Ticonderoga Returns in Palm Beach

Woodford Racing's Ticonderoga, one of the top 2-year-old turf runners last season, makes his 2017 bow March 4 in Gulfstream Park's Palm Beach Stakes (G3T). The 1 1/16-mile race worth $100,000 goes as race nine (4:03 p.m.) on the Xpressbet.com Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) undercard.

An $850,000 Keeneland September sale yearling by three-time leading sire Tapit  , Ticonderoga rallied from eighth to finish second to Keep Quiet in Keeneland's Bourbon Stakes (G3T) last fall before coming from 12th to finish fourth behind Oscar Performance in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G1T) at Santa Anita.

Chad Brown trains the colt out of Keertana, by Johan. Keertana was bred and raced by the late Barbara Hunter and won five graded stakes on turf with trainer Tom Proctor including the Regret Stakes at Churchill Downs and Gulfstream's The Very One Stakes in 2011 before being sold for $1 million during Hunter's dispersal.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Kitten's Cat, by the Ramsey's Kitten's Joy  , figures to offer the stiffest challenge. A winner on the Breeders' Cup undercard in the 6 1/2-furlong Juvenile Turf Sprint last Nov. 5, the colt was fourth behind 1-2 Made You Look in Gulfstream's Dania Beach Stakes (G3T) Jan. 7. Made You Look could be a factor in the Fountain of Youth. Kitten's Cat bounced back Feb. 4 to win the one-mile Kitten's Joy Stakes on the front end.

Channel Maker, seventh in the Breeders' Cup race, and Cowboy Culture, a Quality Road   colt and minor stakes winner at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots also merit respect.