Fire At Will, Drain the Clock new rivals for Greatest Honour in Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – A field of 10 topped by Holy Bull winner Greatest Honour and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf hero Fire At Will was drawn Wednesday for Saturday’s $300,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park. The Grade 2 Kentucky Derby prep tops a card that will feature seven other graded stakes, highlighted by the appearance of Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner and 2-year-old filly champion Vequist in the Grade 2 Davona Dale.

Greatest Honour will be favored to add the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth to his 5 3/4-length triumph going the same distance in the Grade 3 Holy Bull four weeks earlier. Despite his imposing performance that day, the Fountain of Youth has also attracted the next four finishers from the Holy Bull: runner-up Tarantino, Prime Factor (third), Papetu (fourth), and Jirafales (fifth).

Fire At Will and Drain the Clock will provide a couple of fresh and very talented new faces to challenge Greatest Honour on Saturday, with both having important questions to answer as they proceed along the Kentucky Derby trail. Can Fire At Will transfer his Breeders’ Cup-winning form on turf to the main track? Can the once-beaten Drain the Clock, runaway winner of the seven-furlong Swale on the Holy Bull undercard, carry his abundant speed around two turns against top-caliber opposition?

The entire field, in post-position order, consists of Drain the Clock, Prime Factor, Sososubtle, Fire At Will, Jirafales, King’s Ovation, Tarantino, Greatest Honour, Tiz Tact Toe, and Papetu.

The Fountain of Youth rewards the top four finishers with Kentucky Derby points on a 50-20-10-5 basis.

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the post position draw was the fact the two likely pacesetters Drain the Clock and Prime Factor drew inside and alongside one another in posts 1 and 2. Greatest Honour will break from post 8, one stall farther out than from where he won both the Holy Bull and a maiden race earlier in the meet. Both those races were at a mile and a sixteenth

Trainer Shug McGaughey said he is pleased with the way Greatest Honour has trained since posting his second straight victory.

“He’s breezed a couple of times, he’s two-minute-licked a couple of times, he’s going to school at Gulfstream on Wednesday, and thus far his development seems to be going the right way,” McGaughey, who sent out Orb to win the Fountain of Youth as a stepping-stone on the road to his victory in the 2013 Kentucky Derby, said early Wednesday.

As was the case in the Holy Bull, Jose Ortiz will be aboard Greatest Honour in the Fountain of Youth. Notable rider changes on Saturday include Kendrick Carmouche getting the mount back he lost in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf aboard Fire At Will, and Tyler Gaffalione replacing Edgard Zayas astride Tarantino. Zayas opted to keep his regular seat on Drain the Clock. In addition, Junior Alvarado has picked up the assignment on Papetu, while Javier Castellano gets the call for the first time on Jirafales.