Greatest Honour, Fire At Will Top Fountain of Youth

Minutes after Essential Quality and Jackie's Warrior throw down in the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park Feb. 27, many of Florida's top prospects on the Road to the Kentucky Derby square off late Saturday afternoon in the $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/16-mile race offers qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 scale toward the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) May 1 at Churchill Downs. It drew a 10-horse field worthy of the 85 qualifying points.

Holy Bull Stakes (G3) winner Greatest Honour is the likely favorite in a race that includes Claiborne Farm Swale Stakes (G3) winner Drain the Clock, Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Presented by Coolmore America (G1T) winner Fire At Will, Holy Bull third-place finisher Prime Factor, and six other 3-year-olds.

Courtlandt Farms' Greatest Honour, who rolled by 5 3/4 lengths in the Jan. 30 Holy Bull, could give trainer Shug McGaughey his third win in the Fountain of Youth following earlier victories from Orb  (2013) and Code of Honor (2019)—both of whom later ran well beneath the Twin Spires. Orb won the Derby and Code of Honor was elevated to second when Maximum Security  was disqualified in a rough Derby in 2019.

Greatest Honour, a son of Tapit  who broke his maiden in his fourth career start Dec. 26 at Gulfstream, a race before the Holy Bull, has encouraged McGaughey with his training at Payson Park in Indiantown, Fla.

"He had a really good work up there Sunday morning. I was pleased with the work and was very pleased with the way he looked and the way he was acting," said McGaughey.

McGaughey would gladly accept a setup in the Fountain of Youth like the one Greatest Honour had in the Holy Bull, in which the colt rated well behind a contested early pace before producing a strong stretch rally. With Drain the Clock stretching out from sprints and with Holy Boll runner-up Tarantino and Prime Factor having early quickness, the pace should be legitimate.

"We'd like to see some speed ahead of him. When you have a horse that comes from behind, if you have some pace in front of you, it helps you," said McGaughey. "But I'm not going to be overly worried if there isn't."

Most of the other contenders enter the Fountain of Youth with question marks. Drain the Clock has never routed and is bred for speed; Fire At Will, with grassy bloodlines, makes his first start since the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland Nov. 6 and has raced just once on dirt in an off-the-turf With Anticipation Stakes victory; and Prime Factor has not yet passed a graded class test after losing by 9 1/2 lengths in the Holy Bull as the favorite following a first-out maiden sprint win.

Class is apparent in Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will, a son of Declaration of War. He also won the Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) at Belmont Park on turf last year prior to the Breeders' Cup.

"It's a tough task, whether he's a dirt horse or a turf horse, but he's earned the chance," trainer Mike Maker said.

Sososubtle, Jirafales, King's Ovation, Tiz Tact Toe, and Papetu complete the field.

Entries: Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. (G2)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, February 27, 2021, Race 14

• Grade II
• 1 1/16m
• Dirt
• $300,000
• 3 yo
• 6:10 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Drain the Clock (KY)	Edgard J. Zayas	120	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	5/1
2	2Prime Factor (KY)	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	118	Todd A. Pletcher	5/1
3	3Sososubtle (FL)	Paco Lopez	118	Armando De la cerda	20/1
4	4Fire At Will (KY)	Kendrick Carmouche	123	Michael J. Maker	7/2
5	5Jirafales (FL)	Javier Castellano	118	Gustavo Delgado	20/1
6	6King's Ovation (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	118	Dale L. Romans	15/1
7	7Tarantino (KY)	Tyler Gaffalione	120	Rodolphe Brisset	8/1
8	8Greatest Honour (KY)	Jose L. Ortiz	123	Claude R. McGaughey III	9/5
9	9Tiz Tact Toe (KY)	Rajiv Maragh	118	Robert B. Hess, Jr.	30/1
10	10Papetu (KY)	Junior Alvarado	118	Antonio Sano	15/1