Like cherry blossoms annually blooming in the spring, it has become a rite rather than an exception that the number of horses with designs on the Kentucky Derby exceeds the 20 who are allowed to start. Because of that, the system used to cap the starting Derby field – a points system first employed in 2013 – itself becomes critical and open to scrutiny. For the most part, I am a fan of the Kentucky Derby points system as it currently stands. It puts the premium exactly where it should be – on recent 3-year-old form going a distance of ground. No longer do we see questionable horses holding automatic berths in the Derby because months ago, before a wave of better distance horses overtook them, they accumulated points in weaker races at shorter distances. And that’s a good thing. But no system is perfect. And as we saw on Saturday, the current Kentucky Derby points system is at its most vulnerable when final, big-point Derby preps fail to deliver. We saw it in the morning in a renewal of the UAE Derby that more resembled one of the 10 starter-allowance stakes run later in the day at Aqueduct than a Group 2, $2.5 million event that also guaranteed the first two finishers a start in the Kentucky Derby, with 100 Derby points going to the winner and 40 to the runner-up. As it turned out, those first two finishers in the UAE Derby – Plus Que Parfait and Gray Magician – were two of the three U.S. shippers in the field of 14. And going in, I doubt Plus Que Parfait would have cracked anyone’s list of top Kentucky Derby prospects even if you extended the list out to 40 names, and you might have had to go 70 deep before you came across Gray Magician. Okay, Plus Que Parfait was a narrowly beaten second in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in his 2-year-old finale and had a less-than-ideal trip from a tough post in the Lecomte in his 3-year-old bow. But the Kentucky Jockey Club was a very slowly run race, the subsequent form of which has been poor, Plus Que Parfait was still a soundly beaten fifth in the Lecomte, and his most recent outing – a distant 13th in the Risen Star without an excuse – was abysmal. Gray Magician’s form was as uninspiring. He finished a no-excuse fourth of seven in the slowly run Sham in his 3-year-old and stakes debut, followed with a weary fifth in an allowance race, and was soundly beaten last time in the Miracle Wood Stakes, barely getting the place in a six-horse field. By comparison, the Florida Derby late Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream looked on paper like the 1973 Marlboro Cup, thanks to the presence of Hidden Scroll, Code of Honor, and Bourbon War – three very prominent Kentucky Derby prospects. Unfortunately, none of them really came to play. Hidden Scroll, who ran so well in finishing fourth in the Fountain of Youth in just his second start after setting an insanely fast pace, clearly resented rating tactics Saturday. I suspect (and this was no surprise whatsoever) that he also came up empty after what had to be a gut-wrenching effort in the Fountain of Youth. :: DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with comments from Jay Privman and Mike Watchmaker As for Code of Honor and Bourbon War, who capitalized on the pace meltdown in the Fountain of Youth and finished one-two, they found no pace collapse in the Florida Derby. In fact, the pace was downright slow, so it was not a shock that they were less effective and checked in a thoroughly drubbed third and fourth. Code of Honor and Bourbon War might get a better pace setup at Churchill Downs, but they won’t see the sort of crazy pace we often saw in the Kentucky Derby before the current points system was put in place. And that’s an issue for two colts who did little Saturday to disprove that they are indeed pace dependent. With the big three in the Florida Derby being virtual no-shows, Maximum Security stepped into the void and parlayed an easy, uncontested lead into an emphatic victory. Maximum Security is a polarizing horse. He is backed by a Jason Servis barn that won at a 46 percent clip at the Gulfstream “championship” meet – a clip that defies all normalcy. What also makes Maximum Security polarizing is he made his racing debut in late December for a $16,000 claiming tag in a maiden race he wasn’t even favored in. He won two other races going into the Florida Derby, both starter-allowance sprints. So, the Florida Derby was not only Maximum Security’s first start going long, it was also his first start in a real overnight race. Maximum Security, who collected 100 Kentucky Derby points for his Florida Derby win, is now unbeaten and untested in four career starts. So, at the very least, you can picture him as a legitimate Derby starter because – who knows? – he might be an out-and-out freak. But Florida Derby runner-up Bodexpress is another matter. Bodexpress was easily second in the Florida Derby, and the 40 Derby points he earned safely put him in the starting gate at Churchill if that’s what his connections want. The problem is that Bodexpress is still a maiden. I know, I know. Bodexpress has the points to start in the Kentucky Derby, and it’s just tough  luck for the more highly regarded 3-year-olds whose connections would like to run in the Derby but lack the points. That’s the system, and everyone knew it going in. But I’m sorry, no matter the rules and the system, and everything else, I just think it’s inherently wrong for a maiden to be able to race in the Kentucky Derby at the direct expense of horses who have actually, you know, won races. Every once in a great while, the Breeders’ Cup steps in and declines an absurd entry made in one of its races. It’s too late for this year, but the Kentucky Derby – in fact, all of the Triple Crown races – should introduce a “winners preferred” clause that would give horses who have won preference over a maiden who might have more Derby points. Notes: • Thunder Snow’s achievement of becoming the first to win two Dubai World Cups is tremendous, even more so since he won his two back-to-back. However, how strong could Saturday’s Dubai World Cup have been if Gronkowski came within an inch of Thunder Snow’s nose of winning it? After finishing second in the Belmont Stakes, Gronkowski was not good at all in three U.S. starts for, of all people, trainer Chad Brown, and he was perhaps even more dismal in his Meydan prep for the Dubai World Cup. • X Y Jet was very good in winning the Dubai Golden Shaheen after heartbreaking near misses in that race in 2016 and 2018. But I thought Promises Fulfilled ran quite well in finishing fourth in his first start since the Breeders’ Cup, and I expect good things from him off this effort. • Cross Counter, the winner of the Dubai Gold Cup, is a very cool horse. He has now won major races in Dubai and Australia and is a group stakes winner in England. All that for a 4-year-old gelding who has made only nine starts. • I liked Dr. Dorr’s second to St. Joe Bay in the San Carlos at Santa Anita in his first start since August while running on or near a rail that did not seem like the place to be. • You know there is absolutely no speed in the Kilroe Mile when Hunt is setting the early pace. Under the circumstances, Catapult did well to rally and just come out on the short end of a long photo with Ohio. • That was some transformation by Restoring Hope in winning an allowance race on the Florida Derby card in his first start since the Belmont Stakes and first for the Servis barn. Only involved early a couple of times when the pace was slow, Restoring Hope is apparently now a 22- and 44-second speed horse. Or, he was on Saturday, anyway.