The last time a Florida-bred colt won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile was in 1993 when Gary Stevens defeated Blumin Affair and Tabasco Cat with Brocco. It marked the third time in the first 10 editions of the race that Florida had walked off with the title, Brocco being preceded by Tasso in 1985 and Gilded Time in 1992. There have been others who were bred by Florida farm owners, such as Answer Lively, by John Franks, and Macho Uno, by Frank Stronach, but they were foaled in Kentucky.

    If the 2016 Juvenile were being run this week, the sensational Florida-bred colt Three Rules would probably be the favorite. The son of Gone Astray is a perfect 5-for-5 and nobody is even close to his nearly $700,000 in earnings - or four straight stakes victories, the last coming at Gulfstream Saturday in the $500,000 In Reality. 

    "He looks 100 percent," owner Bert Pilcher said about the colt he bred with partners Geoff Roy and Tom Fitzgerald. "The race took nothing out of him."

    There has been much speculation about the always-present deluge of offers that pour in when a 2-year-old makes a huge early splash. However, "I haven't had anybody actually give a figure," Pilcher said, "because I never let it get that far."

    Gone Astray's success has come as no surprise to him, because he knew he had something special from the beginning. "The first time I saw him work a quarter I couldn't talk for 30 seconds," Pilcher said. "He's got everything going for him - his mind, his attitude, everything. He takes care of himself. I can't think of one thing I would change about him.

    Pilcher runs Shade Tree Thoroughbreds north of Ocala, the farm that his late father, Hubert, owned and operated for many decades before him housing successful stallions such as Strike the Anvil and Hooched, and where Three Rules was born and raised. Like so many others, there have been tough times, but the $680,640 the colt has earned has more than alleviated the problem.

    "He's a dream horse," Pilcher said, knowing there's plenty of room for many more dreams in the future. When Nyquist won the Juvenile last year, he collected $1.1 million for the Reddam Racing Stable. 

    FROSH RACE HEATS UP - The Florida freshman sire race has taken on a new look. After Ocala Stud's Overdriven took a 5-1 lead over Woodford Thoroughbreds' Biondetti, it appeared as though it was going to be no contest. But Biondetti has quickly added three more winners, the last one being La Zoraya, who paid $134 scoring at Gulfstream last Friday. Even though he trails Overdriven by one winner, Biondetti has jumped into the money lead.

    TV IS TOPS - There was an interesting poll taken by the staff at the Paulick Report last week, asking where people watch their races. TV received 41.61 percent of the votes, followed by computer (28.46), on track (13.35), simulcast/OTB (9.72) and phone/tablet (6.87). Of course, if bettors had access to a track not far from their homes, the on-track would be infinitely greater. How many of us would be at Gulfstream or Tampa Bay Downs much more often if we lived closer to either?   

       

    

     

    

    

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