Although no winner of the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) has gone on to capture the Run for the Roses since Orb in 2013, the 1 1/16-mile contest has proven to be a pivotal step for 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail. While last year's winner, Forte , was scratched from the Kentucky Derby (G1) at the final hour, the race's fourth-place finisher, Mage , soared into Derby lore with his valiant victory on the first Saturday in May.
Interestingly, Mage's family and connections will be represented again in this year's Fountain of Youth March 2. The colt's younger full brother, Dornoch , makes his 3-year-old debut in the $400,000 affair after closing 2023 a grade 2 winner in Aqueduct Racetrack's Remsen Stakes (G2). And then there is Mage's trainer, Venezuelan-born Gustavo Delgado Sr., who is back on the Derby scene again with the lightly raced but talented Victory Avenue.
Dornoch and Victory Avenue, however, meet in the Fountain of Youth coming from opposite ends of the spectrum: Dornoch is an established graded stakes winner, conqueror of the hot new Derby favorite and impressive Risen Star Stakes (G2) hero Sierra Leone while Victory Avenue, seemingly a monster in his early morning trials, is a maiden with a sole runner-up finish to his name.
The Fountain of Youth, with its prize of 50 Road to the Kentucky Derby points to the winner and points to the top five finishers, has long been the winter target for Dornoch. Campaigned by the partnership of West Paces Racing, R.A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing, and Pine Racing Stables, the Good Magic colt resumed training with conditioner Danny Gargan in January. He has since recorded five half-mile works at Palm Meadows Training Center in Boynton Beach, Fla., with each one being progressively faster than the next.
"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 was on the lead in his past two starts, a 6 1/2-length blowout in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special weight at Keeneland in October as well as in the 1 1/8-mile Remsen in early December. With the presence to his inside of the speedy Victory Avenue (Post 3), who ripped off a half-mile in :44.61 en route to a final seven-furlong clocking in a spirited 1:21.96 in his lone start, it's not a given that Dornoch (Post 5) will seize early command.
Luis Saez will be looking for a third straight win on Dornoch, as he was aboard for both previous wins.
Victory Avenue, like Mage, was purchased by Ramiro Restrepo's Marquee Bloodstock on behalf of Delgado for $375,000 at last June's Ocala Breeders' Sales June 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale. While the colt has flashed lightning early speed and possesses a huskier, sprinter-like physique, Victory Avenue's pedigree indicates two turns shouldn't be ruled out. He's by the late Arrogate, a 1 1/4-mile sensation on the track and sire of last year's Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) stakes victor Arcangelo , and out of a mare by Scat Daddy, an influential two-turn stallion best known as the sire of 2018 Triple Crown hero Justify .
John Velazquez picks up the mount on Victory Avenue from Saez.
Locked Makes Long-Awaited 3YO Debut
Set to challenge Dornoch for favoritism in the Fountain of Youth is Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Walmac Farm's Locked. A grade 1 winner at 2 in Keeneland's Breeders' Futurity (G1), the Gun Runner colt has been rested since a third-place effort in the Nov. 3 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). He was expected to start in the Feb. 10 Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) at Tampa Bay Downs but was derailed by a last-minute fever.
Recovered from his temperature, the Todd Pletcher trainee returned to the work tab last weekend and followed that up with a five-furlong breeze in 1:01.65 at Palm Beach Downs Feb. 24.
"We're very excited about getting him going again," Pletcher said of Locked. "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."
Locked, to be ridden by Jose Ortiz, currently sits in 12th on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 19 points.
Other interesting contenders include the improving Real Macho, who ran down the highly touted Born Noble in a Feb. 3 Gulfstream allowance optional claimer, and Locked's stablemate Speak Easy, conqueror of Victory Avenue in his debut on Pegasus World Cup Day.
Gulfstream Park, Saturday, March 2, 2024, Race 14Entries: Coolmore Fountain of Youth S. (G2)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Speak Easy (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 119 Todd A. Pletcher 9/2 2 2Le Dom Bro (KY) Edwin Gonzalez 119 Eniel Cordero 30/1 3 3Victory Avenue (NY) John R. Velazquez 119 Gustavo Delgado 4/1 4 4Real Macho (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 121 Rohan Crichton 8/1 5 5Dornoch (KY) Luis Saez 123 Danny Gargan 2/1 6 6Merit (KY) Edgard J. Zayas 119 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 15/1 7 7Frankie's Empire (KY) Miguel Angel Vasquez 121 Michael Yates 20/1 8 8Locked (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 123 Todd A. Pletcher 5/2 9 9Dancing Groom (KY) Javier Castellano 119 Antonio Sano 30/1
