Gorgeous Bird carries the Whitney torch

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Since 1968, the famed eton blue and brown silks of the Whitney family have been carried just once in the Kentucky Derby, when Birdstone ran eighth in 2004. Gorgeous Bird could revive a century-old tradition by running in the 141st Derby, but a couple of major tests await the gray colt, the first being the Fountain of Youth Stakes next Saturday, Feb. 21, at Gulfstream Park.

“This is all about the horse and the owner,” said trainer Ian Wilkes.

Marylou Whitney, the renowned socialite and philanthropist who married into the Whitney family in 1958, is the owner and breeder of Gorgeous Bird, a winner in 2 of 3 career starts. Now 89, she was on hand at Gulfstream on Jan. 24, when the colt won a one-mile, first-level optional-claiming race by seven lengths, punching his ticket to the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth.

“Mrs. Whitney wasn’t able to come down to the winner’s circle, but she did enjoy watching the horse win,” said Wilkes.

Wilkes said Whitney and her husband, John Hendrickson, plan to return from their Palm Beach, Fla., winter home for the Fountain of Youth, a 1 1/16-mile race that shapes up as the most critical East Coast prep for the Kentucky Derby thus far. Gorgeous Bird could be the third choice in a lineup expected to have Upstart and Frosted as favorites.

“If we’re to make the Derby, it would have to be with a real shot,” said Wilkes, who has never had his own Derby starter but was an assistant to Carl Nafzger in winning the Derby twice, with Unbridled in 1990 and Street Sense in 2007.

“Mrs. Whitney and John are the same way. If we go, it will be with a chance. They haven’t said a word about wanting to run. They’re all about the horse. They say, ‘Don’t push him,’ to take care of him, and if the horse makes it, all the better.”

Gorgeous Bird was sired by the late Unbridled’s Song and produced by Elusive Bird, a daughter of Whitney’s 2003 champion 3-year-old filly and Kentucky Oaks winner, Bird Town. The Whitney blood runs deep in the pedigree, although presumably not all the way back to the family’s first Derby starter, Regret, the legendary filly who captured the Derby 100 years ago this May for Harry Payne Whitney, the father of Marylou Whitney’s late husband, C.V. “Sonny” Whitney, who died in 1992. Harry Payne Whitney also won the 1927 Derby with Whiskery.

“It’s an honor and a privilege to train for a client with such great tradition,” said Wilkes, best known for winning the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic with Fort Larned.

Wilkes has about 60 horses split between the Palm Meadows training center and Tampa Bay Downs. Away from his family home in Louisville, Ky., for the winter, he stays in an efficiency apartment on the Palm Meadows grounds. Nafzger is still semi-active in the operation of the stable and “comes to the barn maybe four or five times a week” from Dania Beach, Fla., said Wilkes.

True to the Nafzger philosophy that sometimes defies conventional training methods, Wilkes sent Gorgeous Bird out for a five-furlong workout Friday at Palm Meadows in a bullet 59.60 seconds, just four days after a more leisurely five-furlong breeze in 1:03.80.

“I didn’t get what I wanted Monday, so I had to come right back,” said Wilkes. As to whether the colt will work again before the Fountain of Youth: “I don’t know. We’ll see how he does. Most likely, I’ll stretch his legs a little before the race.”

Wilkes said he is somewhat apprehensive that the Gulfstream surface might not favor the late-running style of Gorgeous Bird. In both a November maiden race at Churchill Downs and the more recent allowance, the colt rallied from seventh to win.

“The horse does have some tactical speed, but it’s pretty well known that sometimes these tracks can be very speed-favoring on the big race days,” he said. As to whether the March 28 Florida Derby would follow the Fountain of Youth as a final would-be prep for the May 2 Kentucky Derby, Wilkes said: “One step. Building blocks.”

Gorgeous Bird, who closed at 32-1 as a separate interest last weekend in Pool 2 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, will be ridden again by Joel Rosario, who won the 2013 Derby aboard Orb.

Gulfstream racing officials are expecting eight to 11 3-year-olds for the Fountain of Youth, with the other definites being Bluegrass Singer, Danny Boy, Frammento, Itsaknockout, and Juan and Bina.

The Fountain of Youth is the highlight of another huge Gulfstream program. Six other graded stakes also will be run Saturday, including the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida, which will mark the 2015 debut of two-time 2014 champion Main Sequence.

Entries for all Saturday races will be taken Monday.