Dornoch works toward Fountain of Youth

Dornoch, the Grade 2 Remsen winner, had his third work of the year Wednesday, breezing a half-mile in 49.10 seconds at the Palm Meadows training center in Florida. Dornoch, a full brother to 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage, is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth on March 2 at Gulfstream Park.

For the third straight time, Dornoch worked with the Barclay Tagg-trained turf maiden winner Marceau.

“He looked good doing it; he was just galloping,” said Danny Gargan, trainer of Dornoch. “He worked with that horse of Barclay’s and he beat him a little easier and by a little more” than last week.

Dornoch has not worked in blinkers, equipment he wore in all four of his starts at age 2. Gargan said he has not yet decided if he will remove blinkers from Dornoch’s equipment for the Fountain of Youth, or which type of blinker he would use if he leaves them on.

“I have three different cups on my desk,” Gargan said.

Dornoch will have two more works before the Fountain of Youth, which Gargan said is just a starting point.

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“I’ve told everybody the Fountain of Youth is not our goal,” Gargan said. “We just need to get him running. But if they let him go a half in 50, he’ll be tough to beat.”

Gargan was referring to the soft pace that Hades had in winning last Saturday’s Holy Bull at Gulfstream, when the half-mile was time in 50.53 seconds.

Gargan has mentioned the Blue Grass or Wood Memorial, both on April 6, as Dornoch’s second start before the Kentucky Derby.

Dornoch won the Remsen after being passed by Sierra Leone in midstretch but coming back on to beat that horse by a nose. Sierra Leone, who may have run the better race considering how far back he was over a speed-favoring surface, is pointing to the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star on Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds.

The Remsen has proven to be a productive race. Drum Roll Please, third in the Remsen, won the Jerome at Aqueduct though was he subsequently injured and is off the Derby trail. Domestic Product, seventh in the Remsen, ran a solid second to Hades in the Holy Bull. Le Dom Pro and Billal, ninth and eighth, respectively, in the Remsen, ran second and fourth, respectively, in last Saturday’s Swale Stakes at Gulfstream.

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