After Pulpit, It’s A Gray Area Unbeaten 3-Year-Old Phenom Rules As Florida Derby Favorite

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas would color the Kentucky Derby picture gray.

A lot of other people already have colored it bay, the color of Pulpit, the colt who has become the talk of racing in only three starts after not having raced as a 2-year-old.

“It’s probably as gray as it’s ever been,” said Lukas, who is not ready to concede anything to Pulpit and who will challenge him with Wrightwood today in the $500,000 Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park.

“There’s a lot of sorting out to do. We might not get sorted out. We might just go into the Derby with four or five horses who could win.”

Lukas was using the collective “we” and was not suggesting that he would have four or five horses that could win the May 3 Derby.

Of Pulpit, Lukas said, “Frankie Brothers (Pulpit’s trainer) said this, so I can say it: ‘It’s hard to fathom the hype.’ But I’ll be the first to admit, it’s good for the game.”

Pulpit, already the early Kentucky Derby favorite, is the 3-5 choice to beat seven other 3-year-olds in the 1-1/2-mile Florida Derby.

“Win, lose or draw, the horse is going to Kentucky because that’s where my stable goes,” said Brothers, who will ship his horses to Churchill Downs on Tuesday.

Once in Kentucky, the Claiborne Farm colt probably will race in the Blue Grass Stakes April 12 at Keeneland. With success today and in the Blue Grass, Pulpit would cast a giant shadow over Churchill Downs during Derby week.

The Florida Derby will be the second stakes start for Pulpit, who sustained a stress fracture in his left foreleg last March.

“He has no infirmities at this time,” said Dr. Tom Brokken, the veterinarian for Brothers’ stable.

In his first two starts, Pulpit scored two sensational front-running victories. Then, in the 1-1/16-mile Fountain of Youth Stakes Feb. 22 at Gulfstream, he was rated off a fast pace before taking charge in the stretch.

Pulpit carried 112 pounds in the Fountain of Youth, but will carry 122 today, as will each of the starters.

Pulpit’s two main contenders appear to be Acceptable and Captain Bodgit.

Acceptable, second by a head to 2-year-old champion Boston Harbor in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall, finished sixth in the Fountain of Youth in which he bled. Trainer Nick Zito said the colt will race medicated with Lasix today.

Captain Bodgit, a triple stakes winner as a 2-year-old, closed well to be third in the Fountain of Youth.

Other Fountain of Youth starters in the field are Zito-trained Jack Flash, who was fifth; Frisk Me Now, seventh, and Wrightwood, eighth. Lukas said Wrightwood threw a shoe in the race.

Shane Sellers, who has been aboard Pulpit for all three of his victories, will have the mount again today. Sellers is on the verge of his first Gulfstream Park riding title.