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A full field of 12 three-year-old horses were drawn for the 57th running of the $1 million Florida Derby on Saturday, March 29, at Gulfstream Park.
The 1 1/8 mile Florida Derby is one of the major prep races for the 2008 Kentucky Derby to be held on the first Saturday of May at Churchill Downs. The 2007 Florida Derby winner, Scat Daddy, was one of the 2007 Kentuky Derby entries but finished 18th in the 20-horse field.
All carrying 122 pounds, the complete field of Gulfstream Park’s Florida Derby this Saturday with jockeys and morning line odds line up as follows:
Fierce Wind ridden by jockey Cornelio Velasquez, 6-1
Smooth Air ridden by jockey Manoel Cruz, 12-1
Da’ Tara ridden by jockey Joe Bravo, 20-1
Tomcito ridden by jockey Jorge Chavez, 12-1
Cool Gator ridden by jockey Eddie Castro, 20-1
Nistle’s Crunch ridden by jockey Julien Leparoux, 10-1
B B Frank ridden by jockey Javier Castellano, 20-1
IEAH Stables and Paul Pompa Jr.’s Big Brown was made the 3-1 horse betting favorite. In his last start, the son of Boundary, Big Brown, has won by an impressive 12 3/4-length lead in an allowance competition at Gulfstream Park last March 8. The Rick Dutrow Jr. trainee, Big Brown, who has won both his career starts, will be ridden by Kent Desormeaux this Saturday at the Florida Derby.
Trained by Barclay Tagg for owner Robert Evans, Elysium Fields placed second next to Cool Coal Man in his stakes debut at Gulfstream Park’s Fountain of Youth Stakes last February 24. Elysium Fields will break from post position 8 under jockey Eibar Coa.
Fellow competitors in the February 16 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs, Fierce Wind and Smooth Air, will face each other again this Saturday in the Florida Derby. Smooth Air finished 3rd in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, 1 1/4 lengths behind winner Fierce Wind.
Minor Stables’ Fierce Wind, conditioned by horse trainer Nick Zito, who also trains War Pass, one of the leading 2008 Kentucky Derby contenders, has won his last 3 starts. Fierce Wind broke his maiden by 10 1/4 lengths in December and won his 3-year-old debut in January in allowance competition, both in wire-to-wire fashion.
Mount Joy Stables’ Smooth Air has a career record of 3-1-2 in 6 starts. The Smooth Jazz colt, Smooth Air, is trained by Bennie Stutts, Jr. and will be ridden by jockey Manoel Cruz.
The 2008 Florida Derby will be run as the 10th of 12 races on Gulfstream Park’s March 29 horse racing program. Estimated post time is 5:37 pm EST.
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