Kentucky Derby winning colt Animal Kingdom returned to action with a stylish display at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.  The Team Valor homebred is being set for the G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan on March 31.

Animal Kingdom (4c Leroidesanimaux – Dalicia by Acatenango) was last of the six-horse field before John Velazquez sent him to the front turning for home.  “They went slow enough where he just pulled me into contention all on his own,” Velazquez said.  “He took off and felt as good as ever.”

Animal Kingdom was runner-up on debut at Arlington Park but broke through second-up with a three length victory at Keeneland.

The Graham Motion trained colt returned last year for a G3 win in the Spiral Stakes at Turfway Park before driving to a runaway decision beneath the Twin Spires.  His Triple Crown dreams were shattered when he fell a half-length short of beating Shackleford in the Preakness and then he exited the Belmont Stakes in sixth place before being diagnosed with a slab fracture to his left hind leg.

“It was heartbreaking to see this horse stuck in a stall a week after the Belmont.  He went from being the fittest horse in the country to not being able to get out of his stall.  That was tough but he’s back to himself and I’m elated.

Animal Kingdom is by Brazilian-bred sire Leroidesanimaux (Candy Stripes) who stands at Stonewall Farm in Florida.  He was a G1 winner of the Atto Mile and Citation Handicap and got the 2011 Derby winner from German-bred G3 winner Dalicia.

Team Valor owner Barry Irwin purchased Dalicia for 400,000 euros at a Baden-Baden Sale in October 2005.  He intended to send her to Kingmambo but the Lane’s End Farm champion was taken out of service after a back injury and Leroidesanimaux was the next choice.

Irwin entered Animal Kingdom for the 2009 Keeneland September yearling sale to dissolve a partnership with Stonewall Farm and he bought them out for $100,000.  “He was a big, good looking horse at the sales,” Irwin recalled.  “He’s a very special horse and we can tell by the way he trains and the way he looks that he’s a much better horse this year.”