Published in the April, 2014 issue of the Biscayne Times newspaper:

On a Saturday in February, a three-year-old horse named General a Rod takes his place on the racetrack at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach. Betting odds project him to finish third, behind two strapping Kentucky thoroughbreds named Commissioner and Top Billing.

Blue skies and an ocean breeze favor the near-capacity crowd, which has come to watch the day’s 12 races. Each race offers a purse, ranging from $34,500 to $200,000, to the winning horse’s team.

But the race that General a Rod is about to run, the 11th, is the most important. It’s the day’s feature race, the Fountain of Youth Stakes. The purse is $400,000. The winner will be nominated to run in Gulfstream’s million-dollar Florida Derby on March 29, which could then earn the winning horse a spot in the $2 million Kentucky Derby.

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