HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Three of the top 14 3-year-olds on Daily Racing Form’s latest Derby Watch list, Burnham Square (third), Sovereignty (sixth), and River Thames (14th), are among the eight horses entered for Saturday’s $400,000 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth will be decided at 1 1/16 miles and also attracted Gate to Wire, upset winner of the seven-furlong Swale here earlier in the meet and Keep It Easy, idle since capturing the Ed Brown Stakes at Churchill Downs on Nov. 30. The multiple stakes-placed Neoequos, McKellen, and Solid Left complete the lineup, the last two named having also been cross-entered in Thursday’s allowance feature carded at 1 1/8 miles.
The majority of the prospective field completed their final serious preparations for the Fountain of Youth over the weekend including Burnham Square who breezed five furlongs in 1:01.05 seconds under regular rider Edgard Zayas at Palm Meadows on Saturday. He went in company and on even terms with the multiple graded stakes-placed filly Into Champagne, who has not started since finishing seventh in the 2024 Kentucky Oaks.
“It was a solid five-eighths. I loved the gallop-out,” said trainer Ian Wilkes. “All good. He came back off the track happy.”
Burnham Square, who was a bit tardy breaking from the extreme outside in the Holy Bull, is well drawn in post 3 in the Fountain of Youth.
Trainer Todd Pletcher’s pair of River Thames and Gate to Wire breezed in company at Palm Beach Downs on Saturday, completing a half mile in 49.40. River Thames, undefeated and virtually untested in two starts, and Gate to Wire, a seven-length winner making his first start on dirt in the Swale, will both make their two-turn debuts in the Fountain of Youth.
“They’ve breezed together the last two weeks. Just maintenance this morning. They’re both doing well,” Pletcher said on Saturday.
River Thames breaks from post 6 with regular rider John Velazquez up, Gate to Wire from the rail under Dylan Davis.
Keep It Easy comes into his 3-year-old debut off a three-month layoff. He had his sixth and final work for the Fountain of Youth on Saturday at Gulfstream Park, breezing an easy half-mile in 48.72 with exercise rider Tammy Fox aboard.
Both Sovereignty, who has not started since his impressive five-length victory in the Grade 3 Street Sense going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill on Oct. 27, and Neoequos, a very popular statebred allowance winner in his 3-year-old bow, had their final preps for the race on Sunday. Sovereignty worked five furlongs in 1:02.20 at Payson Park, and Neoequos had an easy, maintenance half-mile from the three-eighths pole into the clubhouse turn in 50.20 over his home base at Gulfstream Park.
Neoequos might be a stakes winner himself by this time if not having had the misfortune of catching the freaky Rated by Merit in both the Dr. Fager and Affirmed Stakes at 2. The latter completed his 2-year-old campaign undefeated and untested while also having had the distinction of registering the fastest Beyer Speed Figure of any 2-year-old in North America last year, a 99 in the Dr. Fager.
“We’ve been planning for this race all along,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “Rated by Merit was a very fast horse, but this is going to be an even bigger test. He did run second in the Affirmed, but the distance is still an unknown for him. The horse is good enough on numbers, he deserves a chance in here, and we’ve also got Irad [Ortiz Jr.]. That helps.”
The Fountain of Youth highlights a 14 race program with first post at 11:30 a.m. Eastern. The outstanding card also features the Grade 2 Davona Dale for 3-year-old fillies along with the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile and the much-anticipated return of Mindframe, idle since narrowly defeated by Dornoch as the 4-5 favorite in the Grade 1 Haskell on July 20 at Monmouth Park.
“He worked really impressively [Saturday] in company with Speak Easy,” Pletcher said of Mindframe. “He had a couple of issues, we just had to give him a break. He spent some time at Stonestreet in Ocala, he’s doing really well, he’s always been very impressive to watch breeze, and we’re really looking forward to getting him started back again in the Gulfstream Park Mile.”
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.