I wrote earlier today that I didn’t have much of a clue as to whether trainer Michael Matz was going to enter Lentenor in this Saturday’s Florida Derby or not. Turns out, he was. Barbaro’s full brother is one of eleven horses entered in the first Grade 1 Derby prep of the spring. Other notable entries and omissions:
-Rule was tabbed as the morning line favorite at 5/2.
-Trainer Rick Dutrow elected to skip the Florida Derby with D’Funnybone, probably indicating that he doesn’t believe his horse is a two turn animal. This essentially takes D’Funnybone off of my serious Derby radar.
-With regards to Lentenor, take note of the fact that jockey Edgar Prado is riding for Rick Dutrow on Radiohead (GB) and not on the Lael Stables horse.
-Don't know if I've ever seen a race where two horses have "dude" in their name.
|
PP |
Horse |
Jockey |
Trainer |
ML |
|
1 |
Soaring Empire |
E. Castro |
C. Gambolati |
20/1 |
|
2 |
Lentenor |
A. Garcia |
M. Matz |
6/1 |
|
3 |
Pulsion |
C. Nakatani |
P. Biancone |
12/1 |
|
4 |
Pleasant Prince |
J. Leparoux |
W. Ward |
15/1 |
|
5 |
Game On Dude |
J. Rose |
M. Mareina |
12/1 |
|
6 |
First Dude |
R. Dominguez |
D. Romans |
8/1 |
|
7 |
Rule |
J. Velazquez |
T. Pletcher |
5/2 |
|
8 |
Ice Box |
J. Lexcano |
N. Zito |
6/1 |
|
9 |
Miner’s Reserve |
K. Desormeaux |
N. Zito |
20/1 |
|
10 |
Best Actor |
J. Castellano |
W. Catalano |
20/1 |
|
11 |
Radiohead (GB) |
E. Prado |
R. Dutrow |
3/1 |
I’ll have more analysis of the Florida Derby, and the Swale Stakes, later on this week.
Updated: All of Saturday's entries at Gulfstream, inlcuding the Swale, can be found at the DRF.
The Florida Derby will go to post at 6:20 Eastern, while the Swale is scheduled to run at 5:45.