Peppermint Man is Neolithic’s 3rd winner in January

It only took just one race – on Dec. 19 – for Edgar Perez to get acquainted with Peppermint Man at Gulfstream Park, the Neolithic gelding finishing a non-threatening fifth at odds of 21-1. It was a different ballgame in their return engagement on Friday, with Peppermint Man sprinting to the lead, being challenged just about every step of the way and holding on to win by a nose in the race at a mile and 70 yards over the Tapeta surface.

Peppermint Man, bred by Dennis Manning and owned by former Gulfstream and Hialeah Park attorney David Romanik and trained by Ron Spatz, went off at 12-1 for this one and paid $26 after getting the distance in 1:41.70, earning a check for $16,200. He’s the third winner in January for Neolithic, who is less than $78,000 from reaching the $6 million mark in career progeny earnings after having his best year in 2024, finishing second on Florida’s general sire list.