Fountain of Youth Offers 50-20-15-10-5 Kentucky Derby Points To Top-Five Finishers

Dornoch (West Paces Racing, R. A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing and Pine Racing Stables), 13 weeks from a determined victory in the Remsen (G2) to cap his juvenile campaign, will get his sophomore season under way in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park on Saturday, March 2.

The 78th running of the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, Gulfstream's next step for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 30, is the headliner on a spectacular 14-race program featuring nine stakes, eight graded including the G2 Davona Dale Stakes, worth $1.85 million in purses.

First race post time is 11:15 a.m.

By Good Magic out of the Big Brown mare Puca, Dornoch is a full brother to Mage, who ran fourth in the Fountain of Youth and second in the Florida Derby last year before capturing the Kentucky Derby (G1). Big Brown won both the Florida and Kentucky Derby in 2008, and Good Magic was third in the 2018 Fountain of Youth.

Dornoch got some time off after the Remsen, returning to the work tab Jan. 22 with five breezes at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County, for his return. His Danny Gargan-trained stablemate, Dubyuhnell, won the Remsen in 2022 then ran eighth in the Sam F. Davis (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs and 11th in the Florida Derby last year before going to the sidelines.

"I kind of figured I wanted to wait until we were here," Gargan said. "When horses run in the Breeders' Cup, they get a break. I won the Remsen before and didn't give them a break in the past and it didn't work out so well for me. I just wanted him to have every chance he deserves.

"I think he's a really good horse, so we just went ahead and gave him three or four weeks off and let him grow and mature. Hopefully we're doing the right thing and it works out for him," he added. "He's training well, he looks good. He's a big, pretty horse. It's his first race of the year and it'll be nice to get him back running."

Dornoch ran second in his first two starts last summer, a 6 ½-furlong maiden special weight at Saratoga and the one-mile Sapling at Monmouth Park behind multiple stakes winner Noted. Third in that race was Frankie's Empire, who came back to win the seven-furlong Swale Feb. 3 at Gulfstream and is also entered in the Fountain of Youth.

Heavily favored in his return to maiden company last fall at Keeneland, Dornoch romped by 6 ½ lengths in front-running fashion before making his graded debut in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen. He again set the pace, lost the lead at the head of the stretch to Sierra Leone, but dug back in to get up by a nose. Sierra Leone won the Risen Star (G2) while third-place finisher Drum Roll Please took the Jerome at Aqueduct in their 3-year-old debuts.

"[Dornoch] hit the rail turning for home or I don't think he would have had to come back last time," Gargan said. "All of his races he ran really good. The first time out was a sprint, he needed the race and ran second. Next time we ran him at Monmouth and he had a really bad trip. He didn't see [Noted] coming or I think he'd have won that race. The first turn was crazy and then going from last to first on the backside and opening up, he was driving like a motorcycle that day. He won real easy at Keeneland and came back and ran good in the Remsen."

Luis Saez, up for three of Dornoch's four races including each of his two wins, returns to ride from Post 5 in a field of nine.

"We've always been really high on him. Everybody in barn likes him. We think he's a nice horse," Gargan said. "I just don't want him to go too forward. Hopefully he doesn't have to run a crazy, big, fast number or anything like that too soon. We just want to keep him maintained in what he's doing and hopefully he can be sound and be there on the first Saturday in May. Don't get me wrong, we'd like to win the Fountain of Youth but it's really not the goal."

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's Grade 1 winner Locked is also set to make his season opener, delayed a week after being scratched from the Sam Davis after spiking a temperature. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher owns a record four Fountian of Youth wins - Scat Daddy (2007), Eskendereya (2010), Itsaknockout (2015) and Forte (2023).

Locked signaled his readiness for the Fountian of Youth with a five-furlong breeze Saturday at Palm Beach Downs in company with 3-year-old maiden Foxhole, going in 1:10.65 and galloping out six furlongs in 1:15.37.

"Once he had that temperature he recovered nicely and had a nice work last week," Pletcher said. "He's had a good week of training and ... another good breeze [today] that should have him right on target."

After running third in debut last summer at Saratoga, Locked graduated by 7 ¼ lengths in his next start and followed up with a popular half-length triumph in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland that earned him favoritism in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). Locked raced near the back early before closing on the outside to get third behind Pletcher-trained stablemate Fierceness, who is awaiting the Florida Derby.

"We're very excited about getting him going again," Pletcher said. "He's a horse that we've always thought a lot of. I think he's going to appreciate more distance in these races as they get a little longer. He's always been a high-class colt and he's training very well at the moment."

Regular rider Jose Ortiz will be aboard from Post 8.

Pletcher also settled on WinStar Farm and Siena Farm's Speak Easy for the Fountain of Youth, another of his 11 nominees to the race. The bay son of 2014 Florida Derby and 2015 Donn Handicap (G1) winner Constitution was an impressive 1 ¾-length debut winner Jan. 27 at Gulfstream on the undercard of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series and has posted back-to-back bullet works at Palm Beach Downs, most recently five furlongs in 1:00.15 Feb. 22.

Irad Ortiz Jr. is named on Speak Easy from Post 1.

"Like always at this time of year you've got to remain flexible and be ready to call some audibles, like we're doing with Locked," Pletcher said. "The good thing is there's a prep race every weekend."

Frank DeLuca's Frankie's Empire takes a two-race win streak into the Fountain of Youth, his four victories from seven starts the most in the field. The son of champion Classic Empire stretches out around two turns for the first time after taking a 6 ½-furlong optional claiming allowance Dec. 26 at Parx before springing a 14-1 upset in the Swale, taking the lead at the top of the stretch and drawing away to win by 3 ½ lengths.

Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Rohan Crichton, Daniel Walters and Dennis Smith's Real Macho will make his stakes debut in the Fountain of Youth after beating well-regarded Born Noble and Merit in a one-mile optional claiming allowance Feb. 3 at Gulfstream. Crichton, who also trains the son of Gulfstream favorite and Grade 1-winning multi-millionaire Mucho Macho Man, felt the win has given his horse confidence.

"It's absolutely looking that way," he said. "If you watch his [last] race, [jockey] Tyler [Gaffalione] had to be keeping after him. That's actually what we agreed on. For some reason, you just have to put him there. I think he's got the talent and certainly the stamina. Since that race, in the mornings he feels different. It feels like he's putting it together."

Gaffalione gets the return call from Post 4.

OGMA Investments, JR Ranch, Uplands Flats Racing, Morplay Racing and High Step Racing's Victory Avenue, trained by Gustavo Delgado, hails from similar connections as that of Mage. The Arrogate colt ran second as the favorite to another highly touted Pletcher trainee, Speak Easy, in an seven-furlong maiden special weight Jan. 27 at Gulfstream on the undercard of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series, his lone start.

Completing the field are Alex Andres' Dancing Groom, who finished ahead of Fierceness when third in the Champagne (G1) last fall and exits a fifth in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull (G3) Feb. 3 at Gulfstream; Vicente Stella Stables' Le Dom Bro, ninth in the Remsen and runner-up in the Swale; and Peter Blum homebred Merit, a 10 ¼-length debut winner last fall at Gulfstream. Both Merit and Speak Easy are cross-entered in a 1 1/8-mile optional claiming allowance for 3-year-olds March 1 at Gulfstream.

Pletcher's Fierceness Tops Nominees To 2024 Fountain Of Youth

Feb 20 - Eleven horses from Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, led by champion Fierceness and fellow graded-stakes winners Agate Road and Locked, are among 30 nominations to the $400,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds Saturday, March 2 at Gulfstream Park.

The 78th running of the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, next stop on Gulfstream's road to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 30, headlines a blockbuster program featuring nine stakes, eight graded, worth $1.85 million in purses.

Repole Stable's Fierceness clinched the 2023 2-year-old male championship with his dominant 6 ¼-length triumph in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). The City of Light colt rallied to be third after a troubled start in his sophomore debut, the Feb. 3 Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream. D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran's Hades, front-running two-length winner of the Holy Bull, is also nominated.

Other nominees exiting the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull are Dancing Groom, third at odds of 37-1 in the 2023 Champagne (G1), and Otello, winner of the one-mile Mucho Macho Man Jan. 1 at Gulfstream, who respectively finished fifth and sixth.

Repole and Pletcher are also represented by Bail Us Out, a maiden winner over Gulfstream's all-weather Tapeta course Feb. 3 in his second start. Repole shares ownership with St. Elias Stable in Agate Road, winner of the Pilgrim (G2) on grass last fall that most recently ran second in the Feb. 10 Sam F. Davis (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs, and Triple Espresso, who graduated at fourth asking Jan. 20 on the Gulfstream turf.

Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's Locked missed a planned start in the Sam Davis with a fever and has yet to launch his 3-year-old campaign. The son of Gun Runner won two of four starts at 2 including a popular half-length victory in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, and was third as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Other Pletcher nominees include Gulfstream maiden special weight winners Born Noble, Cardinale and Speak Easy, the latter impressing by 1 ¾ lengths in his Jan. 27 unveiling on the undercard of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Series program.

Pletcher is a four-time Fountain of Youth winner, including last year with champion Forte. His other victories came with Itsaknockout (2015), Eskendereya (2010) and Scat Daddy (2007).

West Paces Racing, R.A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing and Pine Racing Stable's Dornoch is expected to kick off his 3-year-old season in the Fountain of Youth. The Danny Gargan trainee has been first or second in four starts, ending 2023 with wins in a 1 1/16-mile Keeneland maiden event and the 1 1/8-mile Remsen (G2) at Aqueduct.

Frank DeLuca's Frankie's Empire and Vicente Stella Stables' Le Dom Bro are nominated after finishing 1-2, respectively, in the seven-furlong Swale Feb. 3 at Gulfstream, separated by 3 ½ lengths. Brad Grady and David Grund's Seminole Chief won the FSS In Reality Dec. 2 at Gulfstream and exits a troubled ninth in the 1 1/8-mile Withers (G3) Feb. 3 at muddy Aqueduct.

Also prominent among Fountain of Youth nominees are Courtlandt Farms' Conquest Warrior, who overcame trouble to win a one-mile maiden special weight Jan. 13 at Gulfstream by a half-length; favored Sam Davis winner No More Time; Scatify, third in the Robert B. Lewis (G3) Feb. 3 at Santa Anita; Sugar Boy, a Group 1 and 2 winner in Puerto Rico yet to make his stateside debut; and Victory Avenue, second as the favorite behind Speak Easy at Gulfstream.

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Locked Looks To 2024 Fountain Of Youth

Feb 16 - Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's Locked, a prospect for the $400,000 Fountain of Youth (G1) March 2 at Gulfstream Park, breezed an easy half-mile Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs.

Locked worked in company with Expressman, a stablemate in the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Ridden by jockey Jose Ortiz, the 3-year-old son of Gun Runner was timed in 49.68 seconds on fractions of 12.58 and 25.92, finishing on even terms with his stablemate while running on the inside. He galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.82 and six furlongs in 1:15.54. Expressman, who finished third in last year's Carter (G1) at Aqueduct after graduating at Gulfstream, was ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

"He went really good. It was a normal routine work for him in 49-and change," Ortiz said. "He had a great gallop-out, so I'm very happy with what we saw this morning."

Ortiz, who has been aboard Locked in all four of his starts, is a candidate to run March 2 in the Fountain of Youth (G2).

Locked, who missed a planned start in the last Saturday's Sam F. Davis (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs due to a fever, has gone unraced since the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita. He finished third behind victorious stablemate Fierceness and runner-up Muth following a wide run from far back.

Locked was favored at 2-1 for the Juvenile after capturing the Oct. 7 Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, where he closed from well off the pace to win the 1 1/16-mile stakes by a half-length. The Pletcher trainee graduated in his second career start by 7 ½ lengths at a mile Sept. 1 at Saratoga, where he closed from 10th to third going seven furlongs Aug. 5.

Pletcher-trained Born Noble, a promising 3-year-old son of Constitution, produced a 'bullet' workout Friday morning at Palm Beach Downs. St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds' colt was timed in 48.19, the fastest of 42 works recorded at the distance. Born Noble won at first asking by 5 ½ lengths Dec. 30 at Gulfstream before finishing second in a mile optional claiming allowance Feb. 3.