MARION AND LEVY COUNTIES, FL (352today.com) – The 152nd edition of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. will be run on Saturday, May 2, 2026, and once again the road to the first jewel of the Triple Crown routes through the 352, with anticipation building for the “First Saturday in May,”
North Central Florida is in the nation’s spotlight among horseracing fans this week, with many of this year’s Kentucky Derby entries having spent time in Marion and Levy Counties. Last year, Sovereignty, who was broken and trained by Joan “Meda” Murphy at Ocala’s Bridlewood Farm, won the Run for the Roses, while also taking the final jewel of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes. Another graduate from Murphy’s program won the middle jewel, as Journalism won the Preakness Stakes. This year there is again no shortage of local representation, and 352today will be looking at three of those horses with deep, meaningful and traditional local connections.
Renegade
Robert and Lawana Low’s and Mile Repole’s Renegade has been installed as the morning line favorite at odds of 4-1, for the 1 1/4-mile race. The multiple stakes winner, having won the Grade One Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park, also topped the Sam F. Davis Stakes this past winter at Tampa Bay Downs. The son of leading sire Into Mischief is known for his devastating closing kick and will come from off the pace. However, he’s drawn “the rail”–post position no, 1, an unenviable slot. Renegade is conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, and will be ridden by five-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr.
Renegade received his early training in Ocala at J.J. Pletcher’s Payton Training Center in Ocala. J.J. Pletcher is Todd Pletcher’s father.
“He was a nice horse, and the second or third one we broke out of that mare (the graded stakes-winning mare Spice is Nice, who was owned by the Lows, trained by Todd Pletcher and bred by celebrity chef Bobby Flay), she’s a good mare,” said J.J. Pletcher, who’s trained for more than 50 years. “We took our time with him. We didn’t rush him off of the farm. We knew the mare. We break all of the Low’s horses. They’re one of my oldest customers. They’ve been with me 20 years. They’re very nice people. He has a big trucking company in Springfield, Mo.”
The elder Pletcher has a strong team at his operation, and his current farm manager plays a critical role in the day-to-day operations and the training of the horses.
“It’s great. I don’t do as much anymore as I used to. I have some really good people,” said Pletcher. “I’ve got a guy by the name of Gerard Butler, who does most of the training now. I just kind of show up and let them know I’m around.”
The Kentucky Derby is subject to vagaries, because of the 20-horse field and accompanying auxiliary gate, where post position matters and when things get a little crowded.
“It’s all about the kind of trip you get, especially a horse like Renegade that has to come from behind,” said Pletcher. “There’s no way he’s going to be among the pacesetters in the first half of the race. He won’t be setting the early fractions.”
The Puma
It’s not often that you see a horse break its maiden in a graded stakes race, and take its first race, but that is exactly what The Puma did in winning the Grade Three ESMARK Tampa Bay Derby. The Partnership of OGMA Investments LLC, JR Ranch, High Step Racing LLC, TCC Stables LLC and Bruce Zoldan, campaign The Puma. Hall of Fame Jockey Javier Castellano will ride The Puma, who is trained by Gustavo Delgado Sr., who conditioned the 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage. The Puma has drawn the no. 9 post position for the Greatest Two Minutes in Sport.
“To be honest, I was almost as happy when he ran third in the Sam F. Davis, his second start, because he ran an awful big race there,” said Mark Roberts, Hidden Brook, who broke and trained The Puma in Williston.
The Puma wasn’t one to rest on his laurels and after winning the Tampa Bay Derby. He came back three weeks later at Gulfstream Park, losing the Florida Derby by the narrowest of margins, a nose, to Commandment, against a challenging field.
“I think the Florida Derby by far was the deepest prep and probably the saltiest,” said Roberts. “I’m not taking anything away from Renegade at all. He’s a really talented horse, but I thought the depth in the Florida Derby was better than any of the other races we saw, not trying to take away from the winners of the other races, but I thought that the Florida Derby was an exception. It was an exceptionally deep field.”
There was a sense of professionalism with The Puma, which early on suggested there may be some considerable potential. The son of Essential Quality took care of himself, like all great athletes, human or equine, do for the most part, said Roberts.
“He was a good one. He was one of the ones that you don’t get through your program a lot,” said Roberts. “You’ll get a few of them, but not a lot like him. Once he started going on, we always liked him because he always did everything right. He took to breaking and training like a duck to water. He was there with another horse I had last year, Ewing (OBS Sales graduate, owned by D.J. Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and Kenneth Freirich, and trained by Mark Casse), who showed a lot of brilliance and still [I] hope has a great future. The two of them together in the mornings, when they really started training, asking a little for the 2-year-old sales, they were neck and neck the whole time. I really liked both of them a lot. The thing I loved about this horse, if he wasn’t training, he was eating or sleeping. He took great care of himself. He never had a bad day. Touch wood it stays that way. I always thought he was a very nice horse.”
The Puma may be ready to pounce on the First Saturday in May. Marquee Bloodstock, agent, purchased The Puma from the Hidden Brook consignment for $150,00 at the 2025 OBS Spring Sale of 2-year-olds in training.
“What makes this even more satisfying than having broken him and sold him is that Hidden Brook Farm, which I’m a partner in, we bred this horse. I broke his mother (the graded stakes-placed Eve of War) for Jeff Treadway and sent her to the races to Todd (Pletcher). She was a pretty good runner. Then we bought her when Jeff decided to sell her as a broodmare because she was a filly we always liked. It’s been a whole process, and that to me is what is so rewarding, with my partners and I, we kind of all did this together. No matter whether he wins or loses, just to get there with one that you bred, is a pretty big deal. Brian Kahn (co-breeder of The Puma) is very happy. He partners on a lot of mares with us. We’ve been successful over the years, and this is kind of a culmination of hard work and patience for everybody.”
Further Ado
Further Ado, a son of the 2017 Horse of the Year Gun Runner, broke his maiden in his third lifetime start last October at Keeneland, in devastating fashion, leaving the competition in his wake, winning by 20 lengths. The Brad Cox charge was broken, trained and sold by Scott Kintz’s Six K’s Training and Sales in Reddick. Further Ado won the Grade One Toyota Blue Grass Stakes in his last start on April 4 by 11 lengths to punch his ticket to the Kentucky Derby. He will break from post position no. 18. Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez will be in the irons. Further Ado races in the silks of Spendthrift Farm. The colt bred by John Oxley was purchased by Spendthrift Farm from the consignment of Six K’s Racing and Training at the OBS Spring Sale 2-year-olds in Training for $550,000.
“He was coming off a long layoff (to the Tampa Bay Derby) and he was probably only about 80 percent that day,” said Kintz, regarding the chestnut colt’s performance in the Tampa Bay Derby. “The goal was obviously the Derby. The second goal was the Blue Grass. They didn’t have him quite cranked like they needed to for the Tampa Bay Derby. I told everybody at the sale last year in April, what a good horse he was, and Spendthrift listened. It was everything I said about him, the further he goes the better he’s going to get. The pace he set, the wake he got into in the Blue Grass that’s him. He’ll do that all day long. He just gets in that. He gets into what I call a big gallop, and he can just go and go. His gallop out in the Blue Grass was every bit as good as from the quarter pole to the wire. He just continued on.”
Further Ado’s juvenile campaign saw him make him four starts, winning the Grade Two Jockey Club Gold Cup at Churchill Downs, after his authoritative maiden victory at Keeneland. This year’s Tampa Bay Derby was his sophomore debut after a three-and-a-half-month layoff.
“I thought the Blue Grass was the race for him, just because he has an affinity for Keeneland,” said Kintz. “I don’t think that’s why he won by 11, because of the track at Keeneland. I think he’s a pretty good horse. He came out of it better than he went in it on both occasions. He’s getting better and better. He’s not a big horse. He’s not a big heavy horse. He’s a lighter made horse. He’s a Gun Runner, a junior Gun Runner. That’s what he is, that’s what he’s always looked like to me. That’s why I liked him. A lot of people didn’t like his hind leg, but go look at a picture of Gun Runner, put them side by side, they’re the same horse.”