Gulfstream Park sets 68-stakes winter meet with Pegasus, Florida Derby anchors
Gulfstream's 68-stakes winter map runs from Nov. 27 to March 29, with the Pegasus World Cup and 75th Florida Derby shaping the route to spring.
The 2025-2026 Championship Meet at Gulfstream Park offers 68 stakes worth $15.2 million, including 27 graded stakes, across an 84-day session from Nov. 27 through March 29. Gulfstream Park has built its winter meet around a defined path from the first premium days in late November to the Florida Derby in late March, and the stakes stack up all the way through.
A calendar that tells you where the horses will be
Two-year-olds have the Florida Sire Stakes on Nov. 29 as an early marker, while older runners and turf horses can find a different lane through the winter as the schedule keeps moving toward the major February and March targets.
The 68-stakes program gives horsemen room to map out development rather than chase one giant spot. It gives room for dirt sprints, routes and turf races to feed into bigger ambitions later in the season.
The key decision points: Pegasus, Holy Bull, Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby
Gulfstream’s official premium stakes days set the meet’s spine. After the Nov. 29 Florida Sire Stakes date, the next major checkpoint is Dec. 20 for the Fort Lauderdale, followed by the Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 24, the Holy Bull on Jan. 31, the Fountain of Youth on Feb. 28 and the Florida Derby on March 28.
That sequence gives horsemen a road map. Older horses can use the Pegasus as a winter goal, then regroup or move on; 3-year-olds can step from the Holy Bull into the Fountain of Youth and then toward the Florida Derby, which sits at the end of the meet and remains one of the most consequential Kentucky Derby preps in the country.
The spacing between these dates helps signal which runners are likely to return, which barns are aiming for class jumps, and where the pools may deepen as the winter progresses.
Why the money and the repetition matter
The 2025-2026 meet is not a one-off expansion. Gulfstream’s 2024-25 Championship Meet also offered 68 stakes and carried total purses of $14.875 million, so this year’s $15.2 million purse figure is an incremental step rather than a wholesale redesign.
That stability is part of the appeal for horsemen building campaigns in Florida. The schedule changes less than many racing calendars do from year to year, which means barns can plan around familiar target races and return to the same lanes for horses at different stages of maturity, from early-season 2-year-olds to older stakes runners peaking in winter.
A steady calendar with recognizable landing spots tends to create better form lines, and better form lines usually mean more usable information when the winter stakes begin stacking up.
The Florida Derby remains the meet’s springboard
The Florida Derby is still the race that turns the meet into a spring-launch pad. Gulfstream lists it as the 75th running, and the race has been run at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach since its inception in 1952.
Its record gives the race weight beyond one afternoon: Gulfstream’s Florida Derby history materials credit it with producing 26 Kentucky Derby winners, 47 Triple Crown starters and 63 Triple Crown events. The March 28 date is the most important decision point of the meet for any 3-year-old with a serious spring campaign, because one strong trip can alter the entire Kentucky Derby trail.
The Florida Derby also closes the meet with a very specific kind of pressure. By late March, the horses that have been moving through Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth have already shown their class.
Pegasus adds the South Florida event layer
The Pegasus World Cup still sits at the center of Gulfstream’s winter branding, and the race is the meet’s most obvious crossover between racing and entertainment. Gulfstream’s schedule materials place Pegasus World Cup day on Jan. 24, while a separate Pegasus World Cup announcement dated the event for Jan. 25 and built the card around Black Coffee and Diplo, with a special performance by Dasha.
In South Florida, Gulfstream uses the day as a marquee attraction that can draw a broader audience without losing the horseplayers who are focused on the field and the betting menu.
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