstream Park, Tampa Bay Downs and the Breeders’ Cup.

GP West

The 40-day meet will run through Nov. 26 at Calder in Miami Gardens.

A highlight will be on Saturday Nov. 11 with eight stakes races restricted to Florida breds.

The competition will heat up late this  month after Todd Pletcher and several other trainers begin sending horses down to South Florida for  the winter.

Unless otherwise noted, the GP West meet will have  racing Wednesdays through  Sundays with first post of 1:15 p.m.

Gulfstream Park runs the GP West meet as part of its lease of the track and other racing  facilities  at Calder.

Gulfstream Park

The Hallandale Beach track will open its 2017-2018 championship meet on Saturday Dec. 2.

Gulfstream that day will have the Claiming Crown stakes races that  are restricted to horses that have raced at or below designated claiming prices at least once since Jan. 1, 2016.

Meanwhile, Gulfstream has announced details http://www.pegasusworldcup.com/ on ticket prices, restaurants, other seating  and other amenities for the second annual Pegasus  World Cup Invitational that will be run on Jan. 27.

The stakes schedule will conclude on March 31, with a card topped by the Florida Derby (Grade 1) for 3-year-olds.

Tampa Bay Downs

The  Oldsmar track  will open its 2017-2018 season on Saturday Nov. 26.

It will  have  28 stakes races with $3.65 million in total  purses.  Both numbers are records for Tampa  Bay Downs.

The  highlight will be the March 10 Festival  Day, with three graded stakes topped  by the Tampa Bay Derby (Grade 2)  for  3-year-olds.

Breeders’ Cup

The Breeders’ Cup races will be run on Friday  Nov. 3 and Saturday Nov. 4 at Del Mar in Del Mar,  Calif. http://www.breederscup.com/

There will be four races on Nov.3 and nine races on Nov. 4.

The last Nov. 4 race will be the 1 1/4 mile  Breeders’ Cup Classic (Grade 1).

Our previews and race coverage will focus on horses that raced at Gulfstream and/or at  Tampa Bay this year and on horses with other Florida connections.

Prominent on our list is Gunnevera, this year’s winner of the 1 1/16 mile Fountain of Youth  (Grade 2) at Gulfstream and runner-up  to West Coast in the 1 ¼ mile  Travers  at Saratoga (Grade 1).  Both races are for 3-year-olds.

Gunnevera is trained by Antonio Sano, a South Florida  resident whose year-round stable is at Calder.

Sano is training Gunnevera  toward the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Trainer Bob  Baffert is pointing West Coast toward the Breeders’ Cup  Classic or  the Breeders’ Cup  Dirt Mile (Grade 1), to  be run on Nov. 3.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic is scheduled to be the final race for the 4 year-old  Arrogate, who  is trained by Baffert.

Arrogate won the 2016 Breeders’ Cup  Classic at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., and later won the Inaugural Pegasus World Cup.