Hidden Scroll takes 104 Beyer into Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – After Bill Mott finally had an opportunity to spend an appreciable amount of time around Hidden Scroll this fall at Payson Park, he phoned his longtime assistant, Kenny McCarthy, about the colt.

“Bill half-jokingly said to me, ‘You said this horse was nice,’ ” recalled McCarthy, who oversaw the colt’s training last summer at Churchill Downs while his Hall of Fame boss was otherwise occupied in New York. “But you didn’t tell me he was this nice.”

It was on a rainy Pegasus World Cup Day, Jan. 26, at Gulfstream Park that the racing world got to see just how nice. Hidden Scroll ran off the proverbial television screen when earning a 104 Beyer Speed Figure in winning his career debut by 14 lengths. The victory immediately stamped Hidden Scroll as one of the early favorites for the 145th Kentucky Derby, a lofty status the Juddmonte Farms homebred will be looking to enhance when he makes his second career start next Saturday in an outstanding renewal of the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream.

For McCarthy, a Mott employee since 1995, the jaw-dropping performance validated his professional assessment of Hidden Scroll, whose talent had been on display since shortly after the Hard Spun colt was sent to him at Churchill in mid-June from Juddmonte in Lexington, Ky.

“When he arrived, the farm [workers] said he was a bit of a quirky horse, that little things could become a big issue with him in a hurry,” said McCarthy, 47. “So they just wanted us to take our time with him, let him mature a little bit. But once we got him on the track, he adapted really quick. We were expecting the worst, and it turned out that he was very adaptable and fit right into our program. Looking back now, he showed us pretty quick that he could run.”

McCarthy – who oversees the stable’s Gulfstream-based string during the championship meet while Mott typically does his morning work at Payson – actually had hoped to run Hidden Scroll in a maiden race at the September meet at Churchill.

“Then we were going to win the Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Churchill with him,” he said with a grin. “That was my grand plan, anyway.”

But the colt was spooked one September morning on the shed row, kicked a wall, and suffered a puncture wound that forced him to be treated at a clinic. After a little more time back at Juddmonte, the colt then was sent to Payson for a series of December and January works.

“We’re all extremely excited about him,” McCarthy said.

Hidden Scroll is one of at least 10 confirmed prospects for the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth that offers 85 qualifying points (50-20-10-5) toward the May 4 Kentucky Derby. The others are Admire, Bourbon War, Code of Honor, Everfast, Frosted Grace, Maximus Mischief, Signalman, Union’s Destiny, and Vekoma. Entries for all Saturday races will be drawn Wednesday.

Hidden Scroll had his last pre-race breeze toward the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth on Friday at Payson, going five furlongs in 1:00.80 in company with another Juddmonte 3-year-old, Tacitus. In fact, the final round of works for virtually all Fountain of Youth starters was expected this weekend – including an easy half-mile in 48.80 seconds for Bourbon War here Friday and a scheduled Sunday work for Maximus Mischief, both at Gulfstream.

Another race with potential impact toward the first weekend of May at Churchill will be run on the Fountain of Youth undercard when Jaywalk makes her seasonal debut in the Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale, a one-mile race offering 85 qualifying points toward the May 3 Kentucky Oaks. Feedback, winner of the Forward Gal here earlier this month for Chad Brown, is expected among the challengers to the reigning divisional champion, along with Champagne Anyone, Jeltrin, Queen of Beas, and probably a few more 3-year-old fillies.

The Fountain of Youth and Davona Dale are among nine graded stakes on a blockbuster Saturday card. The others are the Gulfstream Park Sprint and six turf races – the Mac Diarmida, The Very One, Canadian Turf, Honey Fox, Palm Beach, and Herecomesthebride.