HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Having undergone a change in running style and a change in rider since walking into the starting gate for the Grade 3 Holy Bull four weeks earlier, Simplification will try to prove a little change has done him a lot of good Saturday at Gulfstream in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, the major local prep for the $1 million Florida Derby on April 2. Simplification is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in a full field of 12 3-year-olds set to vie for a $400,000 purse and 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.

ARCADIA, Calif. – Richard Mandella has never been one to try and put a square peg into a round hole. Mandella, a Hall of Fame trainer, wasn’t going to try Forbidden Kingdom around two turns until he was good and ready. It took four starts for Forbidden Kingdom to get that chance, but it finally arrives Saturday at Santa Anita and will determine his path ahead.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – David Lyon says he’s a realist when it comes to owning Thoroughbreds.

“You have to be,” Lyon said. “You’ll be out of this business if you’re not.”

WHO’S HOT

Un Ojo
Laoban – Risk a Chance, by A.P. Indy
Bred in New York by Southern Equine Stables

Un Ojo sprang a $152.80 upset in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes last Saturday to earn his debut on the Derby Watch list. However, the New York-bred gelding is from a young sireline that has already had its share of classic success, and from a classy family that has produced several dirt route stakes winners.

Todd Pletcher and the Donegal Racing partnership that owns Mo Donegal had been on the fence on whether to run in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, or merely sit tight until the Wood Memorial on April 9 at Aqueduct. Drawing post 12 on Monday gave them more to think about. And then on Wednesday morning, as Pletcher said, “sometimes decisions are made for you.”

Mo Donegal, third most recently in the Holy Bull, had “a low-grade temperature of 102” degrees, Pletcher said, and thus will be scratched from the Fountain of Youth.

Todd Pletcher and the Donegal Racing partnership that owns Mo Donegal had been on the fence on whether to run in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday at Gulfstream, or merely sit tight until the Wood Memorial April 9 at Aqueduct. Drawing post 12 on Monday gave them more to think about. And then on Wednesday morning, as Pletcher said, “sometimes decisions are made for you.”

Mo Donegal, third most recently in the Holy Bull, had “a low-grade temperature of 102” degrees, Pletcher said, and thus will be scratched from the Fountain of Youth.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Saffie Joseph Jr., who entered this week with a 41-37 lead over perennial leading trainer Todd Pletcher atop the 2021-22 championship meet standings, is looking for a big run in the Fountain of Youth on Saturday from A. P.’s Secret, a last-out allowance winner making his stakes debut. Joseph already has White Abarrio, winner of the Holy Bull, as a Derby contender.

“This is a big step up, and he’s going to have to prove himself,” Joseph said of A. P.’s Secret. “But we think he’s a colt with a lot of class and we’re confident he’s going to run a big race.”

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Horses on the Kentucky Derby trail typically need to overcome a hurdle or two. A few colts set to run Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park are fair examples.

Rattle N Roll, trained by Kenny McPeek, and the Dale Romans duo of Howling Time and Giant Game already have experienced minor physical setbacks on the Derby trail, but all are healed up and looking to put their best hooves forward in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth.

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - A full and extremely contentious field of 12 3-year-olds, plus one also-eligible, was drawn Monday for Saturday’s $400,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, the final key local prep for the $1 million Florida Derby on April 2. The mile and one-sixteenth fixture carries the added significance of offering 85 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, 50 of which are awarded to the winner.

The Fountain of Youth will go as the 12th event on a 13-race program Saturday that includes seven other graded stakes.