Dialed In will skip Fountain of Youth Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – One horse who will be conspicuous by his absence when entries are drawn here Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth is Dialed In. Trainer Nick Zito said he and owner Bob LaPenta both agreed that passing the race is in the best interest of their colt in light of his huge performance winning the Grade 3 Holy Bull in only his second career start here last month.

“I conferred with both Bob and his son Rob, and we all were in agreement that it would not be right to ask Dialed In to come back in four weeks after the Superman-type effort he turned in to win the Holy Bull,” Zito said. “They said let’s skip the Fountain of Youth and look for a two-turn race before the Florida Derby.”

Zito said Dialed In was going to prep for the April 3 Florida Derby in the $100,000 Timely Writer, which was originally written in the condition book at 1 1/8 miles on March 11. But when the distance was subsequently shortened to a one-turn mile and the race moved to March 12, Zito decided to look for a different race for Dialed In.

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“Fortunately, he has enough graded earnings from winning the Holy Bull that it looks like he’ll get into the Derby, so our main focus at the moment is the Florida Derby and how to get him there,” Zito said.

Zito said Dialed In would likely work Friday or Saturday.

Zito also said that his two handicap stars Morning Line and Fly Down are both doing well following their second- and fifth-place finish, respectively, in the Grade 1 Donn. Zito said Fly Down would make his next start in the Dubai World Cup, while Morning Line’s status for that race was still undecided.

“My main goal with Morning Line at the moment is winning the Met Mile,” Zito said.