Barbaro, winning the Holy Bull, is working toward a start in the Florida Derby.
Lael Stable's undefeated 3-year-old Barbaro, the Holy Bull Stakes (gr. III) winner who bypassed Saturday's Fountain of Youth (gr. II) in favor of a next start in the $1 million Florida Derby (gr. I) April 1, was in action Saturday morning at Palm Meadows, working five furlongs in 1:01 3/5."He went real nice," said trainer Michael Matz. "For right now, we don't need to do any more than we're doing. We've still got four weeks to go." The Holy Bull, run on a sloppy track Feb. 4, was the undefeated Barbaro's introduction to the main track after three starts on grass.Matz assessed his potential Florida Derby rivals who competed in Saturday's Fountain of Youth."I thought it showed that there were some nice horses in the Holy Bull," he said, "and that Jimmy Jerkens has a nice horse (Corinthian, first under the wire in the Fountain of Youth but subsequently disqualified and placed third). Everybody already knew that First Samurai (elevated to the win) is a good horse. "But I'm happy with my horse. We've got plenty of time to get him where we want him to be for the Florida Derby."
