Gulfstream Park’s street to the 2025 Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve begins this Saturday with the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes. The race will provide 20 qualifying factors to the winner as prime 3-year-olds compete to build up factors and earn a spot within the Derby beginning gate.
Inaugurated in 1990 because the Preview Stakes, the race was re-named in honor of 1994 Horse of the 12 months Holy Bull in 1996. It has been run at quite a lot of distances, settling in at its present 1 1/16 miles since 2013. The race was run as a Grade 3 for the primary time in 1996.
Right here, we’ll have a look again at among the finest horses to win the Holy Bull.
GO FOR GIN (1994)
CAREER RECORD: 19 begins – 5 wins, 7 seconds, 2 thirds
CAREER EARNINGS: $1,380,866
This Nick Zito trainee was in fantastic kind going into the 1994 Preview Stakes. He gained two stakes at Aqueduct that fall, together with the Remsen Stakes, and appeared like one of many early Kentucky Derby favorites. In a area of six, Go for Gin was despatched off because the 7-10 favourite.
He gained like an odds-on favourite ought to, stalking the tempo and drawing off for a 3 ½-length victory. That win gave Jerry Bailey his third victory within the Preview; he would go on to win the race 5 occasions.
That race proved to be the spotlight for Go for Gin from his prep races on the Derby path. He was second behind champion 2-year-old male Dehere within the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes, fourth behind none apart from Holy Bull within the Grade 1 Florida Derby, and second within the Grade 1 Wooden Memorial Stakes. By the point the primary Saturday in Might rolled round, Bailey had jumped ship, changed by Chris McCarron, and Go for Gin was the 9.10-1 fifth selection within the 14-horse Derby area.
Those that stored the religion have been rewarded, as Go for Gin took management of the race early on and pulled away to win by two lengths. It marked the second Derby win for each Zito and McCarron. Go for Gin subsequently completed second in each the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
Holy Bull was the 1994 Kentucky Derby favourite however completed twelfth after a foul break. He obtained the final chortle, nevertheless. Whereas Go for Gin didn’t win a race the remainder of the 12 months, Holy Bull rattled off 5 straight graded stakes wins en path to a Horse of the 12 months title.
HAL’S HOPE (2000)
CAREER RECORD: 33 begins – 9 wins, 5 seconds, 3 thirds
CAREER EARNINGS: $1,098,422
Hal’s Hope appeared just like the furthest factor from a Derby prospect going into the 2000 Holy Bull Stakes. His proprietor, coach, and breeder, Harold Rose, was an 87-year-old who operated a modest steady year-round in South Florida. Jockey Roger Velez was a recovering alcoholic and stroke survivor.
Hal’s Hope concluded his 2-year-old season with a win towards allowance firm at Calder Race Course in December, however most bettors thought-about him outclassed within the Holy Bull. He was a 40.20-1 outsider within the 11-horse area. When Velez despatched him to the entrance and opened up a transparent lead virtually everybody anticipated him to fade.
Because it turned out, Hal’s Hope simply stored going. He crushed the sphere by 5 ¼ lengths, ending greater than 11 lengths away from heavy favourite Greenwood Lake.
Hal’s Hope had some extra magic up his sleeve on the Derby path. He completed second within the Grade 1 Fountain of Youth Stakes behind extremely touted Wayne Lukas trainee Excessive Yield. Lukas’ Excessive Yield was the even-money favourite within the Grade 1 Florida Derby, whereas Hal’s Hope was the 6.90-1 fourth selection.
After a protracted, tenacious battle within the stretch, Hal’s Hope turned the tables on Excessive Yield. He gained by a head, cementing his standing because the underdog story of that 12 months’s Derby path.
Though he couldn’t ship the Hollywood ending within the Kentucky Derby, ending sixteenth, Hal’s Hope went on to have a productive profession. He was a two-time stakes winner as a 4-year-old and gained the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Handicap at age 5.
BARBARO (2006)
CAREER RECORD: 7 begins – 6 wins, 0 seconds, 0 thirds
CAREER EARNINGS: $2,302,200
Though he grew to become best-known for his exploits on grime, Barbaro began off his profession an ideal 3-for-3 on the grass. Coach Michael Matz determined to attempt him on the Derby path and entered him within the Holy Bull for his first grime race.
Barbaro loved a very good stalking journey off pacesetting Physician Diehard earlier than difficult him on the ultimate flip. He wrested away management coming into the stretch, then encountered contemporary challenges from Flashy Bull and Nice Tune. Undaunted, he splashed previous the end line on a moist monitor three-quarters of a size in entrance.
In his subsequent begin, Barbaro gained the Grade 1 Florida Derby by a half-length with the same journey. He gave racing followers the very best of highs and the bottom of lows in his subsequent two begins as he rolled to a dominant win within the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby earlier than struggling a extreme damage within the Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. Though he fought valiantly in restoration, he developed acute laminitis in July of 2006 and was euthanized in January 2007. Barbaro is memorialized with a statue on the primary entrance of Churchill Downs.
ITSMYLUCKYDAY (2013)
CAREER RECORD: 21 begins – 9 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirds
CAREER EARNINGS: $1,706,350
Itsmyluckyday was already a three-time stakes winner by the point of the 2013 Holy Bull Stakes. He entered the race off a 6 ¾-length win within the Gulfstream Park Derby. On the energy of that victory, this Eddie Plesa trainee was despatched off because the 4.70-1 third selection within the Holy Bull. Shanghai Bobby, the 2012 Eclipse Award winner as champion 2-year-old male, was the even-money favourite. Nevertheless, it was Itsmyluckyday’s day. He rated off pacesetting Shanghai Bobby then wore him down within the stretch to win by two lengths. He adopted with a second-place end within the Grade 1 Florida Derby, establishing him as a bona-fide Derby contender.
Though he completed fifteenth on the primary Saturday in Might, he bounced again with a second-place end within the Preakness Stakes. As a 4-year-old, Itsmyluckyday gained 4 stakes races, together with the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes.
TIZ THE LAW (2020)
CAREER RECORD: 9 begins – 6 wins, 1 second, 1 third
CAREER EARNINGS: $2,735,300
After his win within the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes in October 2019 at Belmont Park, New York-bred Tiz the Regulation popped up on many Kentucky Derby prime 10 lists. In 2003, the owner-trainer mixture of Sackatoga Steady and Barclay Tagg teamed as much as win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness with Humorous Cide. Almost 20 years later, it appeared like they’d a giant probability to win the Derby once more.
Tiz the Regulation made his 3-year-old debut within the Holy Bull and was the 13-10 favourite in a area of seven. He lived as much as the hype, ranking off the tempo and drawing away for a three-length win. In his victory, he avenged the defeat of Humorous Cide in the identical race 17 years prior.
Following his Holy Bull win, Tiz the Regulation went on a tear throughout the spring and summer time of 2020 because the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the racing calendar. He gained the Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby, the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes Introduced by NYRA Bets, and the Grade 1 Runhappy Travers Stakes heading right into a rescheduled Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve in Septemer, and he grew to become the primary Holy Bull winner to win each the Belmont Stakes and Travers. Despatched off at odds of 7-10 within the Kentucky Derby, the heaviest favourite since Spectacular Bid in 1980, Tiz the Regulation completed second to Genuine.
WHITE ABARRIO (2022)
CAREER RECORD: 20 begins – 9 wins, 2 seconds, 3 thirds
CAREER EARNINGS: $6,879,850
White Abarrio flashed potential throughout his 2-year-old season as he began his profession with back-to-back runaway victories, rallying to a 6 ¾-length romp in his profession debut after which main from begin to end in a four-length rating in his second begin. He closed his juvenile marketing campaign with a third-place end within the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Membership Stakes in his first attempt towards stakes competitors for coach Saffie Joseph Jr.
The grey or roan colt by Race Day made his first begin as a 3-year-old within the Holy Bull Stakes and introduced his presence on the 2022 Kentucky Derby path with authority. He opened a commanding lead within the stretch underneath new rider Tyler Gaffalione and powered to a 4 ½-length victory at 6-1 odds.
White Abarrio adopted with one other clear win within the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby Introduced by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa and was one of many main contenders for the Kentucky Derby Introduced by Woodford Reserve. However whereas Wealthy Strike shocked the world at 80.80-1 odds on Might 7, 2022, White Abarrio was by no means a lot of an element and completed 16th of 20.
White Abarrio didn’t win once more in 2022 – he completed second within the Grade 2 Ohio Derby and third by a half-length within the Cigar Mile Handicap Introduced by NYRA Bets – however he regained his elite kind as a 4-year-old in 2023 after he was transferred to coach Rick Dutrow Jr. . White Abarrio gained the Grade 1 Whitney Stakes by six lengths in August and adopted with a one-length win within the $6 million Longines Breeders’ Cup Basic in a season by which he gained three of 5 begins and was a finalist for Horse of the 12 months. White Abbario remained in coaching in 2024 however gained just one allowance race in 4 begins, however he began to regain his prime kind close to the top of the season whereas again within the care of coach Saffie Joseph Jr. Then, White Abarrio kicked off his 6-year-old season in 2025 with a bang with a record-setting 6 1/4-length victory in the $2,945,400 Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.
