BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Centennial Farms’ Nearly was feeling his oats at Palm Beach Downs Sunday morning in the aftermath of his eye-catching five-and-three-quarters-lengths triumph in Saturday’s $267,500 Holy Bull (Grade 3) at Gulfstream Park.
“He came back well,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said of his Florida-bred star. “He was feeling frisky this morning.”
Making his two-turn and stakes debuts in the mile-and-a-sixteenth stakes for 3-year-olds, Nearly stamped himself as a leading prospect for this year’s Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) with his dominating effort, in which he pressed the pace set by 3-2 favorite Cannoneer into the home turn before pulling away and producing his third straight victory at Gulfstream.
“We thought it was a really strong performance. He put himself in a good spot. They were going pretty quickly early on, but it seemed like he was in a good cruising speed,” Pletcher said. “We liked the two-turn stretch-out. It was pretty much what we were hoping for.”
The son of Not This Time, the 8-5 second betting choice ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, had previously bounced back from a disappointing sixth-place finish in his October 26 debut at Aqueduct with a pair of overpowering victories at Gulfstream by a combined 14 1/4 lengths.
“I haven’t had a chance to sit down with anybody to talk about what we’re doing for sure. I don’t like making any decisions immediately after a race,” Pletcher said. “One of the things we talked about was [Saturday’s] race was his third race in a relatively short period, but we wanted to give him some two-turn experience and he handled that. Now that he handled that, we’re probably in a position where we can give him a little extra time for the next one.”
Due to his frequent participation at Gulfstream, Nearly is more likely to train up to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) March 28 at Gulfstream than return in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) Feb. 28.
“Since he’s three-for-three at Gulfstream, I think the Florida Derby would be a logical target. But we’ll see how he does and how he bounces back, which will kind of dictate what we do. I would say once we have that discussion, that’s probably the most likely scenario,” Pletcher said.
Pletcher-trained Audible won the 2018 Holy Bull before going on to win the Florida Derby in his next start and finishing third in the Kentucky Derby.
Pletcher has saddled eight winners of the Florida Derby.
Nearly is out of the Mineshaft mare Ib Prospecting and was bred in Florida by Kris Gibbons in the name of her Wind Hill Farm located in Morriston, Florida.
Return to the February 3 issue of Wire to Wire
