To Honor and Serve draws post 7 for eight-horse Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – To Honor and Serve drew post position 7 and tops a field of eight 3-year-olds and Kentucky Derby hopefuls who will contest Saturday’s $400,000 Fountain of Youth.

The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth is one of three graded stakes for 3-year-olds on Saturday’s program, along with the Grade 2 Hutcheson and Grade 2 Davona Dale for fillies.

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To Honor and Serve will be making his first start since closing out his juvenile campaign with a two-length victory over recent Risen Star winner Mucho Macho Man in Aqueduct’s Grade 2 Remsen on Nov. 27. To be ridden by John Velazquez, he will face a field that includes, from the rail out Soldat (to be ridden by Alan Garcia), Gourmet Dinner (Ramon Dominguez), El Grayling (Rajiv Maragh), Casper’s Touch (Alex Solis), Bowman’s Causeway (Julien Leparoux), Racing Aptitude (Jose Lezcano) and Shackleford (Jesus Castanon).

Gourmet Dinner will have a new rider for the 1 1/8-mile Fountain of Youth with Dominguez coming down from New York to replace Sebastian Madrid, who has been aboard Gourmet Dinner, a homebred son of Trippi, in all seven previous starts. Gourmet Dinner looked sharp blowing out three furlongs in 34.80 seconds here on Wednesday.

Casper’s Touch will also have a new pilot for the Fountain of Youth, with Solis replacing Julien Leparoux, who picks up the mount for the first time on Bowman’s Causeway. Casper’s Touch was the victim of a very eventful trip when he finished second behind Shackleford in an entry-level allowance race here earlier in the meet.