INDIANTOWN, Fla. - Watching from afar while growing up, before becoming a trainer, Brad Cox said he used to follow races like the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby with great interest.  “I looked forward to that stuff as a kid growing up, reading the newspaper and (checking to see) who may run,” Cox said. “Watching Nick Zito and D. Wayne Lukas and now to be a part of that is kind of like a dream true. To be successful in those races means a lot.”  Last year, Cox won the Grade 1 Florida Derby with Tappan Street. On Saturday, Cox won the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth with Commandment, who outdueled Chief Wallabee to the wire to win by a neck and further establish himself as a contender for the May 2 Kentucky Derby.  Now, it looks like a rematch will come in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 28.  :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  Cox and Bill Mott, the latter the trainer of Chief Wallabee, both liked what they saw from their horses Sunday morning. Both trainers indicated the Florida Derby makes the most sense for their 3-year-old’s next race. They would face Nearly, the dominant winner of the Grade 3 Holy Bull.  “Based on what we saw this morning, it’s not like he lost a bunch of weight out of the race or anything,” Cox said. “He carries so much flesh and is stout and robust. I don’t know why he couldn’t handle coming back in four weeks.”  The Fountain of Youth came back a fast race with Commandment earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure and Chief Wallabee gaining a 100. Cox said if he felt another week was needed, the Grade 1 Blue Grass at Keeneland on April 4 could be a backup.  But Commandment is 2 for 2 at Gulfstream, his Fountain of Youth coming eight weeks after he won the Mucho Macho Man Stakes impressively. The Fountain of Youth was Commandment’s first start around two turns and while Cox was confident the horse could handle it, he was glad to see him handle it the right way.  “Sometimes those horses going from one turn to two turns ... they show more speed, sometimes they get a little rank, they don’t negotiate the first turn that well, they start leaning out,” Cox said. “He had a real good, clean, ground-saving run into the first turn, never got aggressive. Irad [Ortiz] said at the half-mile pole ‘I didn’t know what I really had and when I gave him one cue he jumped right on it.’ He’s a pretty push-button horse, which I think is valuable trying to get to and through the Derby.”  Commandment was making his fourth career start in the Fountain of Youth. Chief Wallabee was making just his second. He had won a seven-furlong maiden impressively on Jan. 10, but was now stretching out and facing winners for the first time.  Commandment and Chief Wallabee hooked up 4 1/2 furlongs from the wire. Commandment made his stretch rally on the inside while Chief Wallabee went four wide on the turn and was three wide in the stretch under Junior Alvarado. Mott was disappointed with the result, but not the effort.   “He passed the two-turn test, also the class test at the same time,” said Mott, who won last year’s Fountain of Youth with eventual Kentucky Derby winner Sovereignty. “I thought there were some pretty nice horses in there.”  While Mott said he would have “four or five races to choose from” for Chief Wallabee’s next start, he admitted the Florida Derby makes the most sense.  “He’s run good twice over the track,” said Mott, who is winless with 10 starters in the Florida Derby dating back to 1993, including a runner-up finish with Sovereignty in 2025. “There’s something to be said for running here. It’s a Grade 1. For a well-bred colt, it’s really important. He [galloped] out pretty well to the second wire and I don’t think Junior made him do it.”  Chief Wallabee finished two lengths in front of third-place finisher Solitude Dude, who was 8 3/4 lengths ahead of Bravaro. Solitude Dude was 3 for 3 in one-turn races and trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. would like to shorten him up in distance.  “We wanted to try this and it was a good try,” Joseph said. “But I think he is a Grade 1 horse going one turn and there are plenty of very important Grade 1 races around one turn coming up. I'll discuss it with the owner, but my call will be to go back to one turn.”  Bravaro, coming out of a runner-up finish to Nearly in the Holy Bull, had a bit of a compromised trip, which put him out of position early, Joseph said.  “But at the three-eighths pole he was close enough to be a factor if he made a run and he didn’t,” Joseph said.  Joseph said if the owners want to try another Derby prep, it would more likely come in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 4.  - additional reporting by Mike Welsch  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.