Ky. Derby trail: Sovereignty leads Florida Derby nominations

Sovereignty, River Thames and Neoequos, the top three finishers from the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, Holy Bull (G3) runner-up Tappan Street and Citizen Bull, the champion 2-year-old male of 2024, are among 40 3-year-olds nominated to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) on March 29 at Gulfstream Park.

The 74th running of the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby, Gulfstream’s signature race that during its history has produced the winners of 59 Triple Crown races, is the centerpiece of a program featuring 10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.62 million in purses.

The Florida Derby offers Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis.

Sovereignty, who graduated third time out in last fall’s Street Sense (G3) at Churchill Downs to cap his juvenile season, opened this year with a dramatic late-running neck triumph over River Thames in Gulfstream’s 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth on March 1. The victory gave Sovereignty 60 points, tied for third-most on the Derby qualifying list.

River Thames, a winner of each of his two prior tries at Gulfstream this year after going unraced at 2, is one of six nominees from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who owns a record eight Florida Derby victories including 2024 with champion Fierceness by a record 13 1/2 lengths.

Among Pletcher’s other nominees are Disruptor, a 9 1/4-length maiden special weight winner sprinting seven furlongs March 1 at Gulfstream, Gate to Wire, winner of the seven-furlong on Swale Feb. 1 who then ran fifth in the Fountain of Youth, Grande, a 2 1/2-length winner of each of his two starts, both this year, the latter Feb. 27 at 1 1/8 miles and Skate Away, a 2 3/4-length maiden special weight winner going 1 1/8-miles Feb. 22 at Gulfstream.

Citizen Bull capped his championship season with a second Grade 1 victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1), opening his sophomore season with a popular and dominant triumph in the one-mile Robert B. Lewis (G3) Feb. 1 at Santa Anita over stablemates Rodriguez and Madaket Road, both also nominated to the Florida Derby, a race Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has yet to win.

Neoequos, trained by meet leader Saffie Joseph Jr., ran second in a pair of Florida Sire Stakes, the Dr. Fager and Affirmed, sprinting last fall and stretched out to two turns for the first time in the Fountain of Youth, setting the pace before giving way and holding on to third.

Tappan Street broke his maiden by 1 3/4 lengths going seven furlongs Dec. 28 at Gulfstream, making his two-turn and stakes debut in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull on Feb. 1. Sent off the favorite, the Into Mischief colt was in front in mid-stretch before getting passed in the final sixteenth of a mile by Burnham Square.

Also prominent among Florida Derby nominees are 2024 Breeders’ Futurity (G1) winner East Avenue; Owen Almighty, last-out winner of the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) March 8; and Tappan Street’s Brad Cox-trained stablemate Passion Rules, undefeated in three starts, all going two turns.

Leading the undercard stakes is the 55th running of the $250,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) for 3-year-old fillies, which attracted 19 nominations led by The Queens M G, who earned her third stakes victory and second against graded company in the one-mile Davona Dale (G2) March 1 at Gulfstream, beating La Cara by 2 3/4 lengths.

Eclatant won Gulfstream’s seven-furlong Forward Gal (G3) Feb. 1, her most recent race and one where The Queens M G finished third. Five G was a nine-length winner of the one-mile Cash Run on Jan. 1 at Gulfstream, coming back to be second in the 1 1/16-mile Honeybee Feb. 23 at Oaklawn Park.

Other nominees include March 1 Busher winner Drexel Hill, 2024 Adirondack (G3) runner-up Italian Soiree, 2024 Demoiselle (G2) winner Muhimma, Paradise City, second as the favorite to Five G in the Cash Run that came back with a six-length triumph going two turns Jan. 30 at Gulfstream and Simply Joking, unbeaten in two starts including the Jan. 18 Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds in her most recent start.

The 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Oaks offers Kentucky Oaks (G1) qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis.