2011 Florida Derby (G1)

I loved this race
I was there
I cashed on this race
My Favorite
Date/Track:
4/3/2011, Gulfstream Park
Post Time:
5:42 PM ET
Distance:
1 1/8 m (Dirt)
Age/Sex:
3 M
Time:
1:50.07

What the Nation is saying about the 2011 Florida Derby (G1)...

Pants On Fire wins his 2012 debut and return race, Dialed In finishes fourth.Read More
  • Show All 9 Comments
  • Floridaf · There's nothing wrong with being a solid Grade II or Grade III winner! I have found that often times a G2 or G3 winner is just as talented as some of the G1 winners that only win a G1 once and never make it back to the winner's circle in a G1 affair. · 74 days ago ·
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  • notobsessed · I agree Ashley, it just seems to be hard for some owners/trainers to admit that they don't have a grade 1 horse · 61 days ago ·
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He can beat two Triple Crown race winners and the Haskell winner in one race. He can beat the horse that went on to win the Wood Memorial. He can beat the winner of the Dwyer Stakes. Stay Thirsty is not the Rodney Dangerfield of the Pletcher barn, he is the Rodney Dangerfield of racing. Read More
  • Show All 29 Comments
  • KyOaksRunner · I think Caleb's Posse deserves the Eclipse, but Stay Thirsty is a clear second. · 160 days ago ·
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  • DeadHeat · Winplacsho, I have to disagree. The Travers has more prestige and hold more value in the year end votes than either the Preakness or the Belmont. People favor it because it's Classic distance of 10f, a distance Shackleford never won at. Also, while Shackleford is a gutsy and admirable horse, he did not "take his show on the road." He has two wins this year, on in allowance company, the other in the Preakness, and he never could return to that winning form. He was well beaten in his last three races, as he was in the FOY, The Derby, and Belmont. He was at every dance, but like First Dude last year, there are two many beats to be a champion. Caleb excelled mainly at Saratoga, however his big win at Churchill demonstrates he is probably not just a Saratoga freak. Based on merits, it's Caleb's award. However, if the stigma comes out, and he should not receive the award, Stay Thirst did the most of the Classic runners. · 160 days ago ·
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It has been a long, long time since racing has had a real rivalry, brought to life on the track... Read More
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  • medomoreno · The most obvious was also the most exciting of my lifetime: Affirmed / Alydar. · 167 days ago ·
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  • DeadHeat · medomoreno, I'm hoping we get something close to that, lol. · 167 days ago ·
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Which version of To Honor and Serve will show up at the Pennsylvania Derby?Read More
  • Show All 7 Comments
  • CauseForConcern · champion2011: That is a good point. Wonder if Velazquez thinks that Rattlesnake is the better horse? · 251 days ago ·
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  • DeadHeat · I do not think this field is weak at all. You have the Travers runner up and third place finisher and the Belmont winner, just off the top of my head. Plus the surface can be a little bit quirky at times. If THAS is the type of horse that can't go eye to eye with top horses he will run third to horses that may not be nearly as talented. From what i have seen this year he won't go by a horse if they fight back and they are abreast eachother. · 251 days ago ·
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Stay Thirsty has a window of opportunity, all he has to do is step up and show us all that he can fulfill the potential we saw in him as a Juvenile. Read More
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  • MichaelPavelick · Interesting comment about "great" Stay Thirsty looked in post parade? Curious what you took notice of? · 303 days ago ·
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  • DeadHeat · Thirst has had the talent all along and had very good reasons for his subpar performances. As I said, being by Bernardini, who is by AP Indy I would expect him to get better as the year goes on and as the distances stretch. Now it is time to see what goes on in the Haskell. IMO the only horse that can win there and be of a threat to him in the Travers would be Ruler on Ice. · 303 days ago ·
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This year’s Florida Derby hero Dialed In bears an eerie resemblance to last year’s champ, Icebox. Both are trained by the legendary, yet down-to-earth Nick Zito and owned by one his main clients, Robert LaPenta. The similarities don’t end there.  The colts share a from-the-clouds running style ...Read More
  • Show All 11 Comments
  • beentherebetthat · Equesterio crushed Dialed in a prep that Dialed in should have easily won if he was all they say he is . · 392 days ago ·
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  • bobstaggs2010@yahoo.com · All youse guys that think Dialed In can't get the distance in decent time, please come back on the blog after the Derby and tell me how come he won. · 389 days ago ·
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The question on everyone's mind is which horse can make a comeback? Every single favorite on this year’s Derby trail lost their final prep. Early in the year To Honor and Serve failed to recapture his juvenile form when he finished a lackluster third place in the Fountain of Youth. Then, in the fina...Read More
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  • FiveouttasixThoroughbred-Picks · I am on Stay Thirsty as well (same reasons you have written about)...will offer great value. as for not having a speed figure fast enough to win...none of them have a SF at a mile and a quarter! · 391 days ago ·
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  • DeadHeat · Nobody has great speed figs this year. AQ is a slow track, which is why, unless a horse runs an unreal race, i don't pay too much attention to final times or SF. The FD he had an excuse and didn't fire, which is why his SF's for that would be low. · 391 days ago ·
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I have heard a lot of theories on why race favorite Soldat, ran so poorly in the Florida Derby, but no matter how good the excuse, he will need an unprecedented turnaround to be victorious in the Kentucky Derby. No horse in my lifetime has proved best on the first Saturday in May coming into the rac...Read More
  • Show All 15 Comments
  • bva · I was at the rail for his FOY win. Impressive guy, and if noone else goes suicidal he'll be athletic enough to make the closers beat him, and Danzing ped. will help with distance and track conditions.....my most reluctant toss ( as of Tuesday)! · 391 days ago ·
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  • ninelivesz · There are 9 E or EP types in here who need to be on the lead or within 2 lengths of the leader at the 2 call to win. A lot of them had opportunities in lesser races to press and win and could not. Shackleford is the speed of the speed. Expect Shackleford to do to Soldat what he did in F dby. Can't expect these to rate in Derby when they havn't been able to rate yet. Soldat need to lead and run slow early to run fast late. He won't get that chance saturday. · 391 days ago ·
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It’s been a few years since Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito experienced that most magical moment of seeing his horse cross the Kentucky Derby wire before all the rest. 17 years to be exact. Back then, Zito won it twice in a span of four runnings with Strike the Gold in 1991 and Go For Gin in 1994, bu...Read More
  • Show All 9 Comments
  • DipakRoy · i trust Nick Zito 100%, it is now on the hands of Julien Leparaoux, how he is going to manouvare the horse. · 396 days ago ·
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  • tiznow · I think 7/1 for the favorite to go off at is very realistic. Last year we had Lucky who was very consistent and Super Saver go off similar. With the doubts people are casting on Mo, I can definitely see it around there again for the favorite. · 395 days ago ·
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He has the running style to win this derby with a clean trip...
As I watched a great weekend of racing, I was very fired up when I heard some comments made by a commentator on Saturday and was all ready to unleash the fury right here for all of you. I sat here at my computer ready to unleash, but all I can think about is the victory of Dialed In in the Florida D...Read More
  • Show All 7 Comments
  • dubby30 · He was unable to beat allowance horses prior to his running down a horse that has won 2 races and went off at 60-1, special is correct, specially slow, they should run him in the Derby trial instead, will not win another grade 1 race in his career. · 418 days ago ·
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  • RaTalk_Girl · Love this horse more and more as the days go...maybe he will win, maybe he will not but I can still appreciate a great horse and I think he is great. · 414 days ago ·
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It may have taken every inch of the 1 1/8 miles of the Florida Derby, but Dialed In proved best today in the $1 million race ...Read More
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  • busted · Yeah my Futures went down the tubes. That Hutchenson was so impressive. However maybe Flashpoint is only a cheap sprinter. I thought Pomeroy had some good ones. Two Punch yeah is sprint. I want to see Flashpoint race again, the sooner the better. · 419 days ago ·
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  • busted · Yeah my Futures went down the tubes. That Hutchenson was so impressive. However maybe Flashpoint is only a cheap sprinter. I thought Pomeroy had some good ones. Two Punch yeah is sprint. I want to see Flashpoint race again, the sooner the better. · 419 days ago ·
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With each passing prep, Uncle Mo just keeps looking better and better...
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  • janejumbo · We'll know whether the FD was overhyped when the times of the ARK D, the SA Derby and the Wood come in. I think the times for those races will be a bit faster than the FD, except for perhaps the ARK D. · 421 days ago ·
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  • 12 Clip · I have to agree. The Florida Derby didn't look so good after the final times came in 1:50 and change, with a closing eighth in 14.0, is average at best. But one thing I noticed as I scoped each horse brfore the race, was that none of them looked that good before the race. Flashpoint was throwing his head around, behaving badly. Soldat was sweating and looked kind of rank parading around. The two best looking horses were Dialed In and To Honor and Serve. Both were dry, with shiny coats, ears pricked up, big eye-balls, looking alert. Dialed In was more mellow than THAS, and that probably helped on a hot, muggy day. I can't remember what Shackleford looked like, because I completely tossed him out. I think the humidity got to Soldat. When he won his allowance race and the FOY they were both run in the winter when it's nice and cool, ideal conditions for a horse to run. It's starting to heat up in Florida. The one thing I do like about horses like Dialed in, Shackleford, Soldat and Mucho Macho Mon is they've had three prep races so farand each has had a bounce race. For MMM, Soldat, THAS, they now have 5 weeks to regroup and be at their best for The Derby. I watched the way Shackleford galloped out and he looked more impressive doing it than Dialed In. I don't think the winner of the Kentucky Derby is coming from the Florida Derby this year, but Shackleford has a ring to it. It sounds like a derby winning name. · 421 days ago ·
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And so it was one of the Florida Derby’s Big Three that won the big prize. Dialed In, owned by Robert LaPenta and trained by Nick Zito, won the 60th running of South Florida’s premier Derby prep. And they won it by virtually the same margin they lost the 59th running last year with Ice Box... Read More
as i said before Dialed In is going to win the florida derby, and to day i put 500.00 dollars bet on him and i won $1950.00 thank you Mr. Zito, you are superb abd i believe you.
The Florida Derby (Race #10) is being run on a Sunday for the first time in its storied history and Gulfstream Park has assembled a terrific 12 race card.  Also included are three other graded stakes, the Swale as Race #3, the Appleton as Race #9, and the Skip Away as Race #9.  Let’s take ...Read More
The Sweet 16 - Uncle Mo remains in the top spot, but see who the 15 most likely to knock him off are ... Read More
  • Show All 23 Comments
  • DanCalapai · Can't wait for Sunday to see where Stay Thirsty stands against that tough field! · 425 days ago ·
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  • annmatt · I sure hope you are right about Dialed In! Every horse I have rooted for (so far) has lost! They did good early on, until I got on their bandwagon, and then they have lost! I'm hoping that eventually my luck has to change .... even a blind hog can find an acorn once in a while! What worries me about hanging onto your coattail is you blew it in the G'Stream Oaks, so I hope my bad luck doesn't rub off on you! BTW, I think I actually undertand what you meant in your explanation aboout Mo being trained for the TC more than just the first Sat in May. I'm certainly not advanced enough to know if you are being bold or not! But I will be around to help you celebrate if it turns out to be true! If Mo is the horse to give us a TC, I can root for that outcome. Short term and at least in the FL Derby, I'm sticking with D.I.! · 422 days ago ·
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Stay tuned for Zito to dial up another FL Derby win with Dialed in! It's gunna be a great one!
gulfstream favors speed, but Soldat will have comany this time, look for To honor and Serve to win, holding off Dialed In late.
1/6,8/6,8 triple with 2,7 Superfecta.Rearrange for modest price bet.

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