Rich Fountain of Youth card loaded with stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – The importance of an American horse race is now partly measured by the number of supporting stakes that surround it that day. So, yes, the Fountain of Youth here Saturday at Gulfstream Park will be a big one: Eight other stakes, all but one of them graded, will accompany the key Kentucky Derby prep on a 13-race card.

Here follows a rundown of those races, all of which were to be drawn Wednesday:

◗ Grade 2, $200,000 Davona Dale: Grade 1 winner Pretty City Dancer, a hard-charging second in the recent Forward Gal off a five-month layoff, will be rematched with Tequilita in a one-mile race that Cathryn Sophia won last year en route to the Kentucky Oaks.

Other 3-year-old fillies likely to run include Eloquent Riddle, Miss Sky Warrior, Modacious, and Summer Luck.

◗ Grade 2, $200,000 Mac Diarmida: Grade 1 winner Wake Forest will be making his 7-year-old debut for trainer Chad Brown – who has a very busy day in store – in a 1 3/8-mile turf race that is expected to get a sizable group, including Kaigun, Mr Maybe, Watershed, and the Mike Maker trio of Bigger Picture, Charming Kitten, and Taghleeb.

Wake Forest won the Man o’ War last spring and was consistently competitive in major turf stakes the rest of the year.

◗ Grade 3, $150,000 The Very One: The sister race to the Mac Diarmida wasn’t expected to get either Suffused or Arles, the one-two finishers from the Jan. 28 La Prevoyante, leaving Olorda as the likely favorite for Brown, even when returning from a layoff of more than 10 months. Other probables include Earring and Try Your Luck.

◗ Grade 3, $150,000 Canadian Turf: Tepin was among the 27 nominees to this one-mile race but still isn’t ready for her 6-year-old debut. That could leave the speedy Heart to Heart as the horse to catch in a lineup also expected to include Conquest Panthera, Giant Run, Night Prowler, and four or five more older horses.

◗ $100,000 Sand Springs: This one-mile turf race for fillies and mares will have the brilliant turf filly Catch a Glimpse making her first appearance since a disappointing end to her 3-year-old season. Owned by a partnership headed by Gary Barber, Catch a Glimpse reeled off eight straight wins at 2 and 3 before finishing second in the Grade 2 Lake Placid, then went unplaced in back-to-back Grade 1 races last fall.

“She’s grown up, looks good,” said trainer Mark Casse. After six recorded workouts at Palm Meadows, “she’s ready to run.”

◗ Grade 3, $100,000 Fred W. Hooper: Grade 1 winner Greenpointcrusader will be returning from a 2 3/4-length allowance triumph in his first start for Todd Pletcher when facing six or seven older horses in this one-mile dirt race. Ami’s Flatter, Bird Song, Mr. Jordan, Realm, and Tale of S’Avall are among the rest.

◗ Grade 3, $100,000 Palm Beach: Ticonderoga figures as a solid choice for Brown in this 1 1/16-mile turf race when making his first start since an encouraging fourth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Kitten’s Cat, a two-time stakes winner, will be among the 3-year-olds in opposition.

◗ Grade 3, $100,000 Herecomesthebride: India Mantuana, recently purchased by Head of Plains Partners and turned over to Brown, will face Dream Dancing and a handful of other 3-year-old fillies in this female counterpart to the Palm Beach.