Pinchin refuses to second-guess game plan with Three Rules

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Although tempted to launch Three Rules’s 3-year-old campaign in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park last weekend, trainer Jose Pinchin stuck to his original plan and began the year on a more conservative note in the seven-furlong Swale.

And despite seeing Three Rules drop a three-quarter-length decision to Favorable Outcome in the Grade 2 Swale and then watching 2-year-old male champion Classic Empire disappoint in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, Pinchin does not regret his decision.

“I still feel we made the right choice running in the Swale because you have to think down the road; you don’t want to burn him out in one shot,” said Pinchin.

Making his first start since suffering his only setback in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Three Rules rallied from just off the pace to take command in early stretch of the Swale before succumbing grudgingly to Favorable Outcome. Three Rules earned a 92 Beyer Speed Figure for his effort, matching his career best from last summer’s six-furlong Dr. Fager here.

“You’re always disappointed when you lose, but I thought he ran real well,” said Pinchin. “That was a very nice horse we got beat by on Saturday, and I think our horse probably needed the race. It looked like when he got to the eighth pole, he got a little tired, and that was after stumbling a little at the start. But he galloped out really well. In fact, I thought his gallop-out was his best part of the race.”

Pinchin said Three Rules will make his next appearance in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at 1 1/16 miles on March 4.

“He came out of this race perfect, went back to the track this morning, and I’ll probably give him just one work leading up to the Fountain of Youth,” Pinchin said on Wednesday. “That’s all he should need.”

Trainer Antonio Sano said Wednesday that he has decided to bring Holy Bull runner-up Gunnevera back in the Fountain of Youth.

“Right now, we have a change in plan,” said Sano. “Originally, we were going to skip the Fountain of Youth and go right into the Florida Derby, but I want to make sure this horse is nice and relaxed by the time we get to Kentucky, and the extra experience should help him.”

Sano also believes, based on what he was told by jockey Javier Castellano, that Gunnevera might have won the Holy Bull had he not been forced to check inside Talk Logistics, ridden by Paco Lopez, approaching the five-sixteenths pole.

“Javier said he thought he could have won if he didn’t get bumped by Paco’s horse like that on the turn,” said Sano.

J Boys Echo also could wind up in the Fountain of Youth following his third-place finish last Saturday behind the odds-on El Areeb at Aqueduct in the Grade 3 Withers.

“When a spot on the plane to New York came open and it became an easy ship, I thought the Withers was the logical place to run him because it looked like the Holy Bull was coming up really tough,” said Dale Romans, who trains J Boys Echo.

“He finished strong, he got his best [Ragozin Sheets] number, and I thought it was a very good first step for the year. Obviously, we’ll consider the Fountain of Youth for his next start, but we’ll also shop around because with these type horses, the next round is when the [Derby] points really start getting important.”