HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Hades earned his way onto the Kentucky Derby trail with his upset victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. While his next step hasn’t been strictly defined just yet, trainer Joe Orseno indicated Sunday morning that he might just wait until the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 30 to run him back. The other option would be coming back in four weeks in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth here on March 2, and then the Florida Derby. “He could do two more, I don’t know if he has to,” Orseno said Sunday morning. “I know what [the Triple Crown trail] is about and it’s pretty rigorous. I wouldn’t commit to either one, but if you asked me right now, I’d say the Florida Derby would be his next start and I’ll train him right into it.” Hades, a Florida-bred son of Awesome Slew, raced on the pace in the Holy Bull through slow fractions. He was confronted and passed by Fierceness, the 2023 juvenile champion and heavy Holy Bull favorite, but Hades, ridden by Paco Lopez, was able to come back and put him away and easily fend off a late run from Domestic Product. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “Paco said this horse hasn’t learned what to do yet,” Orseno said. “What he’s doing is on sheer talent. If Paco’s right and he’s still learning, then we have a bright future.” Orseno said the decision to run in the Holy Bull was a late one and was partly made after the horse drew the rail. Orseno was taking a strong look at the Grade 3 $250,000 Sam F. Davis to be run next Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. “When he drew the rail part-owner Robert Cotran said ‘I’d rather run in here,' ” Orseno said. “We wanted to be on the lead.” Hades is also owned by D J Stable of Len Green. Hades earned an 90 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance. Domestic Product rebounded from his disappointing seventh-place finish in the Remsen with a solid second in the Holy Bull, finishing 2 1/2 lengths in front of Fierceness. He was racing without blinkers, equipment he wore in his second and third starts of his four-race career. Trainer Chad Brown said that Domestic Product “looks good” Sunday morning. As far as a potential next race, Brown said “everything’s on the table.” Fierceness was certainly disappointing as the heavy favorite in his 3-year-old debut. While he didn’t get away well, he was able to get a forward position, got in front of Hades around the turn, but couldn’t kick in. Trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday that Fierceness cooled out well and scoped clean and had no abrasions from a bumping incident with Domestic Product out of the gate. Pletcher indicated his next start is undetermined. “I think in terms of where he starts next, everything is in play including staying on course for the Florida Derby,” Pletcher said. “He’s shown he can bounce back from a poor performance. The horse trained way too well leading into it to not have confidence in him. We’ve seen him run a couple of great races. We’ll just have to regroup and put that one behind us.” Fierceness won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile four weeks after he finished seventh as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 1 Champagne at Aqueduct. Real Macho to Fountain of Youth Real Macho, who ran down heavily favored Born Noble to win a first-level allowance race Saturday, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes on March 2, trainer and part-owner Rohan Crichton said Sunday. The victory was Real Macho’s second from four starts and enabled him to rebound from a 9 3/4-length defeat to Change of Command in a 1 1/16-mile allowance race here on Jan. 5. Crichton and his original partners had sold half-interest in the colt to Dean Reeves prior to that Jan. 5 race. “He ran a terrible race and I felt so bad,” Crichton said. Crichton said he didn’t feel it was the distance that hindered Real Macho in that Jan. 5 race, but the fact the horse washed out in the paddock and was looking at his blinkers, according to what jockey Javier Castellano told him. “He has the stamina to do whatever,” Crichton said. “I think it’s mental. In the two-turn race, he didn’t even give you a chance to say whether it’s a two-turn problem. He was just going through the motions.” Crichton took the blinkers off Real Macho for Saturday’s race and the horse behaved much better in the paddock before acting up slightly when he heard music coming on the track. Real Macho, fourth down the backside, took advantage of Born Noble taking some early pressure from Merit. Though he was still a touch green in the stretch under Tyler Gaffalione, Real Macho caught Born Noble by a neck at the wire. It was 5 1/4 lengths back to the third horse. “Tyler said after the race that there’s so much in there, but he said he’s still very, very green,” Crichton said. “When he gets to horses, he’s like ‘Do I really want to pass this guy?’ He said, okay, I’ll pass him. He did really, really well yesterday.” Real Macho earned an 87 Beyer Speed Figure for the win. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.