Florida Derby – Gulfstream Park on NBCSN
The Florida Derby is live from Gulfstream Park this Saturday on NBC Sports Network. This is week two of the Kentucky Derby Prep races on the NBC family of networks. Last week it was Went The Day Well that won the Vinery Spiral Stakes on NBCSN, who will win this week and collect enough graded stakes earning to put them in the gate for the 138th Kentucky Derby.
Union Rags has been the early Kentucky Derby favorite 2011 and has only improved in his training and development along the way and trainer Michael Matz couldn’t be any happier with his talented horse’s progress. When Matz was asked about Union Rags performance since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and the Fountain of Youth he said “You never know how they are going to act after four months off. But I thought we couldn’t have written it any better. We didn’t have to use him that hard. I don’t think it was a tough race on him. I can’t see why he wouldn’t make another move forward after that last race. But this is obviously a tougher race.”
Should Union Rags win handily in the Florida Derby, warm up the bandwagon and get the peanut gallery to start barking about a Triple Crown winner and the end of the 33 year and counting drought that has plagued the single most difficult feat in all of sport.
El Padrino is the second favorite in this event despite being undefeated in his 2 starts in 2012. El Padrino not only has a chance to finish in the money but could very well upset Union Rags increase his graded stakes earning total. “We certainly could have gone other places where it probably would have been a little easier, but we felt it was more a case of managing our horse the way we want to as opposed to handicapping the race,” said Pletcher. “It takes out the shipping factor and things like that, but the Florida Derby is a significant race, a grade I with a big purse. The Florida Derby is here. We felt it was not only the best next start for him but also the best way to go to Churchill, hopefully.”
The surprise non entry for the Florida Derby is Alpha trained by Kiaran McLaughlin who everyone expected to be in this race but has been pointed to the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. “He’s going to work here Friday morning and then fly later Friday to New York,” McLaughlin said Wednesday morning at Palm Meadows.
Florida Derby Post Positions:
Florida Derby (Grade I)
Gulfstream Park – March 31, 2012
Race 11 – 5:40 PM
Purse $1,000,000.
Age: For Three Year Olds.
Distance: One And One Eighth Miles.
|
PP |
Horse |
A/S |
Med |
Jockey |
Wgt |
Trainer |
|
1 |
Fort Loudon (FL) |
3/C |
L |
L Jurado |
122 |
S I Gold |
|
2 |
News Pending (KY) |
3/C |
L |
R Maragh |
122 |
D L Romans |
|
3 |
Take Charge Indy (KY) |
3/C |
L |
C H Borel |
122 |
P B Byrne |
|
4 |
Neck ‘n Neck (KY) |
3/C |
L |
E S Prado |
122 |
I R Wilkes |
|
5 |
Z Camelot (KY) |
3/C |
L |
J Bravo |
122 |
D L Romans |
|
6 |
Union Rags (KY) |
3/C |
L |
J R Leparoux |
122 |
M R Matz |
|
7 |
Bartolome (KY) |
3/C |
L |
J L Castanon |
122 |
J Garoffalo |
|
8 |
El Padrino (KY) |
3/C |
L |
J Castellano |
122 |
T A Pletcher |
|
9 |
Reveron (KY) |
3/C |
|
E Trujillo |
122 |
A C Bezara |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
As for handicapping the Florida Derby, here are my picks:
Win: Union Rags
Place: El Padrino
Show: Take Charge Indy
Wild Card: Neck ‘n Neck
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About
Every year Jack McKinney follows the new 2 year olds on the scene through the Breeder’s Cup as maturing 3 year olds.
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