Greatest Honour on upward trajectory for Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – Although the supporting cast is a strong one, all eyes will be on Greatest Honour as he attempts to continue his forward march along the Kentucky Derby trail with a victory in Saturday’s $300,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes for 3-year-olds going 1 1/16 miles. The Grade 2 fixture highlights an outstanding 14-race program at Gulfstream Park that features nine stakes, eight of them graded, along with the 3-year-old debuts of two Breeders’ Cup winners, Fire At Will in the Fountain of Youth and 2-year-old filly champion Vequist in the Grade 2 Davona Dale.

The Fountain of Youth, which goes as the final race of the day, offers 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to be awarded on a 50-20-10-5 basis. First post for the marathon card is 11:30 a.m.

For trainer Shug McGaughey and many others, Greatest Honour is already conjuring up memories of his 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb. The inevitable comparisons between the two began in earnest following Greatest Honour’s extremely impressive 5 3/4-length victory under Jose Ortiz in the Grade 3 Holy Bull here on Jan. 30. That performance came five weeks after the son of Tapit overcame a perilous trip to finally win his maiden in his fourth career start.

Orb did not run in the Holy Bull but used a victory in a nine-furlong alowance race locally as a prelude to his 2 3/4-length triumph in the 2013 Fountain of Youth.

While McGaughey tries to downplay the comparisons between the two horses at this stage of the season, it is hard even for the Hall of Fame horseman to refrain from referencing Orb when discussing how Greatest Honour has progressed to this still early but crucial point in his 3-year-old campaign.

“His development is going the right way,” said McGaughey. “He even seems to have rounded up some since he ran the last time. His development stage is a lot like Orb’s was at this time, although he’s still got some growing up to do. When Orb got to the Derby he was exactly where he needed to be. Hopefully this horse will be there too.”

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McGaughey, who has acknowledged all along that Greatest Honour should get even better the farther he goes, said he wasn’t surprised his horse won the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, but rather surprised with the ease with which he won the race.

“I really didn’t know he was at that point yet,” said McGaughey. “Fortunately, I don’t think he overdid it in the Holy Bull. Looking at his [past performance] lines, he seems to be moving forward with each start, without going through the roof. You always worry about mile and one-sixteenth races here – it’s not the best thing for him – but I really liked the way Jose rode him the other day. He had him in position to move on the speed when he needed to, rather than being where he just hopes they come back to him. There looks like a little speed in this field with Drain the Clock and Prime Factor in there. Hopefully they’ll set some kind of pace that will set things up for him.”

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Fire At Will rallied from just off the pace to a convincing three-length victory over Battleground in the Juvenile Turf. The win was the third in four starts at 2 for Fire At Will, who also captured the Grade 2 Pilgrim on the turf at Belmont and the With Anticipation at Saratoga, a race taken off the grass and decided at seven furlongs over a sloppy main track with just a four-horse field. Fire At Will has worked exclusively on the dirt throughout his career. Kendrick Carmouche, who guided him to victory in the Pilgrim but missed the Breeders’ Cup, is back in the irons on Saturday.

Drain the Clock is another intriguing new face to Gulfstream’s Kentucky Derby prep series. He stretches out beyond seven furlongs for the first time and brings a record of four wins in five starts. Drain the Clock’s lone loss came when his rider fell off due to a broken boot a quarter-mile into the Jean Lafitte Stakes at Delta Downs in his 2-year-old finale.

A son of Maclean’s Music, Drain the Clock is perfect in three starts at Gulfstream Park, with those victories by a combined margin of 19 3/4 lengths, including a 6 1/4-length triumph in the Grade 3, seven-furlong Swale four weeks ago.

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Drain the Clock has been on or just off the early pace in all his races, and will probably use his speed from the rail.

“He’s unbeaten on this track, and if there’s any track he should go the distance, it’s this one,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He’s naturally fast enough that if he breaks well, he should be on the lead. The dam’s side is all stamina, so a mile and one-sixteenth should be no problem.”

The second- through fifth-place finishers behind Greatest Honour in the Holy Bull – Tarantino, Prime Factor, Papetu, and Jirafales – will try him again on Saturday.

Tarantino won twice on grass before proving he could transfer his form to dirt when easily second best in the Holy Bull. Prime Factor faded to finish a distant third in the Holy Bull as the favorite stretching around two turns. He was coming off an 85-Beyer, 8 3/4-length victory going six furlongs in his career debut.

“We have to hope by running in that race and coming back with a couple of good breezes that he’s able to close the gap a little bit and will be able to improve,” trainer Todd Pletcher said.