HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -  A stellar lineup of nine 3-year-olds topped by Chief Wallabee, Commandment and Nearly, the second-, third- and fourth-ranked horses in the latest edition of Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch, has been drawn for next Saturday's $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.  The Grade 1 Florida Derby will offer 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and projects to be the strongest and most important of all the Derby preps over the next two weeks. First place in the Florida Derby earns 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points; runner-up gets 50, followed by 25-15-10. The 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby will go as the finale on a 14-race program that includes 10 stakes, five of which are graded, and also features its filly counterpart, the $275,000 Gulfstream Park Oaks.  First post will be 11:30 a.m. The Florida Derby will bring together the winners of the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth (Commandment), Grade 3 Holy Bull (Nearly) and Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby (The Puma) along with Chief Wallabee, who was beaten a neck in the Fountain of Youth in just his second lifetime start.  :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more Chief Wallabee will break from post 2 as the tepid 2-1 morning-line favorite. His nemesis Commandment will start from post 4 as the 5-2 second choice with Nearly (3-1) in post 6 and The Puma (9-2) starting farthest out of the main contenders from post 8.  The remainder of the field includes outsiders Albus (post 1), Wayne’s Law (post 3), Redland Rebels (post 5), Timeless Victory (post 7) and Gregarious (post 9). Redland Rebels was cross-entered in the Arkansas Derby and will run in that race. There will be one significant jockey change in the Florida Derby with Flavien Prat replacing Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard Commandment for trainer Brad Cox. Ortiz will be at Oaklawn Park the same afternoon to ride the Todd Pletcher-trained Renegade in the Arkansas Derby. The majority of the Florida Derby field turned in their final works for the race at four different venues around the local area on Saturday. At Payson Park, Chief Wallabee and Commandment completed five furlongs in 1:02.20 and 1:01.80, respectively, while Nearly breezed a half-mile in :49.16 farther down the turnpike at the Palm Beach Downs training center. Both Timeless Victory and The Puma worked at Gulfstream Park, the former going four furlongs in 49.31, the latter a very impressive five-eighths in 1:01.96 per Daily Racing Form under regular rider Javier Castellano. The Puma punctuated the move with a strong gallop out, ultimately pulling up after a mile in 1:40.89.    “He (The Puma) basically entered himself in the race with his work this morning,” assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. said shortly after the post-position draw. “We were waiting to see how he was doing in terms of coming out of his last start and we were very pleased. And Javier (Castellano) gave us even more confidence after the work when saying he felt the horse still has a lot left in the tank coming out of the race in Tampa.” Delgado, the son of trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr., said the fact The Puma earned enough qualifying points in Tampa to assure his spot in the Kentucky Derby field made the decision to enter him here next Saturday a lot easier. “We’re under no pressure,” the younger Delgado explained. “If we don’t like anything we see during the week, we don’t have to run.  We have other options.” Both Albus and Gregorious got in their final Florida Derby preps on Saturday as well, posting four-furlong clocking’s of 49.75 and 49.35 respectively at the Palm Meadows training center in Boynton Beach.   :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.