Greatest Honour vs. Drain the Clock showdown possible in Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The connections of both Greatest Honour and Drain the Clock, runaway winners of the Grade 3 Holy Bull and Swale stakes respectively here Saturday, have left the door open for the two promising 3-year-olds to possibly meet for the first time in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here Feb. 27.

Trainer Shug McGaughey said the Fountain of Youth would be the logical spot for Greatest Honour’s next start following his decisive and eye-catching 5 3/4-length victory under jockey Jose Ortiz in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, his second win in as many starts since shipping to South Florida for the winter.

“I think his performance was even better than I expected,” McGaughey said while confirming all was well with Greatest Honour the morning after the race. “Jose (Ortiz) did a great job saving ground early and putting him in a great position, and by the time he got to the quarter pole I felt pretty confident he was going to win.”

McGaughey said he would let his horse dictate what will be next.

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“I’m not taking him out of Florida unless I’m forced to,” McGaughey said. “The Fountain of Youth is the race I’ve always had in mind, but I won’t have any trouble getting him ready for the Florida Derby if I choose not to run him there.”

Greatest Honour earned an 89 Beyer Speed Figure for his performance in the Holy Bull, six points higher than the number he posted after overcoming a very eventful trip to win his maiden here five weeks earlier.

“I really like the progression from his last race to this one,” McGaughey said. “I didn’t want to see he got a 103 or something like that for this last race. I want to save that for a couple of months down the road. My main thought all along has been that this is a process, knowing he’s only going to get better the farther he goes.”

Comparisons are already being made between Greatest Honour and McGaughey’s 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb, both of whom graduated in their fourth career start, then followed that with an impressive win around two turns at Gulfstream Park. Although Orb, unlike Greatest Honour, won his 3-year-old debut in an allowance race, not a graded stakes, before going on to capture the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby as preludes to his victory in the Kentucky Derby.

“I think it’s more a matter of circumstance than anything else that this horse seems to be following the same path that Orb did,” McGaughey said. “That’s where the comparison stops, however, since physically the two horses are really nothing alike.”

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said Drain the Clock was also doing well Sunday morning exiting his 6 1/4-length triumph in the seven-furlong Swale, even though he did suffer a minor cut on his leg at some point in the race.

“It’s nothing serious, I’m not even sure when it happened,” Joseph said. “It probably occurred down the backstretch when the one horse (Likeable) came out in front of him. It was about the only time in the whole race anybody was near him.”

Drain the Clock had overcome a potentially more serious problem less than two weeks prior to the Swale when he suffered a brief case of colic, which obviously did not bother him in the least Saturday. The son of Maclean’s Music matched the career-best 85 Beyer Figure he had received for his similarly one-sided victory in the 6 1/2-furlong Limehouse Stakes four weeks earlier.

“We really hadn’t thought about the possibility of stretching him around two turns going into this race,” Joseph said. “We just wanted to get him to seven furlongs yesterday (Saturday) and then decide from there. But after this performance, I think all those types of races are now on the table, with the Fountain of Youth obviously the most logical choice since it is right here in our own backyard. Obviously Greatest Honour is a very good horse and it would make sense he’d be heading to that race as well, although it won’t matter to us who the competition might be if that’s the direction we decide to take next.”

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset also did not rule out the possibility that Holy Bull runner-up Tarantino could end up wheeling back in the Fountain of Youth as well. Tarantino did a lot of the dirty work, forcing the pace from the outset, before holding on willingly to be clearly second-best while proving no match for Greatest Honour in the Holy Bull. The outing was his first on dirt after having launched his career with a pair of wins and a close second-place finish, all on the turf, at 2.

“Edgard (Zayas) gave him a good, strong ride, got him out there and put him in a good rhythm and I thought he hung on and dug in pretty gamely to the wire,” Brisset said. “And off that I think he deserves another try on the dirt.”

Brisset said his primary options for Tarantino’s next start are either the Fountain of Youth or Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby one week later.

“Twenty-four hours is a little soon to be making any definite decision, but he just ran the best race of his life, it was only his fourth start, so all he needs is one more step forward to put him in the big picture,” Brisset said. “I’d like something four to six weeks out, so I think the Fountain of Youth could be possible or the Tampa Bay Derby would be a good landing place, too. I like the timing.”