Sometimes it’s best to stop and think before saying anything and that’s the approach we’ve taken after this weekend’s Florida Derby in which Quality Road broke the track record for 1 1/8 mile distance.
Now that the dirt has settled, was the speed favoring surface at Gulfstream Park unfair to Dunkirk as Todd Pletcher implied after the race? And what does it mean for Quality Road in the Kentucky Derby?
During the week leading up to the race there was speculation that Pletcher would run Europe to ensure a fast early pace. Europe may be fast but there was no way a second time maiden starter would have been the right rabbit for Dunkirk who had won his only two starts from off the pace against maiden and allowance runners. Europe stayed in the barn.
Off two strong performances, Dunkirk was favorite to beat Quality Road and stamp his ticket to the Kentucky Derby. But, it wasn’t to be and the road was ‘paved’ a different way on Saturday where two track records were broken in one day over a Gulfstream Park surface that has favored speed all meet long.
In the Swale Stakes, Big Drama set a new record for seven furlongs as he outdueled This Ones for Phil only to be disqualified and placed second. Nevertheless, the final time of 1:20.88 was a forecast of things to come for Pletcher.
In the Florida Derby, Quality Road stalked in second before assuming command around the far turn. At the top of the stretch, Garrett Gomez had moved Dunkirk to within a length of the leader and that’s when John Velasquez called on Quality Road and he responded. Pletcher watched Dunkirk’s chance at the Kentucky Derby speed away from him.
The second place finish in the Florida Derby earned Dunkirk $150,000 in graded stakes money but it probably won’t be enough to get him into the Kentucky Derby and another shot at Quality Road — until the Preakness.
There is no doubt that Quality Road is good. His sire, Elusive Quality, has already produced the 2004 Kentucky Derby winner, Smarty Jones. We know he has speed and the stamina to go 1 1/8 miles, but this years group of three year olds are better then those Smarty Jones faced as the stalking speed over the sloppy Churchill surface on that first Saturday in May 2004.
Tags: dunkirk, gulfstream park, Horse Racing, kentucky derby, Pioneer of the nile, quality road, smarty jones, the pamplemousse