Spielberg to become Baffert's first Florida Derby starter

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There was one sure thing when it came to Wednesday’s all-important post-position draw for Saturday’s $750,000 Florida Derby. When Spielberg’s name was called, it marked the first time a horse trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert had ever been drawn for Gulfstream Park’s cornerstone event for 3-year-olds, which offers 170 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

Spielberg was assigned post position 10 of the 11 3-year-olds entered for the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 Florida Derby, the finale on a 14-race program that includes nine other stakes. First post is 11:30 a.m. Eastern.

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Spielberg, who was established as the 4-1 second choice on the morning line, is the most experienced member of the Florida Derby lineup, having made eight starts. Winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in his 2-year-old finale, Spielberg is coming off a second-place finish behind reigning juvenile champion Essential Quality in the Grade 3 Southwest at Oaklawn Park. That race was decided over a sloppy track, and Spielberg had his best chances compromised when he was unprepared for the start.

“He’s training well,” said Baffert, who has previously started 21 horses at Gulfstream with all four of his local wins having come in Grade 1 races, including the Pegasus World Cup with Arrogate in 2017 and Mucho Gusto in 2020. “He shows up every time. We’ll ship down there and see what happens.”

In the Southwest, Baffert said that Spielberg “got away bad, came running.”

“We know he’ll go that far,” Baffert said. “I have all these [Derby] horses and I’m going to separate them out.”

Greatest Honour, the 6-5 morning-line favorite off victories in the Grade 3 Holy Bull and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in his last two starts, fared well at the draw. He will break from post 7 under regular rider Jose Ortiz. Greatest Honour, who paired career-best 89 Beyer Speed Figures in his two graded stakes wins, figures to improve even further with the added distance after having to rally to victory through a shortened stretch to the auxiliary finish line in the Holy Bull and Fountain of Youth, both at 1 1/16 miles.

Known Agenda, who narrowly defeated Greatest Honour going 1 1/8 miles in a maiden special weight event last November at Aqueduct, will break from post 5 with leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard. Collaborate shares the highest last-out Beyer Figure in the field with Spielberg, a 90 earned for his impressive one-mile maiden win one month earlier. Collaborate will break from post 9 under Tyler Gaffalione.

The full field from the rail out is: Grade 3 Sam F. Davis runner-up Nova Rags (Junior Alvarado); Quantum Leap (Miguel Vasquez); Jirafales (Edgard Zayas); Southern Passage (Corey Lanerie); Known Agenda; Sigiloso (Leonel Reyes); Greatest Honour; the undefeated Soup and Sandwich (John Velazquez); Collaborate; Spielberg; and Fountain of Youth third-place finisher Papetu (Emisael Jaramillo).

– additional reporting by Jay Privman