Strike Power may try Fountain of Youth next
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Strike Power passed another test with flying colors by winning the Swale Stakes last weekend at Gulfstream Park. Now comes deeper water for a 3-year-old colt who has earned the right to give the Kentucky Derby trail a try.
Trainer Mark Hennig said the March 3 Fountain of Youth could be the next start for Strike Power after the chestnut Speightstown colt led all the way in a dominating 2 3/4-length victory here Saturday under leading jockey Luis Saez in the Grade 3 Swale at seven furlongs. The Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth goes at 1 1/16 miles.
“He hasn’t even gone back to the track yet,” Hennig said Monday, “but we’re certainly going to take a look at the Fountain of Youth. It’s here, it’s a mile and a sixteenth with a short run to the wire, he’s run well over this racetrack, and the timing is good. We’ll nominate him up, maybe consider the Gotham [a one-mile race March 10 at Aqueduct], and go from there.”
:: The Road to the Kentucky Derby Player's Package
Strike Power, bred and owned by the Courtlandt Farm of Donald Adam, won his career debut by eight lengths in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden race Dec. 23 at Gulfstream, earning a 102 Beyer Speed Figure. He earned an 87 in his second race, the Swale, when finishing in 1:22.68 as the 4-5 favorite.
“Obviously, we think he’s a quality horse,” Hennig said. “We’re all anxious to see how he stretches out. He’s a very relaxed horse in the morning. When he went [his first quarter-mile in 22.95 seconds in the Swale], it wasn’t a run-off. We have to see what his stamina is. We do think he’ll relax and go slower, if need be. It’s just a matter of how far he’ll run.”
Strike Power has failed to switch from his left lead during the stretch run in both starts, but Hennig said he is not overly concerned.
“He’s never really done that in the morning, although he’s probably not as pumped up as he’s been for his races,” he said. “He’s actually been real good about it. There’s no physical reason he’s done it. Maybe if a horse comes to him, he’ll switch, but Luis said he didn’t feel like messing with him, that the horse was running fast enough as it was. But obviously it’s something we’ll work on because he’ll need to be more efficient at that.”
It didn’t take long at all for Hennig to have his first Kentucky Derby starter after he left his position as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas in 1992. Personal Hope was fourth for Hennig in the 1993 running behind Sea Hero, but the 52-year-old trainer hasn’t had a Derby starter since then, despite a terrific career in which his horses have won 104 graded stakes and nearly $72 million.
