The Puma pounces at Tampa Bay, next move on the prowl

The Puma will get an easy week before trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr. decides whether to make another start ahead of the Kentucky Derby or train straight up to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

The son of multiple Grade 1 winner and two-time Eclipse Award winner Essential Quality earned 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points with his victory in Saturday's Grade 3, $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby at Tampa Bay Downs, going from maiden to graded stakes winner under Javier Castellano. Combined with six points from a third-place finish in the Sam Davis Stakes on Feb. 7, The Puma now ranks second on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.

"It's always been on a race-by-race basis," said Ramiro Restrepo, racing manager and bloodstock agent for The Puma's ownership group of OGMA Investments, JR Ranch and High Step Racing. "He's now got enough points to go into the race. Whether Gustavo chooses to pick one of the big points races that are in April or train straight up to the race is going to be left to the horse and for him to decide."

The Puma was headed back to the Delgados' Gulfstream Park base by van Sunday and showed no ill effects from his come-from-behind victory over eight others in the 1 1/16-mile race.

"It was a beautiful experience. He came back fine. So far, so good. Everything is a positive," Restrepo said.

The Puma wasn't the first choice for the ownership group – but he turned out to be the right one. The connections are the same as those behind 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, who was also ridden by Castellano, and the colt has put them back on the Triple Crown trail.

"It's a blessing," Restrepo said.

Bred by Hidden Brook Farm and Brian Kahn, The Puma is out of the unraced Eve of War by Declaration of War. When Hidden Brook consigned him at the 2024 Keeneland September Select Yearling Sale, he did not meet his $95,000 reserve price and was offered again at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale of 2-year-olds-in-training.

The second time was the charm.

"What happened was Hidden Brook had another colt in their consignment, and he was a son of (2021 horse of the year) Knicks Go who sold for $575,000," Restrepo explained. "He turned out to be Ewing (owned by DJ Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and Freirich), who broke his maiden real big and won the Saratoga Special (G2) in his second start. He was in the same consignment. Ewing was a horse that we had our eyes on.

"When I went into the ring for Ewing, he went past what I had pegged for him, so we didn't get him. I remember going back to the consignment and said, 'Well. We missed out on the first one. Let's bring out the Essential Quality again.' I saw him a couple more times and said we couldn't get the first one but let's get this second one. I was kind of surprised he went for $150,000 but you had to be there and see what the market dictates."

The Puma is trained by Delgado, who is assisted by his son, Gustavo Delgado Jr. The Delgados are also the ownership entity known as OGMA Investments. The father-son team trained Mage.

"This colt was a little immature and he was a little heavy, but he was a strong-style horse. He was a little chubby boy, but he caught our attention and gave everybody the good feels. Gustavo Junior really loved him and said he has characteristics of Mage," Restrepo said.

Having a serious horse back on the Derby trail is déjà vu for these connections.

"Every year (since Mage) we've had a horse that we thought would be knocking on the door," Restrepo said. "We had a really nice maiden, Victory Avenue (bought in 2023 for $375,000). We thought he was going to be special in 2024. Unfortunately, he got hurt. Then we had Ferocious, who was a runner-up in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) and then in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) (a $1.3 million buy) and we thought he would be our Derby horse in 2025, and now here we are in 2026 with another Derby hopeful.

"We've been trying to knock on the door, and for a small outfit with myself as an agent and the boys (Gustavo Sr. and Jr.) as trainers we have a boutique barn. So being able to compete with the big boys year in and year out is a blessing. It's a testament to everybody's good work. It feels good to be here."

The Puma was unraced as a 2-year-old and was making the third start of his sophomore season Saturday. He ran second in a maiden special weight at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 10 before his Sam Davis run.

"We're just happy to be soaking up this experience and we're really happy that this horse did what everybody (on the team) believed he is capable of," Restrepo said. "Running a maiden in this spot is kind of frowned upon by analysts and social media types but we're fortunate that the barn has been around some good horses and they have a pretty good measure on judging talent and they have their hands on it. This horse rewarded everyone's faith. We're really happy to have another horse on the trail and it's really cool to have another horse in the dance."

Canaletto

Canaletto also stepped up from the maiden ranks into graded stakes company in the Tampa Bay Derby, though Saturday marked his second career start after a dominant eight-length maiden special weight victory at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 6. The Chad Brown-trained colt was attempting two turns for the first time.

Canaletto, named for the renowned 17th century Venetian painter, was a $1 million yearling purchase for Coolmore, Peter Brant and Brook T. Smith. The son of Into Mischief was headed back to Brown's Gulfstream Park base after a promising third-place finish behind The Puma and Further Ado.

"I think this was a very encouraging race. It's always a big ask to go around two turns for the first time, especially against that company. I think he acquitted himself very well," said Coolmore's Adrian Wallace. "Chad initially was very happy with the draw, being drawn wide, but then as the race unfolded he was caught wide throughout and that probably had a bit of an effect.

"To finish and only be beaten a half a length in a group (race) in the Tampa Bay Derby against such a promising field is not a bad run in only your second outing," Wallace continued. "He did get a bang in the stretch as well and got squeezed and that probably had a bit of an effect, so all in all, he's a horse that battled on well and we can go on it from there."

Wallace added that Brown would take at least a week before deciding on future plans for Canaletto. The Grade 3, $400,000 Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 11 could be in the mix at 1 1/16 miles. The Lexington offers 20-10-16-4-2 Kentucky Derby points, and Canaletto picked up 15 in the Tampa Bay Derby.