The comments from Gary Stevens on the Florida Derby telecast regarding the kickback being generally bad at Gulfstream, but particularly bad yesterday, were interesting.

I was amused by his slightly backhanded compliment, saying Gulfstream was a good place to prep for the Derby because the saddling areas are so confining.

Given that Magna's strategy seems to be to make the place primarily a television studio as far as racing is concerned, and to compete for horses and horsemen by making quality training facilities (Palm Meadows) easily accessible, it's surprising that they haven't done better with the racing surface and saddling area.

On the other hand, moving the Florida Derby back in order to keep the big trainers around a couple of weeks later in the spring seems to have worked.