Horses on the Kentucky Derby trail typically need to overcome a hurdle or two. A few colts set to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park are fair examples.
A full and extremely competitive field of 12 3-year-olds, plus one also-eligible, was drawn Monday for Saturday's $400,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, the final key local prep for the $1 million Florida Derby on April 2.
One of the longer-priced starters in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park on Saturday figures to be In Due Time, trained by Kelly Breen. The chestnut Not This Time colt will be making his stakes debut after earning a 92 Beyer Speed Figure in a Feb. 4 allowance victory going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream.
Straight Up G might have punched his ticket to the Grade 3, $500,000 Sunland Derby with his wire-to-wire win Sunday in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby at Sunland Park.
Slow Down Andy, winner of the Grade 2 Los Alamitos Futurity in December but only sixth of 10 in the Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes on Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds, will be pointed to the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes on April 9 at Keeneland, trainer Doug O’Neill said over the weekend.
Un Ojo, who ran well when second in what appeared to be a weak Withers, scored a 75-1 upset here in another Derby prep that grades out below average, with a Beyer Speed Figure more reflective of a first-level allowance.
Un Ojo gave trainer Ricky Courville and jockey Ramon Vazquez their richest career victories Saturday by pulling off a 75-1 upset in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park. The Laoban gelding also picked up 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.
Simplification, who overcame a slow start to finish a game second in the Grade 3 Holy Bull, will have a new rider when he goes postward among the favorites in next Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
A capacity field of 12 3-year-olds could be taking shape for the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth, a critical Kentucky Derby prep to be run at Gulfstream Park next Saturday.
Newgrange will be meeting both familiar and fresh rivals Saturday when he seeks to run his career record to 4 for 4 in the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel at Oaklawn Park. The 1 1/16-mile race has lured the first five finishers from the Southwest Stakes, which Newgrange won, as well as shipper Un Ojo and the exciting local runner Chasing Time.
