As the horses loaded into the gate for last Saturday’s mile-and-a-sixteenth Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, the race appeared so wide open the crowd made Ten Cents a Shine, who’d run just three times and never won a stakes, the favorite at 5-2.
As it turned out, he was suffering from a lung infection and never ran a lick. Not that it really mattered, because no one was catching Trust N Luck on this day.
Making his first start since an 11-length, gate-to-wire romp in the Dec. 14 What a Pleasure at Calder, Trust N Luck set a fast but unpressured pace (:23.2, :46.3) under Cornelio Velasquez, cruised through six furlongs in a quick 1:10.4, then drew off easily down the lane to score by 5 1/4 lengths.
“The horse puts himself on the lead,” Velasquez said. “I don’t think he needs the lead, but when nobody goes for it and he makes the lead easy, he likes to stay there.”
The victory stamped the son of Montbrook as a force to be reckoned with in the remaining preps leading up to the May 3 Kentucky Derby, if not in the Derby itself.
Despite its Grade 1 status, the Fountain of Youth hasn’t produced a Derby winner since Thunder Gulch in 1995. Trust N Luck is the sixth straight winner who led all the way, and of the five that preceded him – Lil’s Lad, Vicar, High Yield, Songandaprayer, Booklet – not one came close to hitting the board when he ran for the roses.
That’s because, War Emblem being a rare exception, speed horses have a hard time staying the mile-and-a-quarter.
Trust N Luck’s trainer, Ralph Ziadie, best known for his work with the veteran gelding Sir Bear, is optimistic Trust N Luck can overcome that.
“He’s a good horse, a really good horse,” he said. “In the stretch, he was just pulling away. He’s got natural speed, and I don’t think he will have trouble going further.”
* Making his stakes debut in the Grade 2 Hutcheson on the Fountain of Youth undercard, Lion Tamer thrust himself into the Derby Dozen with a six-length score under Johnny Velazquez, zipping the seven furlongs in 1:22.3.
Lion Tamer (by Will’s Way) has won his last three starts, all sprints, by daylight. Trainer Todd Pletcher will send him a distance next out.
* Badge of Silver, unbeaten in two sprints, handled a mile-and-a-sixteenth for the first time with style to win yesterday’s Grade 3 Risen Star Stakes at the Fair Grounds, leaving two other previously undefeated colts, Indy Dancer and Seattle Hoofer, eating his dust. Trained by Ronny Werner, the son of Silver Deputy has won his three starts by a combined 26 lengths.
* Toccet, a standout 2-year-old who’s been sidelined so far this year with bad ankles, took a big hit late yesterday in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager, plunging from 22-1 to 9-1 in the blink of an eye. Don’t be surprised if his owner, Daniel Borislow, made a big bet.