Seminole Chief eyes another step forward in Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With three wins in five starts, a stakes victory over the track, and a last-out Beyer Speed Figure as good as all but one rival in the field, trainer Jack Sisterson believes there is no reason not to give Seminole Chief the opportunity to vie for a $1 million purse and some of the 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points up for grabs in Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby.

“He’s a 3-year-old and can only run once in the Florida Derby,” Sisterson reasoned when asked about the decision to run Seminole Chief, who is 30-1 in the morning line in the main event here Saturday.

Seminole Chief is one of the few if not the first horse who began his career at Finger Lakes to compete in the Florida Derby. The son of Girvin won his debut by six lengths at the western New York oval in early September before shipping to South Florida and successfully making the jump to the big time a couple of months later, rebounding from a dull effort in the Affirmed Stakes to upset the final leg of the Florida Sire Series, the 1 1/16-mile In Reality, by a half-length in his juvenile finale.

Seminole Chief finished a distant ninth and last when making his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct before bouncing back yet again with a wire-to-wire triumph against first-level allowance competition in a race transferred from the turf to the Tapeta course here March 9. He won despite never switching off his left lead in the run down the stretch, similar to his victory several months earlier in the In Reality.

Seminole Chief earned a career-best 85 Beyer Speed Figure for his latest performance. Only Hades, who got a 90 Beyer for his victory in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, has a higher last-out Beyer among the 11 3-year-olds entered in the Florida Derby.

“I’m not sure what happened in the Withers, but he did ship from the heat to the cold. It rained and was muddy that day, and I guess he just did not handle the track,” Sisterson said. “I asked the owner for a chance to give him a prep race, to have the option to run back in the Florida Derby if he ran well, and he bounced back with a good one on the Tapeta. Obviously, he’ll need to move forward off that race and he’s going to have to switch leads in the afternoon to do that.”

Sisterson, who has obtained the services of jockey Joel Rosario aboard Seminole Chief in the Florida Derby, also was adamant about his strategy for the race.

“We’re definitely going to be forwardly placed, and I’d like to put him on the lead again if we can, although I’ll leave that up to Joel,” Sisterson said. “He’s the kind of horse who once he feels pressure will try to keep going. The question is whether he’s good enough to keep going in a Grade 1.”

Real Macho gets another shot

Another outsider in this year’s Florida Derby field, Real Macho, is giving his trainer, Rohan Crichton, confidence he too might outrun his odds Saturday, just as he did when upsetting prohibitive favorite Born Noble at 26-1 in a onemile allowance race earlier this winter. Real Macho followed that effort with a somewhat disappointing fourth, nearly eight lengths behind Dornoch, after racing close up during the early stages of the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth four weeks later.

Real Macho looked sharp breezing an easy half-mile in 49.39 seconds before galloping out a solid six furlongs over a somewhat cuppy track in 1:15.38 here Sunday.

“The exercise rider did a good job holding him. I didn’t want to go too fast because we had to push back the work a couple of days due to the weather on Friday and Saturday,” Crichton said, referring to the rain over the weekend. “He was pulling him and appeared to be really focused the whole way.”

Crichton said he’s willing to toss out Real Macho’s effort in the Fountain of Youth because he suddenly eased himself back in the run down the backstretch.

“I know distance is not a problem for him, but he’s still a little green,” Crichton explained. “We’ve done a lot of schooling with him in the morning since his last start, putting him in behind horses and getting him used to the kickback, to prepare for this race.”

Another Florida Derby outsider, Iris’s Dream, turned in his final prep for the race here Monday, breezing an easy, maintenance half-mile in 50.03 while just cruising along and kept well off the rail down the stretch and on the gallop-out. Iris’s Dream was an impressive 7 1/4-length maiden winner on the turf in his last start but is poorly drawn, on the extreme outside in post 11, for the Florida Derby.

Evidencias should get pace

Wednesday’s eight-race program kicks off the final week of the 2023-24 Championship meet, which concludes Sunday with a mandatory payout in the Rainbow 6 pool that could reach as high as $5 million if not solved earlier in the week.

Wednesday’s card features a pair of allowance races, topped by a one-mile optional claimer on the main track for fillies and mares that lured a field of seven, including New York invader Evidencias. A Group 1 winner in her native Brazil before joining trainer Christopher Clement’s barn last summer, Evidencias has hit the board in three of her four starts in the Untied States, all against stiffer opposition than she’ll encounter in her local debut, including a third-place finish behind Comparative and Saddle Up Jessie in the nine-furlong Ladies Stakes on Jan. 6 at Aqueduct. The top two fillies flattered that race by returning to win stakes in their subsequent starts, Comparative the Grade 3 Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park and Saddle Up Jessie the Heavenly Prize at Aqueduct.

The stretch-running Evidencias will need some pace to run at and should get just that from Steel Racer and Sense You Left, the latter exiting a wireto-wire, 1 1/2-length victory in a starter allowance/optional claimer over the Tapeta course just two weeks ago.

About a half-hour earlier, a group of seven 3-year-old Florida-breds also will go a mile on the main track vying for a $59,000 purse in the co-featured sixth race. Four of the seven, Roar Ready, Secret Lover, Lasso, and Brawn are stakes-tested, while Always a Way is the only multiple winner in a lineup that also includes last-out maiden winner The Monopoly Man and Classic Ballard.