The weather should be perfect Saturday at Gulfstream Park for the $415,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2). Temperatures in the upper 70s under partly cloudy skies. We who are north and west can only look on in envy as we continue to dig out from a challenging winter.
River Thames. Ryan Thompson/NYRA Photo.
The Fountain of Youth is the next stop on Florida’s road to the Kentucky Derby
The action on-track is also a harbinger of warmer times ahead. The Fountain of Youth is an important step on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1). The race offers 50 Derby qualifying points to the winner, more than enough to secure a starting berth.
This edition of the FOY attracted a solid field including a pair of runners on US Racing’s list to the Top 10 Derby contenders. Sovereignty (#7) and Burnham Square (#9) will either improve their standing, or fall back in the pack.
They took different paths and different styles for the convergence at this intersection.
Sovereignty is a deep closer who employed those tactics to win the Street Sense (G3) in late October at Churchill Downs.
He hasn’t raced since then, delayed by an illness over the winter. Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott knows the colt needs to get started if he’s going to remain in the Derby picture.
Burnham Square changed his game with the addition of blinkers. Once a come-from-behind runner like Sovereignty, Burnham Square now prefers being on or close to the pace.
Since donning the hood, Burnham Square scored a front-running maiden win and sat a stalking trip after overcoming some early bumping to capture Gulfstream’s Holy Bull (G3).
“He just was making mistakes in his races. He wouldn’t help the jockey. He wouldn’t go near horses, wouldn’t run into the dirt. He wouldn’t do anything until down the lane,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “I put blinkers on, and they’ve helped him get a little more focus and they’ve helped him get into the race.”
The horse most eager to fire into the race is River Thames, making his stakes debut following a pair of dynamite wins at Gulfstream by a combined 11 ¼ lengths.
“This will be his third race in seven weeks with a step-up in class and in distance,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “But he seemed to win his races pretty easy.”
So easy, that it is hard to look past him even against more experienced rivals.
Post time for the Fountain of Youth is 5:44 p.m. ET
For those who bet horse racing …
The picks: 1 River Thames 2 Burnham Square 3 Sovereignty
The field for the $415,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), from the rail out, with jockey, trainer, odds:
1 Gate to Wire (Dylan Davis, Todd Pletcher), 6-1
2 Sovereignty (Junior Alvarado, Bill Mott), 3-1
3 Burnham Square (Edgard Zayas, Ian Wilkes), 5-2
4 McKellen (Tyler Gaffalione, Jose D’Angelo), 30-1
5 Solid Left (Luis Saez, Brendan Lynch), 20-1
6 River Thames (John Velazquez, Todd Pletcher), 2-1
7 Neoequos (Irad Ortiz, Jr., Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 10-1
8 Keep It Easy (Corie Lanerie, Dale Romans), 8-1