39th Sire Stakes Completed

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL - A field of nine Arabians will compete Saturday at Gulfstream in the $130,000 UAE President Cup (G1), the richest Arabian horse race in the U.S.

The 1 1/16-mile event drew a field of nine including four horses trained by Jerenesto Torrez including defending champion and two-time American Horse of the Year Diamond Gem AA.

Saturday’s race will be the first Arabian horse race in Florida in more than two decades

Thoroughbred jockeys taking part in the Arabian race include Luca Panici, Joe Ocasio, Reylu Gutierrez and Carol Cedeno.

39th Sire Stakes Completed

The 39th edition of the FTBOA Sire Stakes concluded Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park with undefeated Rated by Merit winning the $300,000 In Reality and My Denysse winning the $300,000 My Dear Girl.

Both legs were won by jockey Jesus Rios.

Rated by Merit returned $2.40 while My Denysse returned $72.80, the second biggest upset in My Dear Girl history.

“The exceptional quality of the Florida-bred program has been on full display this year in the Florida Sire Stakes,” said Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association (FTBOA) CEO Lonny Powell.

Powell is proud of the Florida-bred program.

“Florida-breds win more than 40-percent of open races at Gulfstream and 75-percent of those winners are by Florida stallions,” he said. “Nationally, we lead all states outside Kentucky in terms of graded stakes wins, open stakes wins, starts, starters and wins.

“We want to credit the work and support on on-track management, the racing office team, media relations, marketing and the owners and trainers for presenting these big Florida Sire Stakes days.”

The 2024 edition of the Sire Stakes was the first in which the finals of the lucrative series were held in December during the Championship Meet rather than October.

“The new schedule has been OK, and we are not displeased,” said Powell, who wishes the Sire Stakes winners had an opportunity to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile races. “The real proof of success with this experimental change will be measured by the racing program for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream next year. The Florida Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (FTHA) and Gulfstream Park leadership were confident there would be a big impact.”

NOTE: Enlighten, a $450,000 son of City of Light owned by Centennial Farms and trained by Todd Pletcher, returned to the races off nearly a year layoff to break his maiden in Race 5 Saturday. Ridden by Edgard Zayas, Enlighten rallied along the rail while covering a mile turf course in 1:24.06…Sabal Racing Stable’s Possiblemente won the $100,000 Sabal Palm under jockey Leonel Reyes. Trained by Darien Rodriguez, Possiblemente has five wins and three seconds in 10 turf starts…Sunday’s Rainbow 6 estimate is $125,000 and will begin with Race 6, a maiden special weight event for 2-year-olds at seven furlongs on the main track. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has entered two first time starters in Bite and Strike and Love’m Or Liam…