HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With division leader Ted Noffey off the Triple Crown trail, several promising 3-year-olds will attempt to take advantage of the Eclipse Award winner’s absence when seeking to earn important Kentucky Derby qualifying points Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $275,000 Holy Bull Stakes. The Grade 3 Holy Bull, the first of two local preps leading up to the $1 million Florida Derby on March 27, will be decided at 1 1/16 miles and offers 42 Derby points to the top five finishers on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. The Holy Bull will be run as the 12th and final race on a stellar card that features four other 3-year-old stakes, including the Grade 3 Forward Gal. First post is 12:15 p.m. Although trainer Todd Pletcher had to stop on Ted Noffey due to bone brusing, he holds a strong hand in the Holy Bull with Nearly likely to go postward a solid favorite in a lineup that also includes Grade 3 winner Incredibolt and the well-graded maiden winner Cannoneer. Nearly finished a disappointing sixth launching his career Oct. 26 at Aqueduct before rebounding with two extremely impressive victories here. He defeated Florida-breds to win his maiden by 9 1/4 lengths going six furlongs Nov. 22 before dominating first-level allowance and optional-claiming competition by five lengths despite getting knocked around at the break launching his 3-year-old campaign at seven furlongs six weeks later. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  Nearly was awarded the highest Beyer Speed Figure of any member of the division thus far in 2026, a 97, which matches the numbers Ted Noffey received for his victories in both the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. “We were looking to get a two-turn race into him now that will put him in position, with success here, to have the option of skipping the next one [Fountain of Youth] and focusing on just one more” prep, Pletcher explained. “He bounced out of his last race well and he’s trained with some pretty good horses, we like how he’s handled that. He’s carrying his condition, so we felt why not? “It looks like a good, solid field, a good test to see how he handles the stretch around two turns, but at the same time it looks like a good spot.” Incredibolt has been freshened since rallying from last to a 1 1/4-length victory going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Street Sense on Oct. 26 at Churchill Downs. The win was the second in three starts for the son of Bolt d’Oro, who is one of only two horses in the Holy Bull with a win at the distance, along with Project Ace. He is trained by Riley Mott, whose father, Bill Mott, trains Horse of the Year Sovereignty. “The two-turn question is a big question, and he answered that when he won the stakes at Churchill Downs,” the younger Mott said. “He got a planned vacation at Pin Oak Stud after the race and hasn’t missed a beat returning to us down here in Florida in early December.” Incredibolt will break from the rail and carry top weight of 124 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Holy Bull. His regular rider, Jaime Torres, will be aboard. Cannoneer finished a disappointing third as an overwhelming 2-5 favorite launching his career going 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill before making amends in a big way in his only other start at 2. He used his abundant speed to register a gate-to-wire, 7 1/4-length maiden win going seven furlongs over the same track Nov. 29, for which he received a 90 Beyer Figure. “We were hoping for a performance like that in his second start, we got it and he came out of the race in good order,” trainer Brad Cox said. “And after talking with the owners, we felt this was the best spot to give him the opportunity to stretch out around two turns. The track at Payson can get a little leg-weary sometimes, and the way he’s been training over it has given us a lot of confidence going into the race.” :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports are available now.  Global Aviator is the least experienced member of the Holy Bull lineup, having made only one previous start. But his performance in that six-furlong dash was outstanding as he rallied to defeat the well-backed first-time starter Treptow by a neck after walking out of the gate far behind the field and racing very wide into the stretch. Trainer Rohan Crichton opted to skip the one-mile Mucho Macho Man earlier this month to train Global Aviator into the Holy Bull. The son of Global Campaign has responded with a series of excellent works, including five furlongs in 59.40 seconds with a long gallop-out on Jan. 17. The undefeated New York-bred Bravaro, who is perfect in two starts, and Roger That Dana, a distant second in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man, complete the likely starting lineup. Project Ace also is entered Saturday in the Withers at Aqueduct but will run here, while both Buetane and Game for It are expected to scratch. – additional reporting by David Grening :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.