Gulfstream Park, finally finishing what it started in the last real estate boom, has restarted its ambitious building project to fill in the horse race track's parking lots with all sorts of new things that were reported almost a year ago, including hotels, apartments, grandstand seating, a standalone casino, and a giant Pegasus statue in full Florida kitsch. But of course in the intervening 11 months a few details have changed. The 110 foot tall Pegasus statue will be atop a mountainous water feature and visible from Biscayne Boulevard. And instead of prancing or galloping or doing anything related to, you know, horse racing, it will now be stomping on and killing a dragon, according to plans over at exMiami.
Pegasus is, of course, a natural symbol for horse racing as it evokes equine speed. And the giantness of the statue, while not exactly a paragon of good taste, does have a strong precedent in Floridian kitsch and the state's well known and much loved roadside tourist vernacular style. (How many millions of tourists stopped at the giant orange just off the highway for some O.J.? At the giant seashell on the Ovearseas Highway for some underwater theater?) This still leaves practically no explanation for the dead dragon though. The whole thing, on its mountain with waterfalls and fountains, will be surrounded by a walkway, a plaza, a big grassy area called 'Pegasus Park', and a public restroom right behind the Pegasus's ass.
· Gulfstream Park Plans Huge Expansion, Giant Pegasus Statue [Curbed Miami]
· Gulfstream Park proposed 110 foot Pegasus and dragon statue [exMiami]
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