After biding his time in mid-pack, Tappan Street made a winning move in the second turn, found the lead at about the eighth pole and ran on to a 1 1/4-length win Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, a 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.
Tappan Street (2-1), the second choice of the betting public, and second-place Sovereignty (8-5), the post-time favorite, clinched berths in Kentucky Derby 2025 as a result of their performances in the race that was worth 100-50-25-15-10 points to the top five finishers.
Ridden by Luis Sáez for trainer Brad Cox, Tappan Street patiently raced in fifth street while Madaket Road (5-1) set early fractions of 23.37, 47.22 and 1:11.61 on the fast main track. By the time the mile was clocked at 1:36.59, Tappan Street and Neoequos (11-1) had moved past Madaket Road.
In the final furlong, Tappan Street asserted himself and was joined by Sovereignty, who rallied from near the back of the pack. There was no doubt in the last 100 yards that Tappan Street would win, doing so with a final time of 1:49.27.
Neoequos finished third, Madaket Road fourth and Disruptor fifth. Of those, Bob Baffert-trained Madaket Road probably put himself in position to get to Churchill Downs on May 3 thanks to the points he already had.
Owned by Winstar Farm, CHC and Cold Press Racing, Tappan Street got his first stakes victory after finishing second in the Holy Bull (G3) in February at Gulfstream. The only previous win for the Into Mischief colt came on debut Dec. 28 at Gulfstream.
