It remains to be seen how long it might continue, but it appears Gulfstream’s Fountain of Youth Stakes sparked a trend in Kentucky Derby prep races. The Fountain of Youth made news in part because of its insanely fast early pace. One week later all three of Saturday’s Derby points races – the Tampa Bay Derby, the Gotham at Aqueduct, and, yes, even the Jeff Ruby at Turfway – also featured wickedly fast early paces. The Gotham in particular resembled a colder, one-turn-mile version of the Fountain of Youth. Much Better, one of two California shippers in the Gotham along with even-money-favorite Instagrand, ran off early in the Gotham to set absurd fractions of 22.36 seconds and 44.42. How crazy were those splits? There were four other one-mile races Saturday at Aqueduct. Here are the first two fractions in those events: Race 2, $16,000 claimer – 23.91, 46.81. Race 5, New York-bred allowance – 23.41, 46.56. Race 9, Stymie Stakes – 23.34, 45.93. Race 11, Busher Stakes – 23.51, 46.58. Heck, the half-mile Much Better carved out in the Gotham was so ridiculous that it was significantly faster than the 44.83 older males went in the six-furlong Tom Fool Stakes, and the Tom Fool was a sprint that had several horses with excellent early speed. The Gotham was eerily similar to the Fountain of Youth in other ways, too. The first two finishers in the Fountain of Youth (Code of Honor and Bourbon War) capitalized on the unsustainable early pace with closing rallies, and so did the first two finishers in the Gotham. Haikal lagged well off the early pace in the Gotham and was still almost five lengths in the hole at the eighth pole, but was along in plenty of time to score by a length. And Gotham runner-up Mind Control also rallied, though after getting significant first run on Haikal and a gorgeous rail trip, he had no business not winning. And like the Fountain of Youth, the Gotham had a pacesetter who deserved a lot better than mere defeat. In the Fountain of Youth it was Hidden Scroll, who was tremendous finishing fourth not only after setting the insane pace he set, but also doing so in just his second career start, his first going two turns, and first in a stakes race. Now, Much Better isn’t directly analogous to Hidden Scroll. Much Better already had five starts, had already been around two turns and had faced stakes horses, and, perhaps most importantly, had pretty much established himself as more of a sprinter/one-turn horse well suited to a race such as the Gotham and was less a real Kentucky Derby prospect. Nevertheless, given his early exploits, Much Better did remarkably well to finish a close fourth, beaten 1 1/2 lengths for all the money. It will be important to keep that in mind when assessing the Gotham going forward. Of course, the toughest matter to assess coming out of the Gotham is Instagrand. Instagrand finished third Saturday, beaten 1 1/2 lengths in his first start since romping in the Best Pal last August, and in his first attempt beyond six furlongs, all after being much closer to the early pace than either Haikal or Mind Control. One could easily think Instagrand has every right to benefit from this return to action. That’s the good news. The not-so-good news is there was never a moment in the Gotham when Instagrand looked comfortable, or good, or like a winner. And in the end, Instagrand finished only a nose in front of Much Better who, all other considerations aside, ran a much, much better race. The Tampa Bay Derby saw the stretch-out sprinter Zenden streak to the early lead from his outside post and put up extremely quick fractions of 22.79, 45.85 and 1:09.57, much faster than the fractions recorded in the three other dirt routes on the card. For direct comparison, older males in a Challenger Stakes earlier on the card that had more than a little early speed, went in 23.66, 47.09, and 1:10.55. Not surprisingly, Zenden was unable to stay, though it is to his credit that he only faded late to finish fourth, beaten just three lengths. And it was also no surprise given the circumstances that the Tampa Bay Derby was won by a closer, with Tacitus being the one to step up. Granted, Tacitus had an ideal setup and a pretty sweet trip to get through near the inside the way he did in upper stretch. But before falling to the natural inclination to downgrade Tacitus’s victory as a function of a favorable setup and trip, it might be a good idea in his case to take a wider view. The Tampa Bay Derby was Tacitus’s first start in four months, his first start with Lasix, his first start around two turns, against winners, and in a stakes race. Is all of that enough to make Tacitus more than just a perfect-trip winner? That’s up to you, but I think it does. What isn’t debatable, however, is Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, whose long career has done everything to suggest he was inoculated against Derby Fever at birth and who now suddenly has three legitimate Kentucky Derby candidates. His Tacitus joins the aforementioned Hidden Scroll, and Risen Star runner-up Country House. For me, as long as the Kentucky Derby is run on dirt, the Jeff Ruby and other synthetic track races like it aren’t meaningful Derby preps. (Yes, I know Animal Kingdom fans, once in a blue moon a horse will win a synthetic track prep and then the Derby; the loser’s list isn’t nearly as exclusive). But Somelikeithotbrown’s Jeff Ruby win on Saturday still merits a mention. If the official fractions are to be believed, Somelikeithotbrown was on a pace in the Ruby that produced a half-mile fraction of 47.03, faster than the corresponding split in any of the day’s seven other route races. His six-furlong fraction of 1:10.78 was much faster than the corresponding split in any of the day’s other routes, with the 1:12.36 in the Bourbonette Oaks coming the closest. So after all that early heat, Somelikeithotbrown did some good work to still draw off late and score decisively. But here’s a little fact to keep things in perspective: even if it was his debut, the only time Somelikeithotbrown ran on dirt resulted in a 13 1/2-length defeat and a Beyer Speed Figure of 40. On other surfaces in six starts since, he hasn’t finished worse than third, and hasn’t been beaten by more than 1 1/2 lengths.