Gulfstream Park Picks: Florida Derby Day, 3/29/2025

The flagship day of the Gulfstream Park meet happens Saturday, March 29! The blockbuster card is headlined by the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, which offers 100 Kentucky Derby points to the winner, and is often one of the most important horse racing preps for the Triple Crown. In addition to the Florida Derby, the card also features a 100-point Kentucky Oaks prep, the Gulfstream Park Oaks.

In addition to these three-year-old features, the 14-race card also includes eight other stakes for different divisions. Those races include the $200,000 Pan American (G3) for turf routers, the $150,000 Orchid (G3) for filly and mare turf routers, the $150,000 Ghostzapper (G3) for older dirt routers, the $150,000 Cutler Bay for sophomore middle-distance turf horses, the $150,000 Army Mule (formerly the Sir Shackleton) for older sprinters, the $150,000 Sand Springs for older middle-distance turf fillies and mares, the $150,000 Sanibel Island for sophomore middle-distance grass fillies, and the $150,000 Appleton for older turf milers.

With big fields of class horses all day long, this is one of the best betting opportunities of the season before the Kentucky Derby! Racing gets underway at 11:30 a.m. Eastern, and you can watch and wager on all of it with FanDuel TV and FanDuel. Don’t forget to check the weather and the scratches before placing your wagers; there is a 30% chance of rain on Saturday, meaning there might be scratches, or horses with good off-track past performances who you may want to move up if it does rain.

Gulfstream Park Horse Racing Picks

Race 9 - Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2), 1 1/16 miles on the dirt - Anna’s Promise, Five G

FanDuel odds: 4-1 and 8-5

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The claim box to the Kentucky Oaks isn’t the most common trajectory, but Anna’s Promise (4-1) could do just that. She was claimed to the Carlos David barn to back out of a $50,000 maiden optional claimer over the local course, a race she won. She stretched out to two turns to face conventional allowance horses next out—and won there, too. Luis Saez rode her that day, and returns to the irons for this stakes debut. She has prompted the pace in both of her winning efforts, a trip she should be able to get from this outside gate. And, if the rain falls? She ran a solid second in the slop at Churchill last year in her only off-track start.

That speed horse she will be goading is most likely to be Five G (8-5). This George Weaver trainee was most recently second after setting the pace in the Honeybee (G3) at Oaklawn last out, in a perfectly solid outing. She now comes back to Gulfstream, a track she proved she could handle when she won the one-mile Cash Run by nine lengths on January 1. She shapes as the speed of the speed in this race, always a good place to be at Gulfstream—and even though she goes for her first two-turn win on dirt, the Honeybee was a good second at this same distance, and she broke her maiden at 1 1/16 miles on the lawn last year.

Race 11 - Army Mule Stakes, seven furlongs on the dirt - Knightsbridge, Loco Abarrio

FanDuel odds: 9-5 and 20-1

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Knightsbridge (9-5) cedes experience to most of the runners, but all four of his races have been good. His usual day at the office is good enough to make him a major threat in this listed-level field, and this Bill Mott trainee can even move up second off the layoff. He also has the speed to be forward in this race: in general, he has made the pace in mile races and stalked it in seven-furlong affairs, but this seven-furlong field does not have a lot of pace, meaning he may be fast enough to just seize the day anyway. A wet track is a question, but his pedigree is solid for it.

If Knightsbridge doesn’t make the top, this race could go to whoever is intrepid enough to find the front and keep going. After all, for a ten-horse field, there isn’t much in the way of confirmed early speed. A switch to aggressive rider Luis Saez could make all the difference for Loco Abarrio (20-1). Though he comes off of a poor race against Florida-sired company at Tampa last out, and this is a step up in company, Tampa is a very love-it-or-hate-it track, and Loco Abarrio is well proven at Gulfstream. He has hit the board in six of his nine tries at seven furlongs (including two wins), and also has solid off-track form. From a pace perspective, he made the running in a mile race at Gulfstream two back, and last summer he made the running in a 6 ½-furlong race over the local course. If Saez can take advantage of that tendency, he could be the long-shot special of the day.

Race 14 - Florida Derby (G1), 1 ⅛ miles on the dirt - Disruptor, Neoequos

FanDuel odds: 4-1 and 10-1

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The Florida Derby runs through Todd Pletcher year after year. To be fair, Disruptor (4-1) is a little different than the usual Pletcher entrant, who usually has either stakes or allowance experience; Disruptor comes out of a second-out maiden win. But, he did so in fast fashion over the local course. He has the pedigree to stretch out. Irad Ortiz, Jr. keeps the faith. And, with sharp early speed but a proven pressing gear, he can be the one to keep the speed honest and likely get first run over a course that—especially on big days—plays so well to frontrunners.

Who is that frontrunner? Especially with Madaket Road strapping on blinkers (and not always the one to get the lead anyway, even with them), that honor likely goes to rail-drawn Neoequos (10-1). He set a contested pace last out in the Fountain of Youth, and though he did not hold late, he has further upside to improve third off the lay, and everything about his pedigree suggests that the distance is ultimately where he will want to be. Though he loses last-out jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. (to Disruptor, in fact!), replacement rider Edgard Zayas knows Gulfstream as well as anyone and is clicking well with the Saffie Joseph, Jr. barn as of late. And, if it rains? All the better, as he looked good two back in the slop.

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