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The Florida Derby trail heats up Saturday at Gulfstream Park when the Grade 3 $275,000 Holy Bull Stakes anchors a 12-race card that includes 4 stakes. Past Holy Bull winners include 2020 Belmont Stakes winner Tiz the Law, 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro and 1994 Kentucky Derby winner Go For Gin.
Let’s meet the contenders for the Holy Bull Stakes (Race 12):
#1-INCREDIBOLT: Winner of Churchill Downs’ Street Sense Stakes, the Riley Mott trainee aims for a third straight victory. Son of Bolt d’Oro looks to follow in the footsteps of 2024 Street Sense winner Sovereignty, who would win the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes the following spring. This will be his first start outside of Kentucky and first since October. Regular rider Jaime Torres has the mount.
#2-ROGER THAT DANA: Mucho Macho Man Stakes runner-up at 23-1 odds has been a Gulfstream regular in all 4 starts. Florida-bred finished third in the Florida Sire Stakes In Reality behind Strategic Risk, the eventual Smarty Jones winner who runs back Saturday in Oaklawn’s Southwest Stakes. Luis Ramirez trains and Renzo Rojas rides.
#3-PROJECT ACE: Son of 2019 Preakness winner War of Will makes his stakes debut. The Dale Romans trainee won his third start to break his maiden in November at Churchill Downs. Dale Romans trains and Corey Lanerie has been in the saddle each start.
#4-GLOBAL AVIATOR: Nov. 29 Gulfstream sprint debut winner for trainer Rohan Crichton gets tested for distance and class in his follow-up bid. $12,000 bargain buy by Global Campaign. Joe Bravo rode in the unveiling and will again Saturday.
#5-CANNONEER: Turned heads Nov. 29 at Churchill Downs when winning a 7-furlong maiden special weight on the same card as the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes. Trainer Brad Cox won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes to start the Florida Derby path with Commandment and seeks to add the second leg with a fresh face. $1,750,000 yearling purchase by Into Mischief is out of the blue hen mare Catch the Moon, who has produced graded-stakes winners Girvin, Midnight Bourbon and Cocked and Loaded.
#6-BUETANE: Reportedly will scratch due to travel issues.
#7-NEARLY: Florida-bred son of hot sire Not This Time has won back-to-back Gulfstream Park starts since a troubled debut at Aqueduct in October. Maiden and allowance victory at 6 and 7 furlongs will get his first route chance and first stakes bid. Todd Pletcher and John Velazquez team up. Pletcher won this race in 2012 (Algorithms) and 2018 (Audible). Johnny V’s only Holy Bull score came in 1997 (Arthur L.).
#8-BRAVARO: Palm Meadows-based colt shipped to Aqueduct to win a New York-bred maiden and $200,000 Sleepy Hollow Stakes among his 2 lifetime starts. Saffie Joseph Jr. is coming off a 1-2 Pegasus World Cup finish last Saturday, and teams with Skippinglongstocking’s pilot Tyler Gaffalione for the first time. Sire Upstart won the 2015 Holy Bull Stakes.
#9-GAME FOR IT: Dec. 10 debut winner at Aqueduct in a maiden optional claiming race. Son of 2021 Florida Derby winner Known Agenda takes a step up in class and extends from that 6-furlong sprint. Bullet workout at Palm Meadows for trainer Chad Summers, who also has Champagne winner Napoleon Dynamite on this year’s Triple Crown prep trail. Junior Alvarado rides for the first time.
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