Commandment wins the Florida Derby, now eyes Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown trail
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Digital Subscription
One year of digital access for only $1.44 a week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $5.77 plus GST every four weeks. After 52 weeks, price increases to the regular rate of $19.95 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Commandment broke his maiden last fall at Churchill Downs. He’ll soon be headed back there, looking for a much bigger victory.
By the slimmest of margins — a photo finish — Commandment won the Florida Derby on Saturday, completing a worst-to-first rally in the six-horse field and overtaking The Puma with the final bob of his head.
It was the fourth consecutive win for Commandment, who had jockey Flavien Prat aboard on Saturday. Next up: the Kentucky Derby, the start of the Triple Crown series on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
“He’s a racehorse, bottom line,” said trainer Brad Cox, who saddled the Florida Derby winner for the second consecutive year. “He always shows up. … He’s a Grade 1 winner. Florida Derby’s a big race. Proud of the horse. Very proud of the horse.”
The Puma took the lead at the top of the stretch and was maybe an inch or two shy of keeping it the rest of the way. Bettors roared when the official order of finish was announced, and Cox could finally exhale.
“Little too close for comfort,” Cox said.
Commandment returned $5.80 for the win. Chief Wallabee was third, favorite Nearly — the 7-5 top choice — was fourth and Wayne’s Law was fifth.
Commandment got 100 points toward the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. The Puma got 50 for finishing second, Chief Wallabee got 25 for third, Nearly got 15 for placing fourth and the fifth-place showing by Wayne’s Law earned him 10 points.
The Puma and Commandment went into Saturday’s race with spots for the Kentucky Derby basically secured, based on their point totals coming in — The Puma had 56, Commandment 50, and those likely would be enough to make the field.
Now, assuming both emerge from Saturday healthy and stay that way, they’re locks for the Run for the Roses.
“He’s got a great mind,” said Cox, just the fourth trainer to win the Florida Derby in back-to-back years, joining Todd Pletcher (who did it three times), Nick Zito and Horace Jones. “That’s going to take him a long way, the first Saturday in May.”
History has shown there’s a clear path from the winner’s circle at Gulfstream Park to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs. The Florida Derby has been run by 26 eventual Kentucky Derby winners, more than any other prep race — most recently Sovereignty last year. Sovereignty was second in last year’s Florida Derby.
And Florida Derby winners have gone on to win 31 Triple Crown series races, including the Kentucky Derby on 15 occasions — the last of which was when Always Dreaming pulled it off in 2017. Those 31 victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont have come from 21 different Florida Derby winners.
UAE Derby
On Dubai World Cup day at Meydan, Wonder Dean won the UAE Derby for trainer Daisuke Takayanagi.
Wonder Dean is the fifth consecutive Japanese-trained winner of the UAE Derby. All four of the others went to the Kentucky Derby and Takayanagi — who guided T O Password to a fifth-place finish at the Run for the Roses in 2024 — said Wonder Dean is on his way as well.
___
AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports