Seven-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher may have up to six starters in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 2.

Having clinched his second straight GI Florida Derby last week with the undefeated Materiality, Pletcher heads into this big Derby prep weekend with a pair of GI-winning colts that are arguably his leading contenders, Carpe Diem and Daredevil.

Carpe Diem will have his final start before the Derby in Keeneland’s GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes while Daredevil wil contest New York’s major Derby prep, the G1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

.Carpe Diem was the co-top lots at the OBS March Sale at $1.6 million and has displayed talent and immense promise from the very beginning.

“We were well aware of his capabilities early on and he came into Saratoga and trained accordingly for us. What probably surprised me more than anything was the amount of speed he showed that he had as we were training him,” Pletcher said.

Carpe Diem made a spectacular debut over five and a half furlongs at Saratoga in September and followed up with 6 1/4 lengths win in the GI Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland in October.

Carpe Diem suffered his first loss at Santa Anita when he was a late-running second to the runaway winner Texas Red in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile but came back with a dazzling victory in the G2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 7.

"He has done all the things you physically want one to do from two to three, so he is the whole package,” said Pletcher.

“Timing wise we felt the Tampa Bay Derby was a great place for him and Tampa historically is a great place to prep horses. It’s a safe surface and we have had success there in the past.

“Once we got him back in training and saw where he was in his development, we never really considered any other race."

"We always felt like the Blue Grass would be a natural fit for his final prep, and he has done nothing along the way to make us think otherwise.

“He has already stamped himself as one of the leaders of the division. The horse has trained remarkably well since the Tampa Bay Derby and we are excited about running him.””

Daredevil, like Carpe Diem, is co-owned by Pletcher and WinStar Farm with other partners including the China Horse Club.

An impressive first-out winner in the mud at Belmont Daredevil posted another dominating victory in venue’s GI Champagne Stakes in October.

He then failed badly in the BC Juvenile and finished second in his sophomore bow in Gulfstream’s G2 Swale Stakes on March 7 when second to Ready For Rye.

"I thought his Swale second was a very good race," Pletcher remarked. “We had him prepared in a fashion where we hoped he would run well.

"I thought he ran super and he came out of it well."

Given his disappointing performance in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, distance seems to be the major question for Daredevil.

"He did win at a mile as a 2-year-old, so that gives us some confidence that he will stretch out," Pletcher said.

"I think he is very talented. Like everyone else, we are going to be interested to see how he sees out the mile and an eighth."