I did not think we were going to see the Kentucky Derby winner in last Saturday’s Louisiana Derby, and I don’t think we did.

Gun Runner was visually impressive in his win. Mo Tom was very unlucky again. The 91 winning Beyer Speed Figure, however, told the story. These horses just aren’t fast enough to be factors on the first Saturday in May.

The Florida Derby, the centerpiece of an interesting Gulfstream Park card on Saturday, could very well reveal the Kentucky Derby winner, or at least the favorite. And we get to see the rare battle of No. 1 seeds before the final 20.

When Tom Benson, through his wife Gayle Benson’s GMB Racing, jumped back into the Thoroughbred game for the first time in decades, buying a handful of yearlings in 2014, it’s unlikely that even the rosiest plan envisioned coming up with two Kentucky Derby starters in 2016. But with a little more than a month until the Kentucky Derby, that’s the position in which the Bensons find themselves, with both Tom’s Ready, who was second in the Louisiana Derby, and Mo Tom, a vastly troubled fourth, now bedded down at Churchill Downs and ready to begin their final major Derby preparations.

Airoforce has been assigned post 10 as the 3-1 morning-line favorite Saturday in a full field for the Grade 3 Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Ky.

Fourteen 3-year-olds are entered in the $500,000 Spiral, which is run at 1 1/8 miles on Polytrack, although only 12 can start. Besides Airoforce, trained by Mark Casse, other notable Spiral entries include Jensen for Larry Jones, Kasseopia for Graham Motion, Ralis for Doug O’Neill, Azar for Todd Pletcher, and a foursome for Mike Maker, all as separate wagering interests.

These days, owner Paul Reddam has one eye on the Kentucky Derby preps and another on the National Hockey League standings, for as much as he wants to get to and win the Derby again, he also wants his beloved Detroit Red Wings to keep alive their 24-year streak of making the playoffs.

Horses and hockey have been Reddam’s passions since he was a youth, and with Nyquist – his unbeaten champion colt who has his final Derby prep on Saturday in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream – he’s found the best way yet to combine the two.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The lineup for Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby surprisingly swelled to 10 3-year-olds when the race was drawn Wednesday, although the last-minute additions of Copingaway, Chovanes, and Isofass did little to change the overwhelming notion that the Grade 1 event remains strictly a two-horse race between the undefeated division leaders Mohaymen and Nyquist.

Fellowship

Awesome of Course – Go Girlfriend Go, by Demidoff

The Florida-bred Fellowship will face a tall order in his home state’s biggest race, the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on Saturday. The race has attracted early Kentucky Derby favorites Mohaymen and Nyquist, but even a third-place finish would put Fellowship in the starting gate at Churchill Downs should his connections choose to pursue that route.

WHO’S HOT

Two Daily Racing Form handicappers and other racing personalities will discuss the fields for the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby at a charitable event May 2 at Keeneland, the organizers of the event announced Tuesday.

BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. -- The undefeated Mohaymen was a sight for trainer Kiaran McLaughlin’s bleary eyes after a weekend of both professional and personal disappointment.

“It picked my head right up,” McLaughlin said on a steamy Tuesday morning at the Palm Meadows training center in south Florida.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Mohaymen and Nyquist are the morning-line favorites, but clearly it would behoove their backers to wait until results of the Florida Derby are known Saturday evening before diving into the fourth and final pool of the 2016 Kentucky Derby Future Wager.

The pool opens Friday at noon Eastern, with odds locked in only when the pool closes Sunday evening at 6 p.m. Mohaymen, the 7-2 choice on the Pool 4 morning line, squares off against Nyquist (8-1) in a highly anticipated matchup of undefeated colts Saturday at Gulfstream Park.