Materiality doing well after tenacious Florida Derby victory

Materiality (Afleet Alex)

exited his wining effort in Saturday's Florida Derby (G1) at Gulfstream Park in good order, according to trainer Todd Pletcher.

The three-year-old bay remained at Gulfstream

overnight following his 1 1/2-length victory in the track's premier race and

was set to return to Pletcher's winter training base at Palm Beach Downs Sunday

morning.

"He pulled up well and is just coming back from Gulfstream

now," Pletcher reported.

The 9-5 second choice in the field of nine, Materiality hooked

up with post-time favorite Upstart (Flatter) in the early going of the Florida Derby, and

the $1 million event turned into a two-horse race as those two separated

themselves from the other seven runners. In just his third career start,

Materiality was able to pull away from the Holy Bull S. (G2) romper to earn his

first graded stakes victory and remain undefeated. The colt, an April foal that

has yet to reach his actual third birthday, received a 105 BRIS Speed rating for the effort.

"It was a very determined effort," Pletcher said. "He showed his tenacity. It

was a long drive from a half-mile out over a very demanding surface and against

a very good horse. I thought it was very impressive for him to be able to do

that in his third start."

"Honestly, I wasn't really expecting the Islamorada to even be an option.

When it came out in the condition book and he breezed well, we decided to go

ahead and try it. I was very concerned about the 1 1/8-mile distance. When he

handled that so well, it changed everything, really. It basically put him in a

position to come back in the Florida Derby, so it just sort of came together at

the right time."

Materiality's Florida Derby triumph awarded him 100 points

toward a berth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 2 at Churchill Downs. Pletcher said if all goes well, running on

the first Saturday in May would be the next objective for the colt.

"I think he's certainly earned his way (to the Kentucky

Derby)," Pletcher said. "Five weeks should be beneficial since we ran back in 22

days (in the Florida Derby), but it's also a long time, so hopefully he

continues to do well."

Itsaknockout, who finished 21 lengths behind in fourth in the Florida Derby, was

also reported to be doing fine, although a bit fatigued, following his run.