By Christie DeBernardis
Peacock Racing Stables' Gunnevera (Dialed In) hopes to cement his status as a major threat to take home the roses on the First Saturday in May with another impressive triumph in Saturday's GI Xpressbet.com Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Winner of the GII Saratoga Special S. and GIII Delta Downs Jackpot S. last term, the $16,000 KEESEP buy finished a solid second to “TDN Rising Star” Irish War Cry (Curlin) in Hallandale's GII Holy Bull S. Feb. 4. The chestnut rebounded with a dominant 5 3/4-length victory over dual Grade I winner Practical Joke (Into Mischief) and the reopposing Three Rules (Gone Astray) in the Mar. 4 GII Fountain of Youth S., a race in which Irish War Cry finished seventh as the favorite.
“The horse started out strong and with the longer the distances, he has become stronger and stronger,” trainer Antonio Sano expressed to the Gulfstream notes team.
Gunnevera will have to contend with a promising new shooter on the GI Kentucky Derby trail from the barn of three-time Florida Derby winner Todd Pletcher in Always Dreaming (Bodemeister). The dark bay hit the board in his first two starts for Brooklyn Boyz, MeB Racing Stables and trainer/part owner Dominick Schettino, after which St. Elias and Viola Racing Stables bought in and he was transferred to Pletcher. Charging home a dominant 11 1/2-length winner in his debut for his new conditioner at Tampa, the sophomore scored a decisive four-length victory in a first-level allowance over the same nine-panel trip as the Florida Derby last time Mar. 4, a performance which gave Siena Farm and West Point Thoroughbreds the confidence to buy in (click here for more). Pletcher's 2014 Florida Derby hero Constitution (Tapit) won off a local first-level allowance victory and 2015 victor Materiality (Afleet Alex) entered off a win in the track-and-trip Islamorada H.
“He's a horse that's just steadily improved throughout the winter and early spring,” said Pletcher, who won his first Florida Derby in 2007 with the late Scat Daddy. “We've kind of taken somewhat of a conservative approach to it so far with going to Tampa for a two-turn maiden and then coming back in the allowance race.”
Pletcher may also be represented here by “TDN Rising Star” Battalion Runner (Unbridled's Song), who captured a 1 1/16-mile allowance in Hallandale Feb. 3, but that runner is likely to scratch in favor of another Derby prep.
Conditioner Dale Romans saddles a runner that could be improving at the right time in Impressive Edge (Harlan's Holiday), who romped by eight lengths in a seven-panel test at Gulfstream Mar. 5. Another contender who deserves a look is the Mark Casse-trained State of Honor (To Honor and Serve), who was second in the 1 1/8-mile Coronation Futurity S. over the Woodbine synthetic last fall. Third to undefeated “TDN Rising Star” McCraken (Ghostzapper) and Tapwrit (Tapit) in the GIII Sam F. Davis S. Feb. 11, the bay was a respectable second to Tapwrit last time in the GII Tampa Bay Derby Mar. 11 and gets the blinkers off for this one.
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