Hidden Scroll to get acid test in Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A little more than a week after Hidden Scroll announced his presence to the world with a romping 14-length debut victory at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 26, his Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott, was musing that he was “going to ruin my reputation.”

“Can’t win first time. Can’t win the Derby,” he said, laughing.

Hidden Scroll completed the first half of that parlay. He’ll try to continue toward the second half on Saturday at Gulfstream in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes, for which he is the morning-line favorite.

It’s a tall order. Hidden Scroll’s lone race was a one-turn mile on a sloppy, sealed track against maidens. Now, he’ll go two turns on a fast track in a Grade 2 stakes race in only his second start while facing 10 rivals, all of whom have more experience. It’s certainly an unusual tack for Mott, and on Thursday morning he acknowledged the two most-likely outcomes.

“We’re going to find out if he’s a contender or a pretender,” Mott said as Hidden Scroll prepared to go out for his morning training here Thursday at Gulfstream. “He’s done all the right things coming out of the race. He’s either going to go forward or take two steps back.”

The Fountain of Youth, at 1 1/16 miles, offers 50 points to the winner based on the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the May 4 Kentucky Derby. It is the deepest Derby prep run this year, as it attracted six members of Daily Racing Form’s Derby Watch top 20 – Bourbon War, Code of Honor, Global Campaign, Hidden Scroll, Signalman, and Vekoma.

Mott said Hidden Scroll trained like a top colt prior to his debut, which he won at 8-1.

“I thought he could run, but I had no idea he’d run 1:34 and change and win by 14,” he said.

Mott said going in a stakes race instead of a first-level allowance is not as big a leap as it may appear on paper.

“It’s kind of a logical spot. One of our main contenders, Stanley Hough’s colt,” he said, referring to Global Campaign, “just won an allowance. Sometimes those races come up just as tough for this age group. The horse has trained well, and he’s got a pretty good mind.”

Bourbon War, like Global Campaign, also was an allowance winner earlier this meet going 1 1/16 miles. He is 2 for 3, with his lone loss coming when fourth in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen just 17 days after a debut win at Aqueduct.

“He got a lot of experience out of the Remsen,” Mark Hennig, who trains Bourbon War, said at his Gulfstream barn Thursday morning. “Second race, right into the fire off his maiden win, at the time taking-a-shot kind of thing. In hindsight, I’m glad we did it. He got to go a mile and an eighth on Dec. 1, so we didn’t have to do as much before his first race here. He had six weeks to his last race, five to this. It’s nice spacing.”

Code of Honor, last year’s runner-up in the Grade 1 Champagne, is seeking to bounce back from a fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Mucho Macho Man on Jan. 5. He drew the rail for his first try around two turns.

“Save ground, go around the first turn, sit and wait,” his trainer, Shug McGaughey, said Thursday at Gulfstream, outlining his ideal trip.

McGaughey said Code of Honor has “trained well of late,” with jockey John Velazquez going to Payson Park for a couple of the drills.

“I’ve trained him a little bit harder. He seemed to take it well, which is a good thing,” McGaughey said.

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Vekoma, unbeaten in two starts, also is trying two turns. This is his first race since the Grade 3 Nashua on Nov. 4. He is using Lasix for the first time.

Signalman is making his first start since winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club on Nov. 24. He also was third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He should have plenty of pace to attack.

Frosted Grace, fifth in the Swale most recently, should be part of that pace as he tries two turns for the first time.

Everfast (second) and Epic Dreamer (fourth) exit a slowly rated Holy Bull on Feb. 2. Union’s Destiny drew the outside for his first try around two turns. Gladiator King, last of nine in the Holy Bull, looks overmatched.

The Fountain of Youth is race 13 on a 14-race card that begins at 11:30 a.m. Eastern with two claiming races and a maiden claimer. Then it gets real good. There are eight other graded stakes on the card, most notably the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale, a Kentucky Oaks prep for 3-year-old fillies that marks the 2019 debut of last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, Jaywalk, winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.

Pool guarantees for Saturday include $750,000 for the late pick four (races 11-14), $500,000 for the late pick five (races 10-14), and $750,000 for the Rainbow 6 (races 9-14, with the guarantee in effect only if the jackpot is not hit before Saturday).