The Fountain of Youth is not the only race on Saturday’s outstanding program likely to have Florida Derby and perhaps Kentucky Derby implications. The sixth race on the card, a 1 1/16-mile optional-claiming event, drew an outstanding field of 10 3-year-olds, many of whom have Derby aspirations.
Honor Code breezed an easy half-mile in 49.55 seconds at Gulfstream on Wednesday. The work was the second for Honor Code since he shipped here from Payson Park after missing some training time due to bruised ankles earlier this winter.
Bond Holder will be scratched from the Risen Star Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds due to body soreness caused by a rough flight from Los Angeles to New Orleans.
Although Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth drew a field of 13 talented 3-year-olds, it failed to attract the top three finishers from the Grade 2 Holy Bull here last month – Cairo Prince, Conquest Titan, and Intense Holiday.
Although their credentials stood out, the winners of the two stakes here over the holiday weekend just managed to get the job done.
What jockey Gerard Melancon gave up making his move from Fair Grounds to Delta Downs was a chance to get on higher-class horses. But he has one Saturday: Melancon rides Rise Up in the Grade 2, $400,000 Risen Star.
“Todd Pletcher” is the name you see in the headline, but the names of Pletcher’s pair of 3-year-olds scheduled to start Saturday at Fair Grounds – Intense Holiday in the Risen Star and Got Lucky in the Rachel Alexandra – don’t appear to be written in large, bold letters.
Not only was trainer Steve Asmussen pleased to see Tapiture win his seasonal debut in the Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park following some impressive works, but he was also thrilled for owner Winchell Thoroughbreds, which has long sent horses to receive their earliest training lessons at the El Primero Training Center operated by Asmussen’s parents, Keith and Marilyn.
The 3-year-old Mexikoma makes his return to the starting gate in an allowance race on Saturday’s Fountain of Youth card at Gulfstream Park. Last seen in November when he finished sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, Mexikoma breezed a half-mile Tuesday morning at Palm Meadows in 49.05 seconds.
Tapiture, who broke his maiden last fall while winning the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs, was on the muscle for his 2014 debut, aggressively winning this 1 1/16-mile event by 4 1/4 lengths over heavily favored Strong Mandate at Oaklawn Park on Monday, Feb. 17.
