Pletcher colt Audible favored in Florida Derby

HALLANDALE BEACH — The winners of Gulfstream’s two most prestigious stakes for 3-year-olds thus far will face off Saturday against seven rivals in the $1 million Florida Derby.

Audible’s 5½ length victory in the Holy Bull might be the most impressive stakes performance by a Florida Derby hopeful this season. It was his third consecutive win after a thirdplace finish in his career debut.

If Audible’s Holy Bull wasn’t the No. 1 performance by a 3-year-old, Promises Fulfilled’s 2¼ length wire-to-wire score in the Fountain of Youth was. The colt trained by Dale Romans has an identical record to Audible, three wins and a third place.

Neither raced in both stakes, so they will meet for the first time in the mileand-an-eighth Grade 1 event. Track oddsmaker Jay Stone has made Audible, assigned gate 8 with John Velazquez, the 9-5 morning line favorite, partially because of the Todd Pletcher factor. A 14-time Gulfstream training champion, Pletcher has won the Florida Derby a record four times. Velazquez also has a record four Florida Derby wins. Promises Fulfilled is 3-1 with Robby Albarado.

Pletcher and Velazquez will be attempting an encore of last year, when they teamed to win the Florida Derby with Always Dreaming, who went on to capture the Kentucky Derby. Always Dreaming will make his 2018 debut in a supporting stakes, a rare appearance by a reigning Kentucky Derby champion at Gulfstream.

The early third choice is 7-2 Catholic Boy, who won his career debut in a grass race last July at Gulfstream for former Pletcher assistant Jonathan Thomas. Catholic Boy's record is similar to the two favorites. He went from his maiden win in South Florida to take a turf stakes at Saratoga. A close fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf followed. He closed his juvenile season by running away with the Remsen stakes at Aqueduct, his first try on dirt. Catholic Boy, who starts from post 6, opened his 3-year-old campaign with a second in the Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa, a race Thomas said was treated as a prep. Irad Ortiz Jr., one of the leading riders in the nation, replaces the less heralded Manny Franco in the saddle.

Strike Power (4-1), who chased Promises Fulfilled from start to finish in the Fountain of Youth, will try to close his 2 ½ length margin of defeat with meet leading rider Luis Saez.

The Florida Derby will go as the 14th and final race on a program that has an early 11:30 a.m. start.