Awesome Speed ready for Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – With the undefeated pair of Mohaymen and Awesome Banner the two marquee names expected for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on Feb. 27, there is a tendency to forget some of the other talented 3-year-olds targeting the important Kentucky Derby prep, including Awesome Speed, who will bring a three-race win streak into the race.

Awesome Speed opened his 3-year-old campaign with a 1 1/4-length victory in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Stakes on New Year’s Day. He overcame trouble after the start and matched his career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 87. Trainer Alan Goldberg opted to bypass the Holy Bull Stakes four weeks later in lieu of the Fountain of Youth, which will be Awesome Speed’s first try around two turns.

Awesome Speed has worked three times since the Mucho Macho Man, his most recent move a solid six furlongs in 1:14.40 at his winter home at the Palm Meadows training center on Sunday morning.

“It was a great work,” said Goldberg, who trains Awesome Speed for Richard Santulli’s Colts Neck Stables. “He went off real slow, finished fast, and came back good. He’s doing really well, and the boss tells me he shouldn’t have any trouble with the extra distance. And he’s a pretty good handicapper. He’s definitely doing much better coming into this race than his last. I expect him to run pretty well. Whether he’s good enough to beat Mohaymen and Awesome Banner, we’ll have to see.”

Goldberg said all the major work for the Fountain of Youth is done.

“I’ll give him an easy half-mile next Saturday or Sunday,” said Goldberg. “He’s pretty fit. He’s not a big, robust kind of horse you really have to get down on to keep fit.”

Goldberg also breezed his top older horse, Force the Pass, four furlongs in 48.40 on Sunday over the main track at Palm Meadows. Force the Pass has not started since finishing third as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 2 Commonwealth Derby at Laurel on Sept. 19. Force the Pass won the Grade 1 Belmont Derby earlier last summer.

“He’s a freaky horse,” said Goldberg. “Last year, he had a lot of little issues, but he’s 100 percent sound now and works like he could run on the dirt as well as the grass. You watch him breeze, and he looks like he never gets out of a gallop, and he goes in 47 and change. He’s sound, very happy, and coming along faster than I thought he would.”

Goldberg said he could bring Force the Pass back in a stakes here in April or wait for Keeneland to launch his 2016 campaign.

Goldberg is also bullish on the promising 3-year-old filly Gold Tinker, an impressive winner of her career debut going five furlongs on turf here last Saturday. Gold Tinker, a daughter of Elusive Quality out of Gilded Gold, is also owned by Colts Neck.

“She showed a lot of ability in the morning,” said Goldberg. “Her mother was really good, and she’s a lot like the mother except sounder. I also think she’ll go a little further. She’s smooth as silk and covers a lot of ground when she runs.”