Algorithms made 8-5 favorite over Union Rags in Fountain of Youth

Algorithms made 8-5 favorite over Union Rags in Fountain of

Youth

by Brisnet.com

Despite the presence of Union Rags, Algorithms has been installed as the 8-5

morning-line favorite for Sunday's Grade 2

Fountain of

Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The 1 1/16-mile contest, which carries a

lucrative $400,000 purse, has drawn a total of eight runners.

"The reason I went with Algorithms was because he has a start over the track

and Union Rags is making his first start of the year," Gulfstream Park

morning-line oddsmaker Chuck Streva explained. "Basically, that's the reason I

leaned the way I did."

That previous start over the track Streva refers to came when Algorithms

romped by five lengths in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes on January 29. In second

that day was Hansen, reigning champion two-year-old male and victor of last

year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

Algorithms will enter the Fountain of Youth undefeated from three starts and

keeps jockey Javier Castellano in the saddle after the rider opted to stick with

the bay son of Bernardini rather than pilot Union Rags. The Holy Bull victory

helped propel Algorithms into the Triple Crown spotlight, but he was already an

accomplished performer after breaking his maiden by 5 1/4 lengths at Belmont

Park last June and then returning six months later to take an optional claimer

at Gulfstream in mid-December.

Trainer Todd Pletcher has the screws tightened on his runner, sending

Algorithms out for a half-mile breeze in :49 on Monday.

Though Algorithms is one of the horses to beat in the Fountain of Youth,

Pletcher will also send out the impressive and unbeaten Discreet Dancer to make

his stakes bow in the race. The chestnut sophomore has captured his initial two

starts by a total of 15 1/4 lengths, and set a track record of 1:02.34 for 5 1/2

furlongs in his debut. Castellano was aboard for those starts, both of which

came at Gulfstream, and will be replaced aboard the Discreet Cat colt by John

Velazquez.

"I don't like running two horses against each other ever, especially two very

talented colts that are undefeated. One of them is going to have a loss after

this race, and you hate that," Pletcher said. "But at the same time, I think

it's best for each horse's development -- that's mainly where our focus is, not

so much just about this weekend, but hopefully moving forward, as well."

Jockey Julien Leparoux will take Castellano's job as the pilot of Union Rags

for trainer Michael Matz on Sunday. The Dixie Union Kentucky homebred suffered

his first loss last year as the even-money favorite in the Breeders' Cup

Juvenile, just missing to Hansen after a game, but green, run.

Prior to that November 5 head loss, Union Rags easily dominated his rivals in

New York when taking the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes by 5 1/4 lengths and the Grade

2 Saratoga Special Stakes by 7 1/4 lengths. The bay colt, who opened his career

with a 1 3/4-length score at Delaware Park last July, has been entered in a

tough spot to make his three-year-old bow.

"He's as ready as he could possibly be other than running in a race," Matz

said of Union Rags preparation. "From the time he spent taking it easy at Skara

Glen Farm in Wellington (Florida) early this year until he came back to us at

Palm Meadows he hasn't missed a beat. He's hit every workout right on schedule.

He's grown up and matured. He must be close to 17 hands."

Bidding for redemption in the Fountain of Youth will be Casual Trick with

jockey Corey Nakatani flying in to ride for trainer Nick Zito. A son of

Bernardini, Casual Trick was added to many Kentucky Derby lists after finishing

a game half-length second in the 1 1/16-mile Gulfstream Park Derby on New Year's

Day. The bay ridgling was already a winner at Churchill Downs, breaking his

maiden by 2 1/2 lengths while going a mile in November.

However, Casual Trick disappointed his fans and connections when tiring to

last of eight as the favorite in a talented allowance field on January 29, a

race won by the Pletcher-trainer El Padrino. The track was sealed and rated good

that day, and Zito has said he believes his colt just didn't handle the surface

and is dismissing the performance. Casual Trick will have another chance to

prove himself at this level Sunday.

Neck 'n Neck is an intriguing prospect for trainer Ian Wilkes as he comes

back from a deceptively good try finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Sam Davis Stakes

at Tampa Bay Downs on February 4, beaten just three lengths for it all with a

very wide trip. The son of Flower Alley finished second to Discreet Dancer prior

to that in a January 7 allowance and broke his maiden under the Twin Spires in

late November while going 1 1/16 miles. Jockey Jose Lezcano has the call on Neck

'n Neck. 

Completing the field for the 68th edition of the Fountain of Youth are Fort

Loudon, a bay Awesome of Course colt who ran fourth in the Holy Bull for trainer

Stanley Gold and jockey Rajiv Maragh; the Paco Lopez-ridden Csaba, a Kitten's

Joy bay who easily won a pair of off-the-turf races in the slop at Calder before

finishing fifth in the grassy Dania Beach Stakes for trainer Phil Gleaves; and

News Pending, a maiden-winning son of Harlan's Holiday who will have Kent

Desormeaux in the saddle for trainer Dale Romans.

While the Fountain of Youth takes center stage on Sunday, 10 runners will

line-up in the Grade 2, $150,000

Mac

Diarmida Stakes going 1 3/8 miles on the turf one race earlier. Musketier

and Simmard are proven long-distance turf stakes performers for trainer Roger

Attfield and appear the horses to beat in the wide-open affair.

The duo will enter the race off a one-two finish in the Grade 2 W. L.

McKnight Handicap on November 26. Musketier, a 10-year-old German-bred son of

Acatenango, got the win by a half-length and was third in last season's Mac

Diarmida following an even longer layoff. Simmard, a seven-year-old chestnut by

Dixieland Band, didn't do as well in last year's Mac Diarmida, running seventh

following a fifth-placing in the 2010 McKnight. He did go on later in the season

to miss by just a neck in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes.

Taking a big step up for the Mac Diarmida will be Minister Colin with jockey

Elvis Trujillo aboard for trainer Tom Proctor. The son of Smart Strike has won

his last two at the meet, most recently an optional claimer going 1 1/2 miles on

January 21, and will be making his stakes bow in Sunday's race.

"He just got better last fall and this winter," Proctor said Thursday. "I

can't tell you why. He was kind of dull and didn't train all that well last

summer, but has come around and earned a chance in this one."

Others in with a shot include Eagle Poise, an Empire Maker gelding who won

the Grade 3 Valedictory Stakes at Woodbine in early December; Newsdad, a son of

Arch who posted a romping 6 3/4-length front-running victory in an optional

claimer going 1 7/16 miles over the track on January 28; and Mambo Meister, a

multiple Grade 3-winning son of King Cugat who will need to rebound off a

10th-placing in the Grade 3 Fort Lauderdale Stakes.