The Sunshine Millions, one of the first major racing events of the year, is held jointly at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla. and Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Each track runs four races that pit the best California-breds and Florida-breds against each other.

Ironically, the event coincides with Southern California’s wet season and is often an overcast day. There is a chance the seventh annual Millions will not contain sunshine. Weather.com predicts a 10 percent chance of precipitation and partly cloudy afternoon skies. Gulfstream’s outlook is a bit rosier.

A storyline involving Fairplex Park and Barretts Equine Ltd. is that of All Saint (pictured left), who runs in the Sunshine Millions Dash at Gulfstream. The gray or roan colt was bought by owner Eddie Gamez of Pomona for only $2,700 at the 2007 Barretts October mixed sale. He has now earned $122,400, easily paying for his purchase price and upkeep. He is coming off a victory in the California Breeders’ Champion Stakes, which was his trainer Triphon Dahl’s first stakes win. All Saint regularly trains on the dirt surface at Fairplex Park. For more of All Saint’s story, click here.

Todd Pletcher-trainee Icy Atlantic (pictured right) has run third and second in the Sunshine Millions Turf and is taking another stab at it. He was best known as champion English Channel’s “rabbit” before successfully branching out on his own. He is an 8-year-old un-gelded horse, an extreme rarity, especially for a stakes-level runner.

The Sunshine Millions Sprint boasts two grade I winners - In Summation and Georgie Boy. Georgie Boy comes into the race off of a third-place finish in the seven-furlong Malibu Stakes (Gr. I), and In Summation returns from a fourth-place run in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (Gr. I).

California-breds are poorly represented in the Florida races, with only seven horses total in four races. Trainer Barry Abrams has the lone Cal-bred in the Filly and Mare Turf, Bel Air Sizzle, and one of two Cal-breds in the Classic, Medzendeekron. Doug O’Neill-trainee and grade I winner Mistical Plan is one of two Cal-breds entered in the Filly and Mare Sprint. She won the 2007 Sunshine Millions Oaks.

The California-breds are once again the underdogs. There are less foals born each year in California than in Florida and less Cal-breds entered in the Sunshine Millions. It is also common for Florida-breds to be based in California, but not vice versa. Several Florida-breds who have always been based in California have good chances of winning their respective races, including Backbackbackgone in the Dash, Wild Promises in the Filly and Mare Turf, Dearest Trickski in the Filly and Mare Sprint, and Emmy Darling in the Oaks.

Past Performances:

Dash (pre-entries) (Gulfstream - 1:07 p.m.*)
Dash (nominations PP’s)
Filly & Mare Turf (Gulfstream - 1:36 p.m.)
Filly & Mare Sprint (Gulfstream - 2:05 p.m.)
Turf (Santa Anita - 2:23 p.m.)
Classic (Gulfstream - 2:45 p.m.)
Oaks (Santa Anita - 2:54 p.m.)
Sprint (Santa Anita - 3:26 p.m.)
Distaff (Santa Anita - 3:57 p.m.)

*All times Pacific Standard Time

-Marcie Heacox

In 2007, Del Mar’s new Polytrack surface was the talk of the town…for a bad reason. There was an infamous clash between prominent owner Ahmed Zayat and track president Joe Harper, and complaints from various trainers, including Zayat’s principle west coast trainer Bob Baffert. Morning workout times were close to those over the previous dirt, but the afternoon race times were pitifully dawdling. Lava Man’s final time in the 2006 Pacific Classic (Gr. I) was 2:01:62 for 1 1/4 miles over fast dirt. That was the slowest time in the history of Del Mar’s signature race, until Student Council smashed the anti-record in the 2007 edition, winning in 2:07.29 over the Polytrack. All race distances, especially the longer ones, had much slower times on Polytrack, and front running horses had slim chance of winning.

However, Del Mar did accomplish its main goal - a safer surface for the horses. Fourteen horses suffered fatal injuries on the main track during workouts and races during the 2006 meet, but that was reduced to six in 2007.

This year, track management decided to water the surface several times during the afternoon to lower the temperature and keep it consistent with the morning surface. As a result, times are significantly faster at all distances, and horses that break track records barely get their fifteen minutes of fame. Del Mar’s print shop can barely keep up. Monday’s race program listed Chief Teddybear’s 1:09:29 six furlong record from July 20, 2008 as the current record, but Street Boss ran the same distance in 1:08.67 in the Bing Crosby (Gr. I) on July 27th.

Trainers Doug O’Neill and Barry Abrams both called Del Mar’s current surface their favorite synthetic surface. Abrams thinks “it’s the real McCoy, the real synthetic surface everybody talks about.” O’Neill echoed that sentiment, saying, “Del Mar’s pretty darn good. It’s a short sampling, but it’s been very consistent and we’ve been very happy with it.”