There were two other 100-point qualifiers Saturday. The following week is the final major qualifier with the Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn. Next Saturday is the biggest on the Kentucky Derby prep trail, with the Santa Anita Derby, the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, and the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. Known Agenda earned 100 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for the win, and Soup and Sandwich got 40 for second. I thought we got very good answers to both of those questions.” “One, to see if blinkers made an improvement in his being a little more tactical, and secondly we wanted to see how he handled the Gulfstream surface. “We were looking for a couple of things in that race ,” Pletcher said. Previously, he was fifth in the Sam Davis at Tampa Bay Downs. Known Agenda entered the Florida Derby coming off an impressive 11-length victory in an allowance at Gulfstream Park. Viola also owns the Florida Panthers of the NHL. He pulled off the Florida-Kentucky double with Always Dreaming, who was partly owned by Vincent Viola, who is also in the ownership group of Known Agenda. Pletcher has won the Florida Derby six times, including five of the last eight. While Pletcher has been great getting to the Kentucky Derby, he has only won the race twice, in 2010 with Super Saver and Always Dreaming in 2017. Spielberg finished a disappointing eighth.
Soup and Sandwich was second, and Greatest Honour placed third. “When he was making progress … and picking off horses while he was inside and behind horses, I had a pretty good feeling at that point that he was running his race and that it was a matter of we’re going to find out how good he is.” “I was really pleased with the progress he was making up the backside because one of the things we were a little bit worried about was if he got stuck inside,” Pletcher said. moved him three wide and Known Agenda swept to the lead and stayed in the middle of the track to win by 2¾ lengths.
At the top of the stretch, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Known Agenda was comfortable to sit in the middle of the pack on the rail and slowly gain ground on the leaders. Nova Rags went to the early lead in the 1 1/8 mile until giving way to Soup and Sandwich on the backstretch. But Greatest Honour got trapped on the rail and could not get clear running room and Spielberg ran most of the race four-wide before filtering to the back. Saturday’s Grade 1 race was supposed to be a showdown of the East Coast favorite Greatest Honour and Spielberg, a $1-million purchase that races out of Santa Anita. Known Agenda, a horse that had never won a graded stakes, proved resilient after taking the lead at the top of the stretch and won the $750,000 Florida Derby. On Saturday at Gulfstream Park, he likely had another qualify.
Trainer Todd Pletcher is no stranger to the Kentucky Derby, having 55 starters in the most famous horse race in the world. Known Agenda, ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr., wins the $750,000 Florida Derby by 2¾ lengths at Gulfstream Park on Saturday in Hallandale Beach, Fla.
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