3 minute read
The Fountain of Youth Stakes is a $300,000 Grade II race for three-year-olds.
It is the final stakes prep for the highly-anticipated Florida Derby, next month, also awarding 50 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby.
And this year it's creating huge buzz, as it looks set to pitch last year's top turf two-year-old Fire At Will against Holy Bull winner Greatest Honour.
Fire At Will was hugely impressive winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on the grass in November, but Greatest Honour has a possible advantage of recent track, distance and surface winning experience here at Gulfstream.
They're both up against Rodolphe Brisset-trained Tarantino, who finished a long way second behind Greatest Honour, and third-place finisher in the Holy Bull Prime Factor.
The Fountain of Youth produced just one Kentucky Derby winner during the first two decades of the 21st century, but has been hugely relevant as a stepping stone to some success in the Triple Crown, and it looks set to be the same this year. Derby runners-up Ice Box (2010), Good Magic (2018), and Code of Honor (2019) all contested the Fountain of Youth, as did 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford and Belmont Stakes champions Jazil (2006) and Union Rags (2012).
The Fountain of Youth is the third in the big Derby trials at Gulfstream Park. The first was the Mucho Macho Man, which was won by Todd Pletcher's Mutasaabeq with the second, of course, the Holy Bull.
Gulfstream Park post time Sat 27th February: 11:30 AM EST / 1630 GMT / 1730 CET
It's a 14 race programme, including nine Stakes races, headlined by the Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth.
Fun Fact: The race was named for the mythical Florida spring that granted eternal youth. It was sought by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who searched throughout the southeastern United States for it without success.
