The ground-breaking Tapeta era dawned today (Sept. 30) at Gulfstream Park in Florida, where four races were contested over the newly installed all-weather surface on opening day of the Florida track's Fall Meet.
Kathleen O'Connell, the second-winningest female trainer in history, notched win No. 2,279 after saddling Emoji Guy for a victory in race 1, Gulfstream's first Tapeta race.
Due to the closure of Gulfstream Park West, Gulfstream Park is scheduled to conduct racing year-round, prompting the construction of the Tapeta track, which is positioned between the grass course on the inside and the dirt main track on the outside at Gulfstream. The new surface will provide a measure of relief to the turf course while offering a varied racing program for horses of all abilities. Gulfstream has become the first North American racetrack with dirt, turf, and all-weather surfaces.
"It means a lot," O'Connell said. "I'm happy for the owners. They've waited for a long time. I just texted them, 'It's a new track record.' Of course, it was the first race run on it."
J S Stables' Emoji Guy, the 9-5 favourite for the $12,500 claiming race for 3-year-olds and up at about 1 1/16 miles, was timed in 1:48.08 in his all-weather debut under Edwin Gonzalez. Emoji Guy is a gelded son of leading Florida sire Khozan .
He was good and comfortable. The horse really liked it," said Gonzalez, who has ridden on all-weather tracks at Golden Gate Fields, Presque Isle Downs, and Arlington International Racecourse. "You have to ride it like the turf. I wanted to make one move, and I was pretty happy where he was."
