Irish War Cry likely to face about nine rivals in Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – A field of up to 10 3-year-olds is taking shape for the second of three major Kentucky Derby preps to be run this winter at Gulfstream Park, the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth on Saturday.

The 1 1/16-mile fixture will be headed by Irish War Cry and Gunnevera, the one-two finishers in the Grade 2 Holy Bull here Feb. 4. They will be joined by Practical Joke, who will make his first start since finishing third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Nov. 5, and Three Rules, the runner-up in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes in his only appearance since the Breeders’ Cup.

The others who have been committed to the Fountain of Youth, with their probable riders, are the lightly raced but improving Beasley (Irad Ortiz Jr.); Peruvian import Huracan Americo (Edgar Prado); the impressive maiden winner Lookin for Eight (Julien Leparoux); Made You Look (John Velazquez), who has raced exclusively on turf; Takaful (Paco Lopez), third in the Grade 2 Remsen at 2; and Talk Logistics (Joe Bravo), who finished a distant fourth in the Holy Bull.

The final pre-race works for nearly all the leading contenders went smoothly over the weekend and were met with rave reviews by their connections, save for Gunnevera, whose final scheduled work on Saturday at Gulfstream Park West was obscured by fog and could not be timed by track clockers or trainer Antonio Sano.

The only one who really knows how Gunnevera went is jockey Edgard Zayas, who said his horse breezed an easy five furlongs and galloped out strongly after the wire. Although Zayas regularly works Gunnevera, the horse will be ridden in the Fountain of Youth by Javier Castellano.

Trainer Graham Motion called Irish War Cry’s five-furlong work Saturday at Palm Meadows “really perfect.” It was the undefeated Irish War Cry’s only breeze since his 3 1/4-length victory in the Holy Bull.

“That’s how I do things,” Motion said. “I don’t normally work horses until three weeks after they run.”

Irish War Cry led throughout under jockey Joel Rosario in the Holy Bull, but Motion doesn’t believe he has to be on the lead again Saturday.

“I don’t think he’s a need-the-lead kind of horse,” said Motion. “My main concern is that he settles. He’s sat off horses before and handled it fine.”

Rosario, who has also ridden Practical Joke in his last two starts, will retain the mount on Irish War Cry. Practical Joke blew out an easy half-mile in 48.19 seconds at Palm Meadows on Sunday for trainer Chad Brown. He’ll be ridden by Jose Ortiz.

“He’s hit every day I’ve asked him to work, and when that happens, it means he’s coming up to a big race,” said Brown. “He’s clearly at a disadvantage not having had a race, but we’re at a different point in our development than some of the others. Certainly, I’d love to win this race, but we’re looking down the road first and foremost, looking for a solid effort we can move forward from.”

Three Rules worked five furlongs in 59.06 on Friday at Gulfstream Park with his new rider, Luis Saez, aboard. Saez will replace Cornelio Velasquez, who was aboard in all seven of Three Rules’s previous starts.

Trainer Mark Hennig said he’s made some equipment changes for Beasley’s stakes debut.

“He’s been screwing around on the turn in a couple of his previous starts, kind of lugging out and acting like he didn’t want to get down against the rail, but I think we’ve got that straightened out,” said Hennig. “He’s still learning, and obviously this is a tough spot. But you’ve got to find out where you stand, and staying home, at least for this race, looks like our best option. If we’re not happy with our post or something else comes up, we can always wait another week and go to Tampa.”