by Mike Curry

Despite breaking from an outside post with a short run into the first turn and setting a sizzling pace, Big Brown blistered 11 challengers with a visually impressive five-length romp in the $1-million Florida Derby (G1) on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

The emphatic victory in just his third career start vaulted Big Brown squarely onto the road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

Jockey Kent Desormeaux sent the physically imposing Boundary colt ahead to challenge the pace from post 12 and Big Brown powered to the front and drilled an opening quarter in :22.76 and a half-mile in :45.83. The testing pace in the 1 1/8-mile race did nothing to sap Big Brown of his stamina, however, and he shook free on the far turn and charged to a commanding advantage in early stretch to remain unbeaten.

Hutcheson Stakes (G2) winner Smooth Air was positioned ideally approaching the stretch but proved no match for Big Brown, who cruised to a dominant win in his stakes debut in 1:48.16 on a track rated as fast.

“You know, it felt like :50,” Desormeaux said. “He was just bounding down the backside like a deer in a meadow.”

Runner-up Smooth Air was 7 1/2 lengths clear of Peruvian dual classic winner Tomcito. Sam F. Davis Stakes winner Fierce Wind was prominent early but faded to tenth in the 12-horse field. Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) runner-up Elysium Fields finished a non-threatening 11th.

Big Brown’s win capped a lucrative day for trainer Richard Dutrow Jr., whose Diamond Stripes won the $1-milion Etisalat Godolphin Mile (UAE-G2) and Benny the Bull won the $2-million Gulf News Dubai Golden Shaheen (UAE-G1).

“It’s just unbelievable,” Dutrow said of the banner day. “I couldn’t even have dreamt of something like this.”

Bred in Kentucky by Monticule, Big Brown is out of the winning Nureyev mare Mien. Unbeaten in three career starts, Big Brown has earned $662,700.

The field for the Kentucky Derby is capped at 20 horses with graded stakes earnings used to determine which three-year-olds contest the 1 1/4-mile classic race. The $600,000 winner’s share assured Big Brown a spot in the field and the $200,000 earned by runner-up Smooth Air also likely cemented his place with $290,000 in cumulative graded stakes earnings. Tomcito also improved his chances to make the field with $100,000 in graded earnings from the Florida Derby.

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Mike Curry is Thoroughbred Times TODAY editor