The GP Sprint Championship
$150.000 For Four Year Olds And Upward
6 Furlongs – Dirt
Gulfstream Park – February 21, 2026

This race has a small field but seems to have everything within it. A recent stakes winner, a track record setter in his last start, first time stakes starters, last out claiming starters…doesn’t make it easy to pick a winner but let’s see what we have:

1. Gunga Jung (Noblepark/L. Salles) Five-year-old gelding became a stakes winner in his second lifetime start as a three-year-old in 2024 but has not had stakes success since. Despite his early success he took a break from stakes competition making fifteen straight starts in allowance races before returning to stakes company last November. He comes into this race off of three straight stakes placing sprinting on the dirt so he comes into this sharp and in good form. Versatile and has the rail to be strategic. 

2. Sinnott (Riggins Racing/I. Ortiz Jr.) Four-year-old gelding with only six races on his resume jumps into stakes competition for the first time. Five of his six races have been at this distance. He broke his maiden two races back and then was a fast closing second in a late January allowance race. His works are fast, but he is being asked to take a big step up to gain his second win. 

3. Distinctly Gold (Night Rider Stables/M.J. Husbands) In contrast to Sinnott on his direct inside he will be making his forty-fourth start in this race. He was bought privately for $60.000 just three weeks ago and his new trainer shows enough confidence in him to immediately place him in his biggest career test. He had never made a stakes start prior to the CC Express last November. He led in that one but faded late to finish fifth. He has two straight wins since that effort, and he has won fifteen times in his career, so he knows how to find the wire first albeit so far in lesser company. An interesting entry. 

4. Coronado Beach (Family Racing/T. Gaffalione) A stakes winner back in 2024 when he won the Woodstock Stakes at Woodbine as a three-year-old. He had the lead late in the G2 Phoenix at Keeneland as recently as four races back. He faded to ninth in that race. He followed that up with a tenth-place finish in the CC Express where Distinctly Gold fifth. He gained some confidence with two strong claiming starts winning the last going wire-to-wire at five furlongs. He steps back up for this one and is showing speed in the morning. Hard to get a handle on his form so you can’t ignore him. He is also hard to go out on a limb for. 

5. Father Duffy (Wood Racing Stable/Jo Ruiz) He was claimed for $4.000 last October and has found his form for Wood Racing winning two straight starts since the claim. Yes, those were also claiming races, but they were steps up for him and he passed those tests. He won his last race wire-to-wire by three lengths running the six furlongs in track record time of 1:08.55 at Turfway Park. He deserves a shot here off of that performance. He has been first or second in ten of his fifteen starts against lesser, but that consistency also goes into his favorable column. 

6. Blue Dragon (Maletto/J. Bravo) Has recency on his side winning The Lets Give Thanks in late November and has consistently performed well and gained stakes placings before. He has hit the board in sixteen of twenty-four career starts so he rarely fails to show up on race day. His morning works show that he is sharp. He has a lot to recommend him.

Some races leave you just scratching your head. This is one of them for me, but I will throw my $2 on Blue Dragon who, in total, seems to have the most positive indicators going for him. Father Duffy, despite taking a massive jump up in class, will go in the second slot mostly on the strength of his last out track record. Gunga Jung on the rail is in great form and I will pick him to round out the trifecta.

Categories: STAKES ARTICLES, Ungraded