HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A year ago, Sovereignty used his victory in the Fountain of Youth as a stepping-stone to winning the Kentucky Derby and eventually the ultimate prize of being named Horse of the Year. On Saturday, a new group of 3-year-olds with similarly lofty aspirations will enter the starting gate for the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, which goes as the finale on an outstanding 14-race program at Gulfstream Park. Hopefully, weather will not be an issue, with the early forecast calling for better than a 60 percent chance of rain. First post is 11:30 a.m. The Fountain of Youth offers Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top five finishers on a scale of 50-25-15-10-5. Eleven horses were originally entered, but the $425,000 Fountain of Youth will scratch down to a maximum of 10 after trainer Rohan Crichton reported Thursday he will scratch Global Avaiator after the horse was diagnosed with a bone bruise that will keep him sidelined for several months. The remaining lineup is strong and features three of the top 20 horses on Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch – Commandment, Napoleon Solo, and Bravaro. The field also includes the undefeated pair of Solitude Dude and Jackson Hole. Solitude Dude’s three victories include two stakes and have come by a combined margin of 21 1/4 lengths. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2026: Top contenders, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more That being said, there are plenty of questions to answer Saturday, the most noteworthy being who can handle the 1 1/16-mile distance? Jackson Hole is the only member of the field to have previously won a race around two turns, an allowance at Fair Grounds in his 3-year-old bow Jan. 17. Commandment will likely go postward the favorite on the strength of his 6 3/4-length triumph in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man here Jan. 3. He punctuated his outstanding performance, for which he received a 91 Beyer Speed Figure, with an eye-catching gallop-out that has given his connections confidence that he will handle the added ground without issue. Trainer Brad Cox opted to bypass the Grade 3 Holy Bull four weeks ago to give Commandment plenty of time to recuperate from the Mucho Macho Man. “I didn’t want to bring him back in the Holy Bull in just four weeks,” Cox said. “Our goal is the Kentucky Derby, and I thought this race made good sense and hopefully will serve as a stepping-stone for his final Derby prep either in the Florida Derby or Blue Grass.” Commandment has had five works since the Mucho Macho Man over the demanding track at Payson Park. “I love the way he’s been training, especially the gallop-outs at the end of his works,” Cox said. “I really liked the way he was able to settle in behind horses, accelerated down the lane, and how strong he galloped out after his last race. And that, along with the way he’s trained, gives me a lot of confidence he will handle two turns.” Not only is Napoleon Solo the lone graded stakes winner in the field, he is a Grade 1 winner having dominated the Champagne by 6 1/2 lengths despite setting a break-neck pace in only his second career start last fall at Aqueduct. He earned a lofty 95 Beyer in the Champagne but has not started since. His connections bypassed the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and instead set a long-range goal of pointing to the Kentucky Derby, with the Fountain of Youth always penciled in as his first target at 3. :: Get Gulfstream Park Clocker Reports from Mike Welsch and the Clocker Team. Available every race day.  “The Champagne was one of those kind of knock your socks off performances, especially when considering how fast he was going early on,” trainer Chad Summers said. “It was a tough and maybe not popular decision to pass the Breeders’ Cup, but at end of the day we felt like he’d accomplished a lot as a 2-year-old in a brief period of time and we knew exactly where wanted to go down the road.” Summers said Napoleon Solo has “hit every target” preparing for his return but cautions he is likely not 100 percent “ready to rock and roll” on Saturday. “He’s not 100 percent for this race by design, we don’t want him peaking now, we want his best race to come on May 2,” Summers said, referring to the date of the Kentucky Derby. “But that being said, I don’t have any doubt he can get a mile and one-sixteenth. “He hasn’t been breezing as fast as he was as a 2-year-old because we’re trying to get him fit to go 10 furlongs in the Derby and focusing more on his gallop-outs than his pure speed. We already know he is really fast.” The ability to stay 1 1/16 miles is the key to Solitude Dude’s chances of keeping his résumé unblemished. His three wins have come at distances ranging from six furlongs in the Inaugural Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs to the seven-eighths he negotiated with little problem winning the Swale here Jan. 31. Each of his victories came with a different jockey, a trend that will continue when trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. turns the reins over to Flavien Prat on Saturday. “I think talent-wise, ability-wise, he’s the fastest horse in the race on figures, on all the figures,” Joseph said. “But he has to go out and prove it around two turns. His last work gave me confidence that he can do it.” Solitude Dude worked five furlongs in 1:00.30 on Feb. 20 at Palm Meadows. Bravaro is the second of three runners Joseph will send out, along with the outsider Bull by the Horns. Bravaro won his first two starts against New York-breds at 2 before tasting defeat for the first time when a distant second to the odds-on Nearly in the Grade 3 Holy Bull going 1 1/16 miles for the first time Jan. 31. “He was second best in the Holy Bull but he ran well,” Joseph said. “He’s come back and trained well since that race. From all the signs he’s showing, I think he’s sitting on a big race.” Jackson Hole was very impressive drawing off to a 5 1/2-length allowance victory last month at Fair Grounds, but the 84 Beyer Figure he received is well below the best numbers posted by several other contenders in the Fountain of Youth. :: Play Gulfstream Park with confidence! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports are available now.  Jackson Hole will break from the rail, normally an advantageous post in races decided at this distance locally, but perhaps not as much in light of the track bias that has dominated the majority of main-track races here this year. “Hopefully, he can break alertly and secure good position going into the first turn,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. Chief Wallabee is arguably among the most talented members of the lineup, but he also is the least experienced. He comes into the race off just a single start, a visually impressive 1 1/2-length tally over the subsequently stakes-placed The Puma going seven furlongs here Jan. 10. He raced very professionally while rating, then rallying smartly from off the pace to earn a promising 89 Beyer. “He got a late start, and this is not the progression I wanted,” trainer Bill Mott said. “The whole thing is a rush job but at the same time will answer a lot of questions.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.