Some of those involved with 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage —co-owner OGMA Investments, trainer Gustavo Delgado, and Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano—have punched their ticket for a return Derby appearance.
Their latest 3-year-old, The Puma, who OGMA Investments campaigns with JR Ranch and High Step Racing, upset favorites Further Ado and Canaletto by three-quarters of a length March 7 in the $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G3), earning sufficient qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby to earn a spot in the starting gate May 2 at Churchill Downs.
Despite a wide trip in the Tampa Bay Derby that left him parked four- to five-wide throughout, the son of Essential Quality was able to rally from last in the field of nine, outkicking his rivals in the best performance of his three-race career. He raced 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.23 over a track rated fast but dampened by a short prerace rainstorm.
The Tampa Bay marked his first career victory, but The Puma came as a well-regarded maiden, having been second to eventual Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) runner-up Chief Wallabee when sprinting 7 furlongs in a slow-start debut Jan. 10 at Gulfstream Park and then running third behind Renegade and Wayne's Law in the 1 1/16-mile Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs Feb. 7. Those experiences set him up for success in the Tampa Bay Derby. He paid $16.80 to win.
Quick fractions of :23.07, :46.68, and 1:11.27 set by Redland Rebels, who would weaken to fourth, set the stage for off-the-pace runners, but The Puma was a deserving winner over runner-up Further Ado and third-place Canaletto, who were separated by a head at the finish. Further Ado sat a sweet three-wide stalking trip and was game for the place in his first start of the year, while Canaletto, coming off a blowout maiden win at Gulfstream, raced as wide as The Puma. Neither could fend off the stretch bid of the winner, who, after drifting in and making slight contact with Canaletto, straightened out and outfinished them with a final sixteenth in :06.76.
Talkin ran fifth.
The top five finishers earned Kentucky Derby qualifying points, distributed on a 50-25-15-10-5 scale. Coupled with what he earned in the Sam F. Davis, The Puma now has 56 points, second behind Paladin on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard.
"Even before the first time he ran, I remember—'This is a Derby horse,' I kept telling everyone," assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. said in an interview on Fox Sports.
Two Tampa Bay Derby participants have gone on to win the Run for the Roses: Street Sense (2007) and Super Saver (2010). They each made one more start between the Tampa Bay Derby and the start of the Triple Crown.
"I don't know how much more excited we could be," said co-owner Randy Guy of High Step Racing.
The winner, bred in Kentucky by Hidden Brook Farm and Brian Kahn out of the Declaration of War mare Eve of War, was a $150,000 purchase by Marquee Bloodstock, agent, last year from the Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
Second-crop sire Essential Quality, a champion at 2 and 3 for Godolphin and trainer Brad Cox, ran third in the 2021 Kentucky Derby via the disqualification of Medina Spirit and later won the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes (G1). The Puma is the first graded stakes winner and fifth stakes winner for Essential Quality, who stands at Darley in Kentucky for $25,000.
