The $1 million Florida Derby (gr. I) is unquestionably one of the country’s historic and important 3-year-old races. Raced at 1 1/8 miles in Gulfstream Park, it is one of the major prep races for the 2008 Kentucky Derby.

A full field of twelve horses were drawn for the 57th running of the Florida Derby on Saturday, March 29. Horses racing in the 2008 Florida Derby with jockeys and morning line odds:

1. Fierce Wind under jockey Cornelio Velasquez, 6-1
2. Smooth Air under jockey Manoel Cruz, 12-1
3. Da’ Tara under jockey Joe Bravo, 20-1
4. Tomcito under jockey Jorge Chavez, 12-1
5. Cool Gator under jockey Eddie Castro, 20-1
6. Nistle’s Crunch under jockey Julien Leparoux, 10-1
7. B B Frank under jockey Javier Castellano, 20-1
8. Elysium Fields under jockey Eibar Coa, 4-1
9. Hey Byrn under jockey Jose Lezcano, 5-1
10. Majestic Warrior under jockey Rene Douglas, 15-1
11. Face the Cat under jockey John Velazquez, 8-1
12. Big Brown under jockey Kent Desormeaux, 3-1

Big Brown is the 3-1 morning line favorite despite drawing post 12. The son of Boundary has won both of his career starts, including an impressive 12 3/4-length romp against allowance competition March 8 at Gulfstream Park. The Rick Dutrow Jr. trainee will be ridden by Kent Desormeaux.

Bea Oxenberg’s Hey Byrn, the Edward Plesa Jr. trainee and Put It Back colt, made mincemeat out of allowance rivals February 10, scoring by 14 1/2 lengths. He then came back March 2 and buried the field by six lengths under Edgar Prado in a 1 1/8-mile event. Hey Byrn, the 5-1 third choice, drew post nine and will get Jose Lezcano for the first time.

Tomcito, the mystery horse in the field, has not started since November 17 The Dante Zanelli Jr. trainee was much the best in the 1 1/2-mile Derby Nacional (Per-I), winning by 3 1/2 lengths. It was his second straight group I victory. Jorge Chavez will get the call on Tomcito, who has been training steadily in Florida this winter. He will break from post four.

The Florida Derby is the 10th race in Gulfstream Park’s March 29 horse racing program. Estimated post time is 5:45 pm EST. Included in its undercard is the $150,000 Bonnie Miss Stakes (gr. II, 9th race), $150,000 Bulleit Bourbon Palm Beach Stakes (gr. III, 7th race) and the $200,000 Shirley Jones Handicap (gr. II, 5th race).

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 9:58 pm and is filed under Gulfstream Park, Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races, USA Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.