Expert Pick of the Week: 2022 Florida Derby

Mar 31, 2022 John Mucciolo/TwinSpires.com

An excellent field of 11 sophomores will travel 1 1/8 miles on the Gulfstream Park dirt in Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby (G1). The 2022 Road to the Kentucky Derby challenge series event will reward the top four finishers with qualifying points on a 100-40-20-10 basis towards the Run for the Roses at Churchill Downs on May 7. It highlights a blockbuster day of racing in South Florida, headlining a card that plays host to six graded stakes contests in total.

The Brian Lynch-trained Classic Causeway will make his Gulfstream debut coming off a pair of victories at Tampa Bay Downs – the Sam F. Davis S. (G3) and Tampa Bay Derby (G2) – from two starts in 2022. The Giant’s Causeway chestnut looks like the one to catch on Saturday, and I expect him to lead this field from start-to-finish with Irad Ortiz in the silks. He is the Expert Pick of the Week.

Classic Causeway sent notice at first asking with a smashing maiden win in the summer at Saratoga, and he gave a good account of himself in a pair of subsequent graded tilts to cap his juvenile season. He finished third in the Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, which preceded a runner-up performance in the Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2) beneath the Twin Spires in his two-year-old finale.

The chestnut has improved this campaign, and he zipped a swift half-mile at Palm Meadows in his most recent morning move to signal his readiness for the Florida Derby.

Whisper Hill Farm homebred Charge It is lightly raced with just a maiden win under his belt, but the top prospect appears destined for big things this season for conditioner Todd Pletcher. By top sire Tapit, the gray colt was especially powerful when graduating on the surface in his latest performance, and the morning works in the interim hint that he will be ready for the massive class hike on Saturday.

Charge It is bred to be a very good horse, and he gives the impression of a three-year-old that will accomplish big things in 2022.

An exacta with #2 Classic Causeway on top of #6 Charge It in the Florida Derby is the Best Bet of the Week.