Prime Factor gets second chance to shine in Fountain of Youth

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Less than four weeks ago, Prime Factor was all the rage heading into the Grade 3 Holy Bull here. But after finishing a tiring third as the even-money favorite in his stakes debut, Prime Factor will take a back seat to both Holy Bull winner Greatest Honour and Breeders’ Cup hero Fire At Will when he gets a second chance on the Triple Crown trail in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.

Prime Factor burst on to the scene in spectacular fashion, winning his career debut by 8 3/4 lengths going six furlongs here Dec. 12, earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. He rated well placed off an honest early pace when stretching to 1 1/16 miles in the Holy Bull, but came up empty after seven furlongs, proving no match for Greatest Honour while also fading nearly four lengths behind runner-up Tarantino.

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Pletcher, who has won the Fountain of Youth three times, most recently with Itsaknockout in 2015, noted that the Holy Bull wasn’t his first choice for Prime Factor coming off his eye-catching maiden win.

“The original idea was to come back in some sort of an allowance race, which never materialized,” Pletcher explained. “I think we jumped into the deep end, considering the amount of experience the winner had compared to what we had. I think that made a difference. So we have to hope by running in that race and coming back with a couple of good breezes that he’s able to close the gap a little bit and will be able to improve.”

Prime Factor, the only horse Pletcher plans to enter from among the four horses he nominated to the Fountain of Youth, will again have Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard. Post positions for the Fountain of Youth will be drawn Wednesday.

Prime Factor will see many familiar faces when he arrives to the paddock for the Fountain of Youth, which is expected to lure the top five finishers from the Holy Bull, including Greatest Honour, Tarantino, Papetu, and Jirafales. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will and the once-beaten Drain the Clock, who dominated the Grade 3 Swale on the Holy Bull undercard, are the two new kids on the block in the Fountain of Youth.

Dale Romans said Monday he plans to start one of the five horses he’s nominated to the Fountain of Youth, which include Sittin On Go, the sixth-place finisher in the Holy Bull.

Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. opted to keep Drain the Clock locally rather than ship him to Aqueduct the following week for the Gotham. Drain the Clock worked five furlongs here Sunday in 1:00.70, with his final quarter in 22.96 seconds, in company with his older stakes-winning stablemate Sound Machine.

“He’s unbeaten over this track and it makes things a lot easier just to lead him over out of his own stall than to ship to New York,” Joseph explained after announcing his decision early Monday afternoon.

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Trainer Antonio Sano, who won the 2017 Fountain of Youth with Gunnevera, said he thought Papetu “moved a little too soon” in the Holy Bull, getting within a couple of lengths of the leaders after six furlongs before fading to finish fourth, 10 1/4 lengths behind Greatest Honour.

“I thought it was a good race for him, first time going two turns, but I wasn’t 100 percent happy with the way the race went,” Sano said. “Hopefully, things will be different this Saturday.”

Papetu turned in his final work for the Fountain of Youth on Sunday at Gulfstream Park West, where he went five furlongs in 1:01.40. Greatest Honour also completed his preparations for the race on Sunday, breezing an easy half-mile in 51.20 at Payson Park, while Fire At Will went five furlongs in 1:02.75 in company before easing up after completing a full mile in 1:44.19 here Saturday.