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Florida
Commandment wins the Florida Derby, now eyes Kentucky Derby and Triple Crown trail
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. — Commandment broke his maiden last fall at Churchill Downs. He’ll soon be headed back there, looking for a much bigger victory.
By the slimmest of margins — a photo finish — Commandment won the Florida Derby on Saturday, completing a worst-to-first rally in the six-horse field and overtaking The Puma with the final bob of his head.
It was the fourth consecutive win for Commandment, who had jockey Flavien Prat aboard on Saturday. Next up: the Kentucky Derby, the start of the Triple Crown series on May 2 at Churchill Downs.
“He’s a racehorse, bottom line,” said trainer Brad Cox, who saddled the Florida Derby winner for the second consecutive year. “He always shows up. … He’s a Grade 1 winner. Florida Derby’s a big race. Proud of the horse. Very proud of the horse.”
The Puma took the lead at the top of the stretch and was maybe an inch or two shy of keeping it the rest of the way. Bettors roared when the official order of finish was announced, and Cox could finally exhale.
“Little too close for comfort,” Cox said.
Commandment returned $5.80 for the win. Chief Wallabee was third, favorite Nearly — the 7-5 top choice — was fourth and Wayne’s Law was fifth.
Commandment got 100 points toward the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard. The Puma got 50 for finishing second, Chief Wallabee got 25 for third, Nearly got 15 for placing fourth and the fifth-place showing by Wayne’s Law earned him 10 points.
The Puma and Commandment went into Saturday’s race with spots for the Kentucky Derby basically secured, based on their point totals coming in — The Puma had 56, Commandment 50, and those likely would be enough to make the field.
Now, assuming both emerge from Saturday healthy and stay that way, they’re locks for the Run for the Roses.
“He’s got a great mind,” said Cox, just the fourth trainer to win the Florida Derby in back-to-back years, joining Todd Pletcher (who did it three times), Nick Zito and Horace Jones. “That’s going to take him a long way, the first Saturday in May.”
History has shown there’s a clear path from the winner’s circle at Gulfstream Park to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs. The Florida Derby has been run by 26 eventual Kentucky Derby winners, more than any other prep race — most recently Sovereignty last year. Sovereignty was second in last year’s Florida Derby.
And Florida Derby winners have gone on to win 31 Triple Crown series races, including the Kentucky Derby on 15 occasions — the last of which was when Always Dreaming pulled it off in 2017. Those 31 victories in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont have come from 21 different Florida Derby winners.
UAE Derby
On Dubai World Cup day at Meydan, Wonder Dean won the UAE Derby for trainer Daisuke Takayanagi.
Wonder Dean is the fifth consecutive Japanese-trained winner of the UAE Derby. All four of the others went to the Kentucky Derby and Takayanagi — who guided T O Password to a fifth-place finish at the Run for the Roses in 2024 — said Wonder Dean is on his way as well.
Florida
Traffic stop goes viral after Florida deputy accuses driver missing right hand of holding phone
PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Video of a traffic stop in Palm Beach County is going viral over an awkward exchange between the driver and a deputy who accused her of holding a phone while driving.
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“You drove past me holding a phone with your right hand, manipulating that phone,” the deputy tells 36-year-old Kathleen “Katie” Thomas.
“Obviously not,” Thomas says while laughing and holding up her right arm, showing that she’s missing her right hand.
“So you wanna call this a day?” she asks.
“I don’t want to call this a day. You had a hand up, manipulating,” the deputy responds.
“You just said my right hand,” Thomas counters.
“Well, I thought I saw your right hand,” the deputy says.
“So you didn’t,” Thomas responds.
Thomas posted the bodycam footage on Instagram and TikTok where it gained millions of likes.
In the video, although she shows the deputy she doesn’t have a right hand, the deputy doubled down.
“I’m asking you now; did you or not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“You did not have your phone in your hand?” the deputy asks again.
“I did not,” Thomas responds.
“Hand to God, you didn’t have a phone in your hand?” the deputy asks.
“Hand to God,” Thomas says.
Court records show Thomas was given a $116 citation despite the presented evidence, but it was later dismissed at the request of the deputy involved.
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Florida
Blue Origin New Glenn rocket explodes on launch pad in Florida
A Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded Thursday night on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral in Florida.
The explosion occurred at about 9 p.m. ET. Blue Origin said there were no injuries from the incident.
“We experienced an anomaly during today’s hotfire test,” Blue Origin said in a statement. “All personnel have been accounted for. We will provide updates as we learn more.”
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station also confirmed in a separate statement that “all personnel have been accounted for and there were no injuries/fatalities.”
Blue Origin was scheduled to fuel the rocket Thursday evening ahead of a planned test firing of the rocket’s engines.
Blue Origin, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, successfully launched its third New Glenn rocket last month.
This rocket was being prepared for the fourth New Glenn mission as soon as June 4 to launch 48 satellites for Amazon’s Leo internet service, which competes with Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The 48 satellites were not aboard the rocket during the test. It was not immediately clear how much damage the launch pad and ground equipment sustained, or how long it might take to repair it.
Space Launch Complex 36, where the explosion occurred, is the only launch pad equipped to launch New Glenn rockets.
The New Glenn rocket is key to Blue Origin’s and NASA’s moon base plans, and the explosion will likely be a setback. Next year, the New Glenn is supposed to launch another Blue Moon lander as part of the Artemis III mission in low Earth orbit.
In a social media post, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman wrote, “Spaceflight is unforgiving, and developing new heavy-lift launch capability is extraordinarily difficult. We will work with our partners to support a thorough investigation of this anomaly, assess near-term mission impacts, and get back to launching rockets.”
The New Glenn rocket had just been cleared on May 22 to return to flight after being grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration after an anomaly with the second stage during an April 19 launch.
In a statement Thursday, the FAA said it was aware that the rocket had “experienced an anomaly during a static fire test on the pad in Cape Canaveral, Florida,” adding that the “test was not within the scope of FAA licensed activities.”
The FAA also noted that “there was no impact to air traffic” from the explosion.
Bezos wrote on X Thursday night, “It’s too early to know the root cause but we’re already working to find it. Very rough day, but we’ll rebuild whatever needs rebuilding and get back to flying. It’s worth it.”
Musk wrote: “Sorry to see this, I hope you recover quickly.”
Florida
Florida to pay Sumrall’s assistants a combined $11.2M in 2026
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida coach Jon Sumrall’s assistants will make a combined $11.2 million in 2026, a significant investment for a program desperate to win more often.
Offensive coordinator Buster Faulkner tops the list after signing a three-year, $6.6 million contract to leave Georgia Tech and join Sumrall in Gainesville. Faulker will get $2.1 million in 2026 – the first $2 million coordinator in school history – and has a $100,000 raise set for each of the next two years.
Only six college offensive coordinators were paid $2 million or more in 2025, according to CBS Sports. Fifteen defensive coordinators topped $2 million.
Florida defensive coordinator Brad White signed a three-year, $5.85 million deal that starts at $1.85 million and also includes a $100,000 raise in 2027 and 2028.
The Gators released the contracts Thursday in response to a public records request.
Sumrall signed a six-year, $44.7 million contract last year that averages $7.45 million annually. The Gators will dole out more than $20 million to Sumrall, his staff of 15 assistants and a front office led by new general manager Dave Caldwell.
Four of the assistants are scheduled to earn at least $1 million during their deals.
Defensive line coach Gerald Chapman and offensive line coach Phil Trautwine will join Faulker and White in the seven-figure club. Chapman, the lone holdover from former Florida coach Billy Napier’s staff, will make $950,000 this year and $1 million in 2027. Trautwine, meanwhile, starts at $750,000 and jumps to $1 million. Both signed two-year deals.
Their salaries show Sumrall’s commitment to rebuilding the team along both lines of scrimmage in the powerhouse Southeastern Conference.
Napier’s 12-man coaching staff was paid a combined $7.5 million in 2025. The Gators posted three losing seasons in Napier’s four years.
The rest of Sumrall’s staff range between making $350,000 and $600,000 annually, all of them on two-year contracts.
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