Prerace favorite Sovereignty appeared in position to produce another thrilling, victorious stretch run in the March 29 $1.02 million Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park.
WinStar Farm, CHC, and Cold Press Racing's Tappan Street, however, was not to be overtaken.
Tappan Street, a bay son of Into Mischief , made his move under Luis Saez heading into the far turn and took the lead entering the stretch before charging to a 1 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds.
The Florida Derby awarded Kentucky Derby (G1) qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis to the top five finishers.
Tappan Street, bred in Kentucky by Blue Heaven Farm, started for the first time since finishing second in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Feb. 1.
"When you give 'em nearly, I guess, what, eight weeks between starts, there's always a concern. 'Does he know enough?'" said trainer Brad Cox, whose colt broke from post 9. "But he's a very smart horse, he's intelligent. I felt he would break very, very well today, just the way he has been training. And he did. I think that put him in the race and really put him in a great position."
Sovereignty, meanwhile, ran four weeks after capturing the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream. Winner of last year's two-turn Street Sense Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs, the Godolphin homebred, another son of Into Mischief, was carrying Manny Franco because regular rider Junior Alvarado had been sidelined with a shoulder injury suffered last weekend.
Sovereignty captured both of his two wins by storming in the stretch to overtake the leader and cross the line first.
Nevertheless, WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden said he was not overly concerned at seeing Bill Mott-trained Sovereignty appearing behind Tappan Street in the lane.
"I thought we were traveling better," Walden said. "But Sovereignty's a very good horse. He's going to be a tough foe at a mile and a quarter. We had eight weeks, he had four weeks. We're on even ground now, it'll be a good race (in the Kentucky Derby)."
Saez said he noticed who was trailing his colt.
"I saw (Sovereignty) and I let my horse go a little bit more, and he gave me a good turn of foot," the jockey said. "When he came to the top of the stretch, I knew it was going to be tough to catch (us)."
Madaket Road and Neoequos ran to the lead out of the gate and into the first turn. Madaket Road, ridden by Mike Smith and trained by Bob Baffert, set fractions of :23.37, :47.22, and 1:11.61.
Smith had replaced Tyler Gaffalione, who suffered a broken ankle March 26.
Neoequos and rider Edgard Zayas edged ahead of Madaket Road entering the stretch, before Tappan Street overtook the leaders and ran to victory in a winning time of 1:49.27.
Tappan Street paid $6.80 to win, followed by Sovereignty, Neoequos, Madaket Road, and Disruptor.
"Everything went to plan. He broke from there pretty well. He was in good position. The whole way I had a lot of horse," Saez said. "We knew the speed was inside and we followed the speed. Everything came out perfect."
Smith sounded impressed by the colts who finished ahead of Madaket Road.
"Let me tell you something, those two or three horses in front of us are serious, man, because I was running," Smith said. "I could hear him and I could feel him, and it was getting to him a little bit, but it's not because of a lack of try. He still kicked."
Mott, whose colt broke from the outside post in the 10-horse field, was not discouraged by the outcome.
"The winner ran good. It was a good race," Mott said. "This doesn't have to be his (Sovereignty's) best race. Sometimes you can look at it and say, 'Maybe that's a good thing.' You don't want their best race before the big event.
"This is a very important race, but I think the fact that he ran very big last time and ran very well this time, maybe he'll continue to improve. I don't think the fact that he didn't win doesn't mean he didn't run a good race."
Tappan Street was purchased as a yearling for $1 million at the 2023 edition of Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale by CHC, Siena Farm, and Maverick Racing.
Walden said he wanted to name the colt after Siena Farm's owner Anthony Manganaro, who died in August 2023, just two weeks after the colt was purchased. Because the name had been taken, though, the connections chose to name the colt after the street on which Manganaro grew up.
"Into Mischief's been really good to us," Walden said. "He's a big, strong colt, great physique. The kind of horse that we envisioned being able to win races like this."
With the victory, Tappan Street now sits third on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 110 points, with Sovereignty fourth, also with 110 points. No Kentucky Derby (G1) prep has produced more winners of the Run for the Roses than the Florida Derby, from which 25 horses have gone on to win the first leg of the Triple Crown. Florida Derby runner-up Mage was the last to triumph in the Kentucky Derby in 2023.
From 1995-2017, the seven Florida Derby participants who were victorious in the Run for the Roses also captured the Florida Derby.
Tappan Street is the 23rd grade 1 winner for six-time leading sire Into Mischief, who stands at Spendthrift Farm near Lexington for an advertised fee of $250,000. In addition to Tappan Street and Sovereignty, Into Mischief is also represented on the Road to the Kentucky Derby by Citizen Bull and Barnes.
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