HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are very few races left on Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s bucket list. One of those is the Grade 1 Florida Derby, a prize he’ll hope to add to his résumé Saturday at Gulfstream Park. There, Mott will send out the lightly raced Chief Wallabee against recent Fountain of Youth nemesis Commandment and Holy Bull winner Nearly in what is indisputably the strongest of all the Kentucky Derby preps to be decided this spring. Saturday will mark the 75th anniversary of a $1 million race that has produced 26 previous Kentucky Derby winners, including the Mott-trained Sovereignty, who used his second-place finish behind Tappan Street in this event a year ago as a stepping-stone to his Derby victory five weeks later at Churchill Downs. The 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby offers 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to be divvied up on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis among the first five finishers. It will anchor a stellar 14-race program that includes 10 other stakes, five of which are graded. First post is 11:30 a.m. Eastern, with the Florida Derby field scheduled to be sent away at 6:42 p.m. A field of nine was drawn for the Florida Derby, but Redland Rebels is expected to scratch to compete instead the same afternoon in the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Along with the three favorites, currently listed as the second-, third- and fourth-ranked 3-year-olds in Daily Racing Form’s latest Derby Watch, the lineup will feature the highly regarded Tampa Bay Derby winner The Puma and outsiders Timeless Victory, Albus, Wayne’s Law, and Gregarious. :: DRF Road to the Derby Package Available Now! Save 37% on key handicapping essentials through Kentucky Derby day. Chief Wallabee and Commandment are expected to vie for favoritism in light of their previous encounter in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here just four weeks ago, a race Commandment won by a neck over Chief Wallabee following a stirring, stretch-long duel that earned the top finishers Beyer Speed Figures of 101 and 100, respectively. Chief Wallabee came into the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth with only one previous start, a 1 1/2-length victory over The Puma in a key seven-furlong maiden dash here Jan. 10. One school of thought his supporters may be banking on is that added experience could prove the difference when Chief Wallabee and Commandment square off in round two on Saturday. Chief Wallabee will be Mott’s 11th Florida Derby starter, and he refuses to make comparisons between his latest 3-year-old hopeful and last year’s Kentucky Derby winner. “I don’t compare horses. I think that’s a mistake,” Mott said. “They are different horses. Sovereignty had a foundation in him. He had three races as a 2-year-old and two good races as a 3-year-old [coming into the Kentucky Derby]. This horse has only two races total. I think he’s very talented, but it’s a huge ask.” Mott did admit he would relish adding a Florida Derby victory to his list of career accomplishments. “I’d love to win the Florida Derby,” he said. “We won the Met Mile two years ago with Cody’s Wish. That was on my bucket list. And the Travers, which we got last year [with Sovereignty]. That covers most of the bases.” :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more It was trainer Brad Cox who kept Mott from winning the 2025 Florida Derby with Tappan Street, and it is Cox who could provide his biggest obstacle again this year with Commandment. He comes into the race having won his last three starts, with his backers pointing to the fact that Commandment prevailed despite racing in arguably deeper footing near the rail in the Fountain of Youth as reason to believe the final result will be the same Saturday. “He’s had two works since the Fountain of Youth. The last one, we asked him to pick it up a little bit, and I thought it was one of his best all winter,” Cox enthused. “Coming back in four weeks is a concern off of such a big race, but I feel, mentally and physically, he’s doing well. It’s just up to getting a good trip. This is a better group than last time, and he’s going to have to step up again, but I do feel he will benefit from more distance.” Commandment will be ridden for the first time by Flavien Prat. He replaces Irad Ortiz Jr., who will be at Oaklawn on Saturday to keep his regular seat aboard Renegade in the Arkansas Derby. Trainer Todd Pletcher has already won a record eight Florida Derbies. Nearly gives him a big chance of adding to that total coming off his eye-catching, 5 3/4-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull on Jan. 31. It was the third one-sided victory in a row at Gulfstream Park for Nearly. The wins have come by a combined margin of 20 lengths, all with jockey John Velazquez aboard. “We decided to pass [on] the Fountain of Youth, and everything has gone according to plan. I’m very pleased with the way he’s coming into this race,” Pletcher said. “As expected, this will be the most difficult race he’s been in, but he’s handled everything at Gulfstream the way we hoped, including the stretch-out. I don’t think he necessarily has to be on the lead [as he was in the Holy Bull], but I do feel he will be forwardly placed.” :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports are available now.  The Puma gave Chief Wallabee all he could handle before ultimately succumbing to finish second in the pair’s first meeting. He then flattered the race by returning to finish a troubled third in the Sam Davis and win the Tampa Bay Derby despite wide trips. Trainer Gustavo Delgado considered next week’s Blue Grass at Keeneland for The Puma’s final Derby prep before opting instead for the Florida Derby following a very strong workout here last weekend. Delgado won the 2023 Kentucky Derby with Mage off his second-place finish five weeks earlier in the Florida Derby. “It just made more sense to race him here on his home track and give him an extra week to the Kentucky Derby, which is our main goal,” said Delgado’s son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado Jr., in the aftermath of last Saturday’s Florida Derby draw. Timeless Victory is the only member of the field with a win at 1 1/8 miles, having dominated first-level allowance rivals by six lengths here four weeks earlier. He will be the final horse to be saddled by veteran trainer Eddie Plesa Jr., who will retire, no matter the outcome, after the race. “He’ll have no problem with the distance. It’s just the class of the field I worry about, although we have nothing to lose by putting him in the race,” Plesa said. “We’re not expecting to win, although I’ve seen stranger things happen in all my years in this business. He couldn’t be doing better, and I’m anxious to run him.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.