Visa Triple Crown Trail Begins In Earnest With Gulfstream's Fountain Of Youth Stakes
By: John Gaver III

(Feb. 13, 2003) - Nine promising 3-year-old colts and geldings will begin their quest for Kentucky Derby immortality when they go postward in the $200,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes on Saturday, Feb. 15 at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

The Fountain of Youth, a mile and a sixteenth event, is the annual springboard to the Visa Triple Crown as it is the first Grade I event of the year for 3-year-olds and traditionally features a vast array of potential Kentucky Derby and Visa Triple Crown candidates.

This year's renewal of the Fountain of Youth typically features an interesting mix of seasoned stakes performers and precocious upstarts; it promises to be an entertaining event that should help to clear up a nebulous Kentucky Derby picture in South Florida.

The starting highweights in the field of nine colts and geldings are the stakes winners Whywhywhy, who will be making his first start for trainer Patrick Biancone since finishing tenth of 13 as the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) at Arlington Park last October, and Trust N Luck, an impressive 11 length winner of the $100,000 What A Pleasure Stakes at Calder on Dec. 14. Both horses will tote 122 pounds.

Whywhywhy, a chestnut son of Mr. Greeley, won three consecutive graded stakes races as a juvenile, including the prestigious Grade I Futurity at Belmont Park, arrived at Gulfstream on Feb. 12 from Biancone's current base of operations at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.

"He shipped good, slept good and ate good this morning," Biancone said at Gulfstream on the morning of Feb. 13. "I'm just taking him out to the track and let him jog along a bit this morning. He'll just gallop up to the race now."

Whywhywhy will break from post five in the Fountain of Youth; jockey Edgar Prado has the call.

Calder-based Trust N Luck, who won a pair of stakes as a juvenile in South Florida, figures to set the pace in the Fountain Of Youth for trainer Ralph Ziadie. A free-running, Florida-bred son of Montbrook, Trust N Luck has never finished worse than second from three previous starts around two turns. He breezed five furlongs in :59.80 between the fifth and sixth races at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday, Feb. 5 in preparation for his 3-year-old debut. Cornelio Velasquez will ride Trust N Luck and the pair will break from post six.

Azalea Stables LLC's Offlee Wild, an upset winner of the Grade III Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 18, figures to take a lot of beating despite stepping up in class. The well-bred, dark bay or brown son of Wild Again eked out a gritty head win over Powerful Touch in the Holy Bull, covering a mile and a sixteenth in a quick 1:43 flat. That race was Offlee Wild's two-turn debut, and he's a colt that's bred, top and bottom, to thrive going a route of ground on dirt.

With jockey Clyde Martin in the saddle, Offlee Wild worked five furlongs on Wednesday in :57 2/5 handily, galloping out six furlongs in 1:11 2/5 over a "fast" track. It was the best of 34 horses working that distance at the Hallandale Beach strip on Feb. 3.

"It was an excellent work," trainer T. V. Smith said. "I got him going the last three furlongs in :35 and change and going out a half-mile in :48 2/5. I wanted him to finish strong and he did. I hope it wasn't too fast. But it's similar to the way he worked before the Holy Bull and he won that race."

Offlee Wild will break from the nine-hole, the widest gate of all, in the Holy Bull. Jockey Mark Guidry, who was aboard for the colt's Holy Bull win, is back for a return engagement in the Fountain of Youth.

Ken & Sarah Ramsey's Ten Cents A Shine, an Ohio-bred son of Devil His Due, will surely attract a lot of attention in the Fountain of Youth. The Ken McPeek-trained colt is on many expert's short list of prime Kentucky Derby contenders, even though he has yet to win a stakes race. The late running colt finished in a dead-heat for first with the well-regarded Senor Swinger in an entry-level allowance race at Gulfstream on Jan. 31 and was a game second behind Soto in last fall's Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs.

Ten Cents A Shine will be wheeled back off 15 days rest in the Fountain of Youth. He drilled five furlongs in :59 2/5 handily on Feb. 10 with jockey Jerry Bailey in the irons. The move was the best of 42 five-furlong works at Gulfstream on Monday.

"He's doing well," McPeek said. "He had a good work on Monday and came back in great shape. He's on track for Saturday's Fountain of Youth."

Ten Cents A Shine and jockey Jerry Bailey will break from post two.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas will ship in Overbrook Farm's Ozzie Cat for the Fountain of Youth. The Storm Cat colt finished a neck off the win as the favorite in the Golden State Derby on Jan. 11 in his most recent start. Ozzie Cat and Scrimshaw, a Lukas trainee running in Saturday's Hutcheson Stakes (GII), both arrived at Gulfstream on Feb. 12 from Santa Anita.

"They handled the trip very well," Lukas, who also arrived in South Florida on Feb. 12, said. "Now we'll just take it nice and easy with them up to the race. All we have to do is put them in the box and run them."

Hall Of Fame rider Pat Day has the call on Ozzie Cat, who will break from post three.

The complete field for Saturday's Fountain of Youth, which goes as the eleventh of 12 races on Saturday's Gulfstream Park card and carries a post time of 5:38 p.m. EST, in post position order with jockeys and weights is Supah Blitz, Rosemary Homeister, Jr., 120; Ten Cents A Shine, Bailey, 116; Ozzie Cat, Day, 118; Midway Cat, Jorge Chavez, 116; Whywhywhy, Prado, 122; Trust N Luck, C. Velasquez, 122; Conservation, Jose Santos, 116; Seek Gold, Eibar Coa, 116 and Offlee Wild, Guidry, 120.

Lion Tamer Hopes To Validate Lofty Price Tag In Hutcheson -- The co-featured event on Saturday's card at Gulfstream is the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes (GII), and the seven-furlong affair will mark the stakes debut of the talented Lion Tamer, a son of Will's Way who was purchased privately from John Fort's Peachtree Stables by Michael Tabor for $1.5 milllion after the colt broke last and won a entry-level allowance race at Gulfstream by 7 ½-lengths, covering six furlongs in a lively 1:10 1/5 on Jan.4.

Lion Tamer breezed an easy half mile in :50 2/5 at Gulfstream for trainer Todd Pletcher on Feb. 9. He will be ridden by John Velazquez and the pair will break from post four.

The lightly-raced Lion Tamer will have his hands full in his stakes debut, as First Blush and Crafty Guy - the 1-2 finishers, respectively, in the Grade III the Spectacular Bid Stakes at Gulfstream on Jan. 3 - are also entered. Scrimshaw, third behind Domestic Dispute in the Grade II Santa Catalina Stakes for trainer D. Wayne Lukas in his last start, ships in from Santa Anita and adds additional depth to the compact but competitive field.

First Blush came out of the Spectacular Bid in good order and breezed five furlongs in a sharp :59 3/5 on Feb. 9 for Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens.

"He always runs well and I had an inkling he would run well in the Spectacular Bid," Jerkens said. "He's built like a sprinter, nice and blocky. He's put on a little weight since he's been down here and that's always good in a young horse. Also, the distance shouldn't be a problem since he's won at seven furlongs before. The Hutcheson looks like a good spot for him."

Jorge Chavez has the call on First Blush, who will break from post two.

Michael Gill's Crafty Guy, a two-time stakes winner as a juvenile, was a game second to First Blush in the Spectacular Bid, beaten just a half-length for all the money despite making all the pace. He will try seven furlongs for the first time for trainer John J. Robb and gets the services of jockey Jose Santos. The pair will break from post three.

Robert and Beverly Lewis' Scrimshaw will be turning back from the mile and a sixteenth Santa Catalina Stakes and ships outside of his home base of Southern California for the first time. The son of Gulch drilled a half-mile in :46 4/5 on Feb. 9 at Santa Anita before flying to South Florida. Jerry Bailey has the mount on Scrimshaw, who will break from post five.

The Glen Hill Farm homebred Strength Within will make his stakes debut in the Hutcheson off an impressive seven-furlong maiden win at Gulfstream on Jan. 11 for trainer Tom Proctor.

"I didn't fully make up my mind until today (Feb. 13)," Proctor said about entering Strength Within, a son of Belong To Me, in the Hutcheson. "It's a small field and my horse is doing well, so we might as well take a chance and run in it."

Strength Within and veteran rider Earlie Fires will break from post six in the Hutcheson, which goes as the ninth of 12 races on the card at Gulfstream on Saturday and carries a post time of 4:38 p.m. (EST).

The complete field for the Hutcheson, in post position order with jockeys and weights is Cajun Beat, Gary Boulanger, 116; First Blush, Chavez, 122; Crafty Guy, Santos, 122; Lion Tamer, J. Velazquez, 118; Scrimshaw, 118, Bailey and Strength Within, Fires, 116.

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