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Tapit’s Greatest Honour Rallies to Fountain of Youth Win

Courtlandt Farm homebred Greatest Honour (Tapit) looked all but hopeless rounding the final bend in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream, but he flew home in the stretch to complete a huge daily double for his sire. The Shug McGaughey trainee's victory came just minutes after returning champion Essential Quality (Tapit) cruised in Oaklawn's GIII Southwest S. Pacesetting Drain the Clock (Maclean's Music) held well for second, beaten 1 1/2 lengths, while longshot Papetu (Dialed In), who briefly looked like the winner, checked in third. It was the third Fountain of Youth for Hall of Famer McGaughey, who won in 2019 with Code of Honor (Noble Mission {GB}) and in 2013 with Orb (Malibu Moon). The latter, who employed similar late-running tactics and hails from the same A.P. Indy sire line, would go on to add the GI Florida Derby and GI Kentucky Derby.

Saturday, Gulfstream Park
FASIG-TIPTON FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH S.-GII, $300,000, Gulfstream, 2-27, 3yo, 1 1/16m, 1:44.02, ft.
1–GREATEST HONOUR, 123, c, 3, by Tapit
                1st Dam: Tiffany's Honour, by Street Cry (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Better Than Honour, by Deputy Minister
                3rd Dam: Blush With Pride, by Blushing Groom (Fr)
O/B-Courtlandt Farms (Donald & Donna Adam) (KY); T-Claude
McGaughey III; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $176,700. Lifetime Record:
6-3-1-2, $351,940. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the
   eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Drain the Clock, 120, c, 3, Maclean's Music–Manki, by Arch.
O-Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Wonder Stables &
Michael Nentwig; B-Nick Cosato (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
$57,000.
3–Papetu, 118, c, 3, Dialed In–Lady Malkin, by Sharp Humor.
($80,000 Ylg '19 KEESEP). O-Magic Stables LLC; B-Almar Farm,
LLC (KY); T-Antonio Sano. $28,500.
Margins: 1HF, 2, 1 3/4. Odds: 1.00, 2.80, 18.30.
Also Ran: Tarantino, Jirafales, King's Ovation, Prime Factor, Fire At Will, Tiz Tact Toe, Sososubtle. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

Developed with the typical patience McGaughey is renowned for, Greatest Honour was third in seven-furlong events at Saratoga Sept. 5 and Belmont Oct. 11, respectively, to kick off his career. He was beaten a head when stretched out to nine panels at Aqueduct Nov. 8 by well-bred Known Agenda (Curlin), who was subsequently third in the GII Remsen S. and most recently took a local optional claimer by 11 lengths on Friday. Greatest Honour broke through over track and trip Dec. 26, and took his game to a whole different level when annexing the GIII Holy Bull S. Jan. 30 by 5 3/4 lengths.

Immediately out-sprinted, Greatest Honour seemed to resent the kickback early while ultimately settling in third last and saving some ground. He appeared to be going up and down after six furlongs in 1:11.51 and as Papetu blew by him from even farther back midway on the home bend. Drain the Clock turned for home with a three or four-length advantage, but he was going to need a bigger cushion than that. Greatest Honour was switched wide and exploded down the center, bounding by with fluid strides to win with room to spare.

“He broke good, a bit slow like he always does, and I put him in the race,” said winning rider Jose Ortiz. “I tried to be as close as I could going to the backside and I got a good path behind Prime Factor (Quality Road). But, when we hit the turn I bumped the horse outside of me and lost my hind end a little bit and it was very hard to get him back going. He's such a big horse with such a big stride. At the three-eighths pole I'm trying to get him going and I got a space on the inside, but I didn't want to have to stop him again, so I decided to go wide and when he hit the clear, boom. He was there for me. Huge run.”

McGaughey, who said the Mar. 27 GI Florida Derby would be next on the agenda, admitted he wasn't feeling confident for much of Saturday's race.

“I wasn't real comfortable,” he said. “I could see what was going on and I felt like if Jose got him in the clear then we could have a shot to make a run at him. The horse that was second [Drain the Clock], when he did break clear I said, 'Uh, oh.' But, he's a really nice horse.”

He continued, “The pace wasn't that fast today, I don't think, but he was able to overcome it. He's won twice down here now in stakes doing what he doesn't want to do, and that's a mile and a sixteenth. Like Jose said, I'm glad these mile and a sixteenth [races] are behind us. We'll be looking forward to getting him stretched out. Hopefully it's in the near future but, if not, I know what we've got. Hopefully as we keep going longer he'll keep improving. The farther the better for him.”

Owner/breeder Don Adam was also on hand to celebrate.

“It's very exciting,” he said. “Being a horse that I bred and the history by which I came by him is very gratifying. I was a little concerned in this one. It looked like he wasn't in the best position, but this will be the shortest race he runs in a long time. And the longer he goes, the better he will be.”

Adam added, “I bought the mare [Tiffany's Honour] in foal to a Tapit colt and that colt hit the ground and was killed in a paddock accident. So, I bred her back to Tapit and got him. I bought her at a Fasig-Tipton sale.”

Click here for more on Courtlandt and Tiffany's Honour and her Tapit colts.

Pedigree Notes:

Greatest Honour is one of 88 graded stakes winners by Tapit, but is the only one out of a Street Cry mare. Street Cry also sired the dam of Fearless (Ghostzapper), who took the GII WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile S. earlier on the card. Courtlandt acquired dam Tiffany's Honour after she RNA'd for $2.3 million at the 2015 Fasig-Tipton November Sale in foal to Tapit. The unplaced daughter of GISW and Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister)–dam of GI Belmont S. and GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and class of 2021 Hall of Fame nominee Rags to Riches (A.P. Indy)–produced a War Front colt in 2017 who would go on to fetch $1.1 million at Keeneland September the following year. After producing Greatest Honour, Tiffany's Honour sold to Japan's Katsumi Yoshida for $2.2 million at the 2018 Keeneland November sale.

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This Side Up: It’s Elementary as Fire Tests Water on Dirt

On the day that the leading grass juvenile of 2020 rolls the dice on the GI Kentucky Derby trail, here's a really important question for every American horseman. Just what was it about European turf star Mishriff (Ire) that qualified him to run down as irresistible a dirt runner as Charlatan (Speightstown) for the richest prize in our sport last weekend? The answer is so straightforward that it condenses into a single word, yet the implications continue to elude almost everyone in our industry. And that word is: opportunity.

There were two very obvious reasons why Mishriff was given his opportunity in the Saudi Cup. One is that we're all rather more disposed to gamble when the odds of reward are so spectacular; the other is that the race was staged in his owner's hometown.

To be fair, Mishriff had made an encouraging reconnaissance the previous year, while his subsequent deeds in Europe left no doubt of his eligibility in terms of class. So that all figures. Yet the fact is that only those incidental incentives emboldened the kind of experiment nowadays almost manically forsworn on both sides of the Atlantic.

By this stage I have doubtless worn out the record over the shocking lack of adventure lately emasculating the European challenge at the Breeders' Cup, despite the remarkable achievements of those who did gamble on dirt in years past. But Americans have become barely less prescriptive in deciding a horse's surface requirements, carved in stone after a single glance at a pedigree. Both communities, as such, need sit down a minute and consider that of Mishriff.

His sire Make Believe (GB) is a French Classic winner by a British Classic winner, out of a daughter of Arc winner Suave Dancer, himself by a French Classic winner. Mishriff's dam Contradict (GB) is out of a half-sister to two remarkable Irish stallions in Invincible Spirit (Ire) and Kodiac (GB); and if Contradict is admittedly by a Breeders' Cup Classic winner, we all know that Raven's Pass was obliged, that year, with a synthetic surface congenially akin to turf.

The next three dams, meanwhile, are by turf milers Bahri, Kris (GB) and Artaius. Actually Bahri was also sire of Sakhee, whose dam won at Royal Ascot and was by the reputed chlorophyll addict Sadler's Wells. Nonetheless Sakhee was beaten a nose by dirt monster Tiznow at the Breeders' Cup, 20 days after romping the Arc in the mud. In terms of pedigree, the grounds for running Sakhee on dirt were the same as for Mishriff: zilch.

As I'm always saying–and I'm sorry to keep mounting the same soapbox, but nobody else seems to care–what is at stake is the kind of mutual transfusion that has historically energized the breed.
Speed-carrying dirt blood was the foundation of the Coolmore revolution, which continues to percolate through the twin branches of Northern Dancer's European dynasty, via Sadler's Wells and Danzig. Yet where is the rival with enough wit to challenge the same firm's Epsom hegemony by the same formula today, with stallions who–like Northern Dancer–carried their speed two turns on dirt? Anybody remotely serious about prising Classics out of the grasp of Galileo (Ire) and sons should have the big Bluegrass farms on speed-dial. As it is, the Europeans can't even absorb the blatant lessons of recent bargain imports by an accredited turf stallion in Kitten's Joy.

But American horsemen are no less myopic. Yes, some do import European bloodstock–as yearlings, or already in training–but only to target a weaker U.S. program. Few remember how farms like Claiborne and Darby Dan created Classic dirt pedigrees with stallions imported from Europe. Today turf sires in Kentucky are treated as commercial poison, and even when Noble Mission (GB) contrived a GI Kentucky Derby runner-up from his first crop–duly reminding us all that the running style of his brother Frankel (GB) was pure dirt–the next thing you know he has been driven out of town.

Fire At Will (Declaration of War) gets his shot on dirt in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. for the same reason as Mishriff last weekend. Nothing to lose, and potentially enormous rewards. His sire, remember, was beaten a nose and a head when trying dirt for the first time on his final start at the Breeders' Cup. But Declaration Of War was obviously far too versatile for his own good, wandering four continents through his first seven years at stud. In fact, Noble Mission is now in the same barn. Someday, too late, breeders in Europe and America will wake up to the fact that the ultimate 21st Century Thoroughbred is being bred in Japan from blood they rejected.

As it happens, Fire At Will is himself a combination of those Danzig and Sadler's Wells highways to Northern Dancer: he's by a son of War Front out of a Kitten's Joy mare. Not even I can pretend that Kitten's Joy is a versatile influence, though it's interesting that his own sire El Prado (Ire) did give us one in Medaglia d'Oro. Regardless, the family tapers into outright dirt royalty, to Rough Shod through Flippers and Moccasin; and it's been seeded with corresponding quality, by Arch, Nureyev (third dam, of course, Rough Shod) and Seattle Slew.

Whether or not Fire At Will takes to dirt is immaterial. The principle can't stand or fall on a single horse. Nobody will be reading too much into that off-the-turf success in the slop last summer, and he's resurfacing from a long hibernation (curiously enough, on the same day as the dirt champ over at Oaklawn). He'll find no hiding place between the speedball Drain The Clock (Maclean's Music) and a two-turn prince in Greatest Honour (Tapit). But I simply hope he runs well enough, so soon after a finishing kick honed on grass was too much even for Charlatan, to make horsemen everywhere stop and think. Just how many other horses might be out there, you wonder, with capacities far exceeding their opportunity?

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Equibase Analysis: Drain The Clock On An Improving Pattern For Fountain Of Youth

This Saturday's Grade 2, $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park is the last major stepping stone to the Florida Derby on March 27. The Fountain of Youth also awards 50 important Road to the Kentucky Derby points to the winner.

Leading the field of 10 is Greatest Honour, who won the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes impressively last month over the track. Holy Bull runner-up Tarantino, who has never been worse than second in four races, and third place finisher Prime Factor, who will be making only the third start of his career, will try to improve enough to turn the tables on Greatest Honour.

Drain the Clock and King's Ovation finished first and second, respectively, in the Grade 3 Swale Stakes, a seven furlong race at Gulfstream on the same day as the Holy Bull and will try to run as well while trying two turns for the first time.

Fire at Will returns for this first start as a 3-year-old and following nearly four months away from the races, but won the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in his final start of 2020 and has the class to compete favorably if ready.

Sososubtle was an impressive four-length winner of a maiden race last month and takes a big step up in class. Papetu and Jirafales finished far back while fourth and fifth, respectively, in the Holy Bull and appear to have their work cut out for them. Tiz Tact Toe is still a maiden and winless in three races and rounds out the field.

Greatest Honour was well regarded by bettors as the second choice in the Holy Bull Stakes last month and rewarded his backers with a visually impressive win by almost six lengths. Rallying from seventh in the early stages, Greatest Honour swept past his rivals on the far turn while four paths wide to lead by a length in the stretch before drawing off with ease. Bringing his record to a perfect two-for-two at the distance of the Fountain of Youth, Greatest Honour earned a 103 Equibase Speed Figure. That was not his best figure, but the 106 figure Greatest Honour earned winning one race before the Holy Bull is the best figure earned by any horse in the field. The only other horse in the field to have broken the 100 threshold is Fire At Will, who earned a 105 figure winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf last year. Considering how easily Greatest Honour won the Holy Bull, I think he could have run faster and earned a higher figure if needed and that is why he is the one to beat in this year's Fountain of Youth Stakes.

Drain the Clock appears to be on a pattern, that if continued, would allow him to run well enough to win the Fountain of Youth. On the same date of the Holy Bull last month at Gulfstream Park, Drain the Clock put in a visually impressive six length victory in geared down fashion and earning at 95 figure. Four weeks prior to that, Drain the Clock earned an 88 figure winning the Limehouse Stakes and if he can improve about the same seven points as he did in the Swale, Drain the Clock could run as well as Greatest Honour is expected to run. Excluding his effort in November when losing his jockey when a piece of equipment broke, Drain the Clock is a perfect four-for-four in his career. Although the Fountain of Youth will be his first attempt at two turns, the fact that he draws the ground saving rail and has shown the ability to stalk the pacesetter in second or third before winning suggests no matter how the early pace unfolds, Drain the Clock should have no problem being a very strong contender in this race.

Tarantino was no match for Greatest Honour when second and beaten 5 3/4 lengths in the Holy Bull, but he ran very well nevertheless. Earning a career-best 94 figure in his first race on dirt after three races on grass to start his career, Tarantino was nearly four lengths clear of the third horse in the field of nine. With jockey Edgard Zayas getting off to ride Drain the Clock, Tyler Gaffalione gets on and there is no issue with the quality of the man in the irons. Making his third start off a layoff suggesting physical improvement, and making his seconds start on dirt, there is every reason to believe Tarantino can take another step forward on his quest to be a contender as we move towards the Florida Derby next month and the Kentucky Derby in 10 weeks.

Fire At Will would certainly be a top contender for me if he were not coming back from nearly four months off and trying to go two turns on dirt for the first time against horses which have run well and much more recently. Fire at Will finished sixth in his career debut last summer then reeled off three straight wins, all in stakes. He improved from an 80 figure, to 96, to 105 when winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf in a field of 14. One of the wins came on a sloppy dirt track (in a race scheduled for turf) so it appears he can run on the surface just fine and there's no doubt he can run this far as he won the Pilgrim Stakes on turf at the distance. Still, it's a doubly big question to ask a horse to run well enough to win off this long of a layoff in a two turn race at this level and as such I'll be taking a stand against Fire At Will in this situation.

The rest of the field, all who have the ability to compete effectively in this race, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is King's Ovation (83), Jirafales (76), Papetu (89), Prime Factor (88), Sososubtle (93) and Tiz Tact Toe (78).

Win Contenders, in probability order:
Greatest Honour
Drain the Clock
Tarantino

Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes – Grade 2
Race 14 at Gulfstream Park
Saturday, Feb. 27 – Post Time 6:10 PM E.T.
One and One Sixteenth Miles
Three Year Olds
Purse: $300,000

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Fountain Of Youth: Holy Bull Winner Greatest Honour Faces Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Victor Fire At Will

Courtlandt Farms' Greatest Honour, already a prime prospect on the strength of his dominating victory in the Jan. 30 Holy Bull (G3), will take a significant step along the Road to the Triple Crown in Saturday's $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park.

The Shug McGaughey-trained colt will have the opportunity to virtually clinch a spot in this year's Kentucky Derby (G1) field with a win in the Fountain of Youth, a 50-20-10-5 qualifying points race, as well as the important prep for the $750,000 Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n Dale Farm at Xalapa March 27 at Gulfstream.

The Fountain of Youth, a tradition-rich 1 1/16-mile race for 3-year-olds, will anchor Saturday's blockbuster 14-race program with nine stakes, including the $200,000 Davona Dale (G2), featuring the 2021 debut of Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) heroine and Eclipse champion Vequist.

Greatest Honour, who broke his maiden in his fourth career start Dec. 26 at Gulfstream, rallied from seventh in a field of nine to draw away by 5 ¾ lengths under Jose Ortiz in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull. The son of Tapit has shown McGaughey all the signs that he has moved forward in his training at Payson Park in Indiantown, FL since his winning stakes debut.

“He had a really good work up there Sunday morning. I was pleased with the work and was very pleased with the way he looked and the way he was acting,” said McGaughey, who is hoping Greatest Honour, the 9-5 favorite, will follow the example of Orb, whom he saddled for victories in the Fountain of Youth, Florida Derby and Kentucky Derby (G1) in 2013.

Courtlandt Farms' homebred colt launched his career with a pair of strong closing third-place finishes in maiden special weight sprints at Saratoga and Belmont before losing a photo finish in his first trip around two turns at Aqueduct and completing his juvenile season with his 1 1/16-mile maiden breaker at Gulfstream.

McGaughey would gladly accept a set-up in the Fountain of Youth like the one he had in the Holy Bull, in which he rated well behind a contested early pace before producing a strong stretch rally.

“We'd like to see some speed ahead of him. When you have a horse that comes from behind, if you have some pace in front of you, it helps you,” said McGaughey, who saddled Code of Honor for a win in the 2019 Fountain of Youth. “But I'm not going to be overly worried if there isn't.”

Jose Ortiz has the return mount on Greatest Honour, who drew Post No. 8 in a field of 10.

Drain the Clock, an impressive winner of the seven-furlong Swale (G3) on the Holy Bull undercard, is expected to be an imposing pace factor from his rail post position Saturday in his stretch-out around two turns in the Fountain of Youth. He's 5-1 in the morning line.

The son of Maclean's Music was won four of five lifetime starts, his only loss coming when he lost his rider due to a broken iron during the running of the Nov. 30 Jeanne Laffite Stakes at Delta Downs. He entered the Delta stakes off a six-length debut victory at Gulfstream Park and an optional claiming allowance at Gulfstream Park West. The Joseph trainee bounced back from his ill-fated trip to Louisiana with a 7 ½-length win in the Jan. 2 Limehouse and a 6 ¼-length triumph in the Swale during the 2020-2021 Championship Meet.

“He's a very talented horse. He showed that before he even ran. The second or third breeze he showed he had talent,” Joseph said. “The only blemish on his record was at Delta, and that wasn't his fault. Last time, he couldn't have won any easier than he did. He's won all his races in a good fashion. Hopefully, he can keep it going.”

Owned by Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Racing Stables LLC, Wonder Stables and Michael Nentwig, Drain the Clock will be ridden by Edgard Zayas.

Three Diamonds Farm's Fire At Will (7-2), who captured the Nov. 6 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf (G2) at Keeneland last time out, is set to return to dirt in the Fountain of Youth.

“It's a tough task, whether he's a dirt horse or a turf horse, but he's earned the chance,” trainer Michael Maker said.

After finishing sixth on turf in his Aug. 8 debut at Saratoga, Fire At Will broke his maiden in the Sept. 2 With Anticipation Stakes over a sealed sloppy main track at the Spa. The son of Declaration of War went back to turf to capture the Oct. 3 Pilgrim (G2) at Belmont by two lengths and the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf by three lengths.

Kendrick Carmouche, who guided Fire At Will to victory in the Pilgrim, returns to the saddle.

Tarantino, who is owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Golconda Stables, Siena Stables LLC and Robert Masterson, made a respectable transition from turf to dirt in the Holy Bull, in which he pressed a solid early pace before finishing second behind Greatest Honour and 3 ¾ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Prime Factor.

The 3-year-old son of Pioneerof the Nile, who was a nose away from being undefeated on turf in his first three starts. He won his debut and lost a stakes by a nose in Southern California with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert before capturing a Dec. 11 optional claiming allowance on turf at Gulfstream in his first start for trainer Rodolphe Brisset and finishing second in the Holy Bull on dirt.

“We're hoping he can be a couple lengths better this time,” said Brisset, who expects Tarantino (8-1) to move forward from his dirt debut.

Tyler Gaffalione is scheduled to ride Tarantino for the first time Saturday.

WinStar Farm LLC and CHC Inc.'s Prime Factor (5-1), who was favored in the Holy Bull, will be seeking to rebound in the Fountain of Youth. The son of Quality Rod debuted with a dazzling 8 ¾-length victory at Gulfstream Dec. 12 before taking a giant step up in the Holy Bull, in which he stalked the pace and raced evenly in the stretch to finish a distant third.

“We're hoping he shows improvement after having only two starts. He came out of that race good. He came back with two really good breezes,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “We're just hoping it was a lack of experience and seasoning. He's trained like a good horse, so we'll see what he can do.”

Pletcher named Irad Ortiz Jr. to ride Prime Factor.

Magic Stable LLC's Papetu, who finished three-quarters of a length behind Prime Factor while checking in fourth in the Holy Bull, will also return in the Fountain of Youth.

“I think he made his move too soon,” trainer Antonio Sano said of his 15-1 shot. “He needs to relax early and make his run at the three-eighths [pole].”

Sano, who saddled Gunnevera for a victory in the 2017 Fountain of Youth, has named Junior Alvarado to ride Papetu.

Trainer Dale Romans, who saddled Promises Fulfilled for a Fountain of Youth score in 2018, will be represented Saturday by West Point Thoroughbreds and Peacock Stable's King's Ovation (15-1), who finished second behind Drain the Clock in the Swale.

OGMA Investments LLC and Off the Hook LLC's Jirafales, Teresa and David Palmer's Sososubtle (20-1), and David Bernsen LLC's Tiz Tact Toe (30-1) round out the field.

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