Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park is the historically most significant Kentucky Derby prep race with a record 25 winners produced all-time, including Mage a year ago. Get an advanced look at this year’s premier players for the Preakness and Belmont Stakes as 11 Triple Crown prospects have entered.
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Let’s meet the contenders for the Florida Derby (Race 14):
#1-FRANKIE’S EMPIRE: Four-time sprint winner, including Gulfstream’s Swale Stakes, showed 2-turn ability when third in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, the local prep 4 weeks ago. Trainer Michael Yates seeks his first Grade 1 victory after winning last year’s Grade 2 Davona Dale at Gulfstream with Dorth Vader.
#2-HADES (pictured above): Undefeated winner of the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes looks for a fourth straight victory. The Florida-bred gelding by Awesome Slew led wire-to-wire in the Holy Bull in defeating next-out Tampa Bay Derby winner Domestic Product and the reigning Champion 2-Year-Old Fierceness, the latter who will re-match on Saturday. Trainer Joe Orseno found Preakness glory in 2000 with Red Bullet.
#3-BAIL US OUT: His 2 lifetime starts are tied for the least experience in this year’s Florida Derby field and he exits a maiden victory on the Tapeta surface February 3. Trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. provide a formidable presence, teaming to win this race 2 of the past 3 years (Known Agenda ’21, Forte ’23). Pletcher has a record 7 wins in this race. Colt is a $700,000 purchase by 2010 Preakness winner Lookin At Lucky.
#4-GRAND MO THE FIRST: Versatile and consistent colt has finished third in the Grade 3 Zuma Beach, Swale and Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby in consecutive starts, literally from coast to coast and over variable distances and surfaces. Both victories to date have come in Gulfstream sprints on the Tapeta for a jockey-trainer team of Emisael Jaramillo-Victor Barboza that wins 26% in tandem.
#5-REAL MACHO: Pressed the pace before tiring to fourth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, a similar result to his only other start around 2 turns. Both victories for this son of multiple local stakes winner and Breeders’ Cup Classic victor Mucho Macho Man have come in 1-turn miles. Must make up about 6 lengths on Florida Derby rivals Le Dom Bro and Frankie’s Empire from the Fountain of Youth.
#6-LE DOM BRO: Outran his 27-1 odds when finishing a game runner-up in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth stakes, chasing wire-to-wire winner Dornoch throughout. Like Real Macho, he’s a son of Mucho Macho Man. All 4 career starts on the Gulfstream main track have resulted in second-place finishes, registering his lone victory last summer at Saratoga. Trainer Eniel Cordero, just 20 years old, looks to hit the big time and become what track historians believe to be the youngest ever to saddle a Florida Derby winner.
#7-CATALYTIC: Following only 2 sprint races on his resume, this colt by top miler Catalina Cruiser makes a big leap in class and distance for the Florida Derby. He won his Gulfstream debut in October and finished a late-charging second March 8 in a Tampa Bay Downs allowance in his lone start of 2024. Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. won this race 2 years ago with White Abarrio, while jockey Julien Leparoux did so in 2011 aboard Dialed In.
#8-SEMINOLE CHIEF: Winner of Florida’s premier race for the 2-year-olds, the In Reality hero from December looks for his biggest score outside of the state-bred ranks. He tired badly to finish ninth in Aqueduct’s Withers in February, then bounced back to win a Gulfstream allowance over the Tapeta on March 9 to earn a stakes return bid. Sire Girvin won the Risen Star, Louisiana Derby and Haskell during a highly productive 3-year-old season in 2017.
#9-CONQUEST WARRIOR: Two-time Gulfstream Park Championship Meet race winner steps up to the stakes level for the first time. The $1 million purchase by Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and Pegasus World Cup winner City of Light exits a 5-length allowance romp over the Florida Derby’s 1-1/8 miles distance. Trainer Shug McGaughey won the 2013 Florida Derby with eventual Kentucky Derby victor Orb, while jockey Jose Ortiz looks for his first win in this race.
#10-FIERCENESS: The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile winner was dealt a surprising loss in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes on Feb. 3, losing steam late when third to Florida Derby return rival Hades. He was the 1-5 favorite that day when spotting 6 pounds to Hades, while all runners will carry equal weights of 122 pounds on Saturday. No trainer has won the Florida Derby more times than Todd Pletcher (7), while no jockey has topped John Velazquez (5 wins) for success in this race. They matched strengths to win here in 2015, 2017 and 2018 – the centerpiece of that trio being ’17 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming. Pletcher seeks to win this race in back-to-back years with the reigning Champion 2-Year-Old, following Forte a season ago.
#11-IRIS’S DREAM: Florida-bred broke his maiden in his third start, a Feb. 29 turf route allowance, doing so in eye-catching style. His prior 2 efforts on dirt weren’t as emphatic for trainer Cheryl Winebaugh. The Florida Derby will be the first stakes bid and first 2-turn dirt route for the gelding by Jess’s Dream, a sire whose Hall of Fame parents are Curlin and Rachel Alexandra.
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