If ever a race lent credence to the old sports saying credited to coach Lou Holtz that, “You’re never as good as everyone tells you when you win, and you’re never as bad as they say when you lose,” it was Saturday’s Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream. Code of Honor rallied from off the pace to take the Fountain of Youth and reestablish himself as a prime candidate for the Kentucky Derby. Code of Honor also erased much of the bad taste left by his flop at odds-on in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes in his 3-year-old debut. He looked Saturday much more like the colt who in just his second career start managed to finish second in the Champagne Stakes despite a terrible start, the performance that got so many people excited about him in the first place. And at first blush, Bourbon War turned in a winning effort in finishing second in the Fountain of Youth in what was his stakes debut, substantially improving his ranking among Kentucky Derby aspirants. Code of Honor got significant first run on Bourbon War, a critical consideration in 1 1/16-mile main-track races at Gulfstream like the Fountain of Youth that use the first finish line, yet Bourbon War was getting to Code of Honor late, losing by a diminishing three-quarters of a length. But before anyone goes off too much on how good Code of Honor and Bourbon War were, some context, please. The early pace in the Fountain of Youth was insanely, unsustainably fast. The first two fractions were 22.80 seconds and 45.69. The only other 1 1/16-mile dirt race on the card was a maiden event three races earlier, but the corresponding fractions there were 24.03 and 48.56. Although it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison, the first two splits in the one-mile Davona Dale, the race immediately preceding the Fountain of Youth, were 24.21 and 47.41. Heck, earlier on the card, older male sprinters, and pretty quick ones at that, posted early fractions in the Gulfstream Park Sprint Stakes of 22.56 and 45.26. Those splits were only marginally faster than those posted in the Fountain of Youth, which only underscores just how brutal the Fountain of Youth pace was. The point is that Code of Honor and Bourbon War’s closing kicks were set up in the most perfect way imaginable on Saturday. That is not to say that these two won’t ever again participate in a race with a total pace meltdown, because chances are they will. Still, it is important to keep in mind that ever since the current Kentucky Derby points system was put in place – a system that properly puts the emphasis on 3-year-old form going long – we don’t see stretch-out sprinters carving out silly Derby paces anymore. That means Derby paces in general are more within reason, and not automatically tilted in favor of horses who have the ability to pass others in the stretch. Code of Honor and Bourbon War were good Saturday. But because of overwhelmingly favorable circumstances, it’s an open question if they were as good as some might say they were. Conversely, Hidden Scroll might have disappointed bottom-liners in finishing fourth in the Fountain of Youth as the 6-5 favorite. But after any degree of reflection, it’s obvious that Hidden Scroll was anything but bad in losing. In fact, I loved his effort, and I’m much more convinced now than I was after he won his first and only other start on the Pegasus World Cup undercard by the length of the stretch with an enormous fig that Hidden Scroll is a very serious horse who, if he remains healthy, will accomplish some important things. As everyone knows, Hidden Scroll went out and dueled early with the hopelessly overmatched stretch-out sprinter Gladiator King, who was just about the right price at 132-1 and wound up finishing a distant last of 11, and that was after Hidden Scroll failed to break on the button. I don’t know if Hidden Scroll ran off early (it certainly didn’t look like it upon repeated viewings of the race), or if this early pace battle was the result of extremely unwise tactics. What I do know is Hidden Scroll was given an impossible trip. Under the circumstances, he did remarkably well to be beaten only three lengths for all the money. :: DERBY WATCH: Top 20 Kentucky Derby contenders with comments from Jay Privman and Mike Watchmaker Notes: • Derby preps are going to get even more serious in the coming weeks (I’m talking about you, San Felipe and Gotham, just for starters), but in my view, the Fountain of Youth was the most important prep so far this year. I mean, not many are talking about Vekoma, but he ran quite well in finishing third in the Fountain of Youth. Vekoma, who showed a lot of potential in winning both his starts last year, was making his first start in four months and first start around two turns, and he was closer to the destructive early pace than Code of Honor and Bourbon War. Vekoma has every license to improve, and improve substantially, off this return to action. • As noted here many times, I’ve come to learn that it’s never smart to underestimate a champion. That said, it’s difficult finding the silver lining in Jaywalk’s empty fourth at 1-5 in the Davona Dale. Jaywalk, last year’s Eclipse Award-winning 2-year-old filly on the strength of dominating victories in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and Frizette, was making her 3-year-old debut Saturday. But after prompting an unremarkable pace, Jaywalk was finished before turning for home. Immediately, the entire Kentucky Oaks picture was turned upside down. Jaywalk would have been anyone’s future-book Oaks favorite before the Davona Dale, and a clear-cut one at that. Now, I’m sure she’s not. Moreover, even if Jaywalk rebounds from this loss and wins her next start, she’ll have more work to do if she’s ever going to be completely trusted again. That’s how shocking her Davona Dale no-show was. As for Jeltrin, who got up to win the Davona Dale at 51-1, the thought comes to mind that, like Las Vegas, sometimes what happens at Gulfstream stays at Gulfstream. • Although she did have a nice pace setup in her up-in-time victory in the Honey Fox, I believe Precieuse has all the tools to be a major player this year in the female turf division.