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Palm Meadows
PALM MEADOWS
Frank Stronach opened the 304-acre state-of-the-art Florida training center in 2003 and it has received rave reviews from horsemen ever since. By Bill Heller
“Everything is state of the art. The barns are nice. They’re airy for the horses. The upkeep is great. It’s as good today as it was the day it opened” been one of the reasons why. The barns at Palm Meadows are connected to the main track by a system of horse paths designed so that a horse doesn’t have to walk on pavement to get to the track. Though Dutrow spent much of the spring
denying that Big Brown had ongoing foot problems, the quarter crack he developed before the Belmont Stakes became the hottest story in racing and certainly did nothing to help his chances of becoming the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in
1978. Before the Kentucky Derby, Big Brown’s major works were at Palm Meadows. He breezed five furlongs in 1:00 3/5 – galloping out six in 1:14 2/5 – on April 18th, then five furlongs in :58 3/5 on April 24th nine days prior to the Run for the Roses. Big Brown’s powerful victory in the Kentucky Derby, and his triumphs in the Preakness and Haskell Stakes, will do nothing to diminish Palm Meadows’ stature. When Big Brown was eased in the Belmont Stakes in the only loss of his career, the longshot winner who beat him, Zito’s Da’ Tara, had also wintered at Palm Meadows.
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