Fast, contested pace proves too much for Hidden Scroll in Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Disappointment was etched on Bill Mott’s face, but not too deep. He knows the racing game all too well.

“That’s history,” the Hall of Fame trainer calmly surmised late Saturday afternoon following the defeat of Hidden Scroll, the 6-5 favorite in the 72nd Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Above all else, it seems a fast pace and the inexperience of Hidden Scroll led to his undoing. Sent to the front by jockey Joel Rosario heading into the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile race, Hidden Scroll suddenly found himself engaged with Gladiator King while racing on the outside of that 132-1 rank outsider.

“He just showed too much speed,” said Rosario, who also was aboard Jaywalk when the champion filly finished fourth at 1-5 in the previous race Saturday, the Grade 2 Davona Dale. “I thought on the backside, I looked pretty good. But in the first turn, when he was wanting to go, it ended up hurting him in the end. He got tired.”

The sky was supposed to be the limit for Hidden Scroll coming into this critical test toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby. The Juddmonte Farms homebred won his career debut on the Jan. 26 Pegasus World Cup card by a whopping 14 lengths, earning a 104 Beyer Speed Figure while immediately stamping himself as a major Derby hopeful.

Clearly the early tussle with Gladiator King had Hidden Scroll all keyed up. Passing the five-furlong pole, he finally cleared off from the pesky longshot (who would wind up finishing a distant last of 11) when getting a half-mile in a swift 45.69 seconds – but there was no breather to be had, as Global Campaign then took a run at him as they entered the far turn.

Hidden Scroll shook off Global Campaign, too, getting six furlongs in 1:10.42, but by the time he straightened for home, he was growing leg-weary. Three others surged past him, with Code of Honor prevailing over Bourbon War and Vekoma. Hidden Scroll labored home fourth, beaten three lengths, in a race completed in 1:43.85 over a fast track.

Mott, who in 1998 became the youngest trainer (45) ever enshrined in the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame, was philosophical in defeat. He, perhaps more than anyone, was aware that Hidden Scroll was trying something he had never done before – race around two turns, over a dry track, when facing far better company than when he turned heads with his Pegasus Day romp going a one-turn mile over a sloppy and sealed racetrack.

“At the end of the day, he wound up going pretty quick,” Mott said. “I was kind of hoping we might be able to lay in behind [Gladiator King], and as it was, we were up heads apart the first part. I was kind of hoping to be tucked in behind him, but it didn’t work out that way.

“He ran good. It makes you wonder, well, should we have chosen an easier spot, but I guess we felt we wanted to find some things about him today, and we found out we weren’t ready for this.”

Mott has won 4,878 races from nearly 25,000 starters in his storybook career. His win rate is 19 percent, meaning he knows what it’s like to lose. While it was far too soon to discuss what might be next for Hidden Scroll, the trainer managed a faint smile when perhaps looking ahead to happier days.

“We’ll turn the page,” he said.