The Fountain of Youth shaped up as a 4 horse race on paper. The established stakes horses Frosted and Upstart taking on the up and comers Itsaknockout and Gorgeous Bird. The scene that unfolded was strange visually and hard to really have a firm opinion after so many horses throughout the day seemed affected by a bizarre surface.
Bluegrass Singer sets the pace and was on an open lead, Frosted tracked in 2nd, frosted made a move into the stretch. Bluegrass Singer offered little resistance and ran on finishing 5th. Frosted meanwhile coming into the stretch looked like he might win by 3 lengths, he completely stopped entering the stretch, looking leg-weary and came home to a crawl if a very strange effort. After he was passed, he actually dug in a bit, but tired late.
Upstart was a little washy going into the gate. The rider sat patiently the first half mile and began to go into the drive well before the turn, looked floundering into the stretch, yet somehow ranged up on Frosted very quickly. Frosted started backing up. Upstart actually pulled away late with 6 more pounds, and not running a race that was near his best. He still showed versatility coming from off the pace and passing horses and digging in to win down the lane. He won the race, but came home painfully slow on the “clock” and visually.
Meanwhile Itsknockout broke out of the gate well, was under the whip going into the turn and not responding. Floated inside and ran right up the rear end of Upstart and then benefitted when Upstart came out late in the stretch. On the DQ Itsaknockout was placed first while clearly 2nd best. This was a strong effort while running wide the entire race.
Frammento had no speed early, was put under a drive going into the stretch and finished with a bit of a run to nail 3rd place late. This was a better effort than the Holy Bull and a change in surface to the Wood Memorial may be in the offering.
The disappointment was Gorgeous Bird, who was in 6th place early and never picked up a foot going into the turn but did finish with some run extremely late. He is not 15 lengths worse than these horses? He was moving late down the stretch and much like Frammento did not seem to tire.
Overall this race is a complete toss from a speed figure standpoint. Several horses got visually tired. Frosted completely stopped in this race with a perfect trip. Bluegrass Singer stopped even worse with less pressure on the front end.
Itsaknockout received the 50 points, and can get better with the Lemon Drop Kid breeding, but he looked tired and leg worthy down the stretch. He also ran widest of all throughout the race. Still has a some upside with only 3 races. Initial reaction is Itsaknockout will come back for the Florida Derby. With the 50 points that is the safe play.
Upstart was backed off in the training. He won the race dominantly and now has 4 weeks to get ready for the Florida Derby a race he will again be favored or wait the extra week and point to the Wood. Seems wise to take the extra time to fire one last effort. Frammento is another who seems to want distance but is several lengths off the top horses of this group.
People are completely overreacting to this race. A horse like Upstart has never run a bad race in his career, is washed out and noticeably tired and still wins by 2 lengths on clear guts is actually quite impressive. Itsaknockout ran wide the whole race, was clearly tired and got bumped around and still was moving late also is better than people think.
Silverpocketsfull, Frosted, Upstart, Itsaknockout, Gorgeous Bird, Weekend Hideaway, Jacaranda, Enchantress, and Cavorting all did not fire, on that surface today and looked extremely tired, Puca, Speechify also ran extremely different from previous form.
#Weird Surface.