The Grade 2, $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes is one of the first few races which are part of the Kentucky Derby Championship Series that award 50 points to the winner, which historically has been enough to give that horse a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.
Leading the full field of 12, plus one also-eligible, is Rattle N Roll, who won the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity last October but who has not been seen since, although he has put in a pair of excellent workouts leading to this race.
Simplification and Mo Donegal finished second and third, respectively, in the G3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park last month. Both suffered from troubled starts in that race and either could certainly run well enough to win this race.
High Oak, like Rattle N Roll, hasn't been seen since last year, having finished fourth in the G1 Hopeful Stakes following victory in the G2 Saratoga Special Stakes.
Galt, the lone also-eligible in the race who may run if one of the 12 in the main body withdraws, finished fourth in the Holy Bull, with Giant Game eighth in the race following a third place effort in the G1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile in November.
Dean Delivers runs in a two-turn race for the first time and appears to be on an improving pattern following a runner-up effort in the G3 Swale Stakes last month. Markhamian stretches out to two turns for the first time off a win in the Pasco Stakes last month and is another on an improving pattern. O Captain finished third in the Limehouse Stakes on New Year's Day and is another running this distance for the very first time in his career.
Howling Time won the non-graded Street Sense Stakes in October before a fifth place finish in the G2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes in November. He is making his 3-year-old debut in the Fountain of Youth.
Impressive recent winners A P's Secret, Emmanuel and In Due Time all run in a stakes for the first time and could have a strong say in the outcome.
Main win contenders:
In Due Time debuted last July in a 5 1/2-furlong sprint and even back then showed his physical and mental athleticism when battling head-and-head for the first half-mile before pulling away from the field in the late stages. Rested nearly seven months, In Due Time began his sophomore campaign in earnest with a third-place finish in a six furlong sprint, but it was his second start off the layoff which really showed his talent. In that race on Feb. 4, In Due Time was seventh of eight in the early stages before moving off the rail with about three-eighths of a mile to run, accelerating very professionally when asked by jockey Paco Lopez, and drawing off to win by nearly six lengths. In doing so, In Due Time earned a career-best 100 
Equibase® Speed Figure which is also the highest figure earned by any of the 13 Fountain of Youth entrants this year.
I have little doubt about In Due Time handling the two-turn trip he's taking on for the first time as sire Not This Time has Simplification and Howling Time in this race and both have run well at the distance. In addition, recent Risen Star Stakes winner Epicenter is yet another son of Not This Time, who in just two crops has had six different horses (from 19 total sons and daughters) win dirt route stakes races. As such, and with logical improvement in his third start of 2022, it appears In Due Time can post the mild upset win in the Fountain of Youth and put his name squarely in the hat as a strong contender on the Road to the Kentucky Derby.
Simplification was expected to go to the lead at the start in last month's Holy Bull Stakes, based on his wire-to-wire win one month earlier in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes, and based on the statement by his trainer Antonio Sano. However, when the gate opened, the colt tossed his head and that strategy flew out the window. Still, showing composure when in an unusual position given he had been first or second in three straight races prior to that, Simplification rallied from seventh of nine in the early stages to get second although no match for the winner.
In the Mucho Macho Man, Simplification earned a career-best 98 figure that might have been improved upon if he had run on the lead as expected, but nevertheless the 95 figure earned was not bad in any way. With an inside post for the Fountain of Youth, if Simplification can get a length lead early as he did in the Mucho Macho Man, he could get very brave and win this race. However, having seen how he ran in the Holy Bull, it is conceivable if other horses want the early lead more in the Fountain of Youth¸ Simplification may still run well enough to win. Additionally, and quite possibly significantly, trainer Sano won the 2017 Fountain of Youth with Gunnevera, following a second place finish in the Holy Bull, the same as Simplification.
Emmanuel is one of two entrants in this race from the potent barn of Todd Pletcher, the other being Mo Donegal. Although Mo Donegal has stakes experience, having won the Remsen Stakes last December (93 figure) and having finished third in the Holy Bull last month (95 figure) in his 3-year-old debut, Emmanuel is much more interesting and probable to succeed in my opinion. Emmanuel debuted in December in a one-turn mile race at Gulfstream and demolished the 10 horse field by nearly seven lengths with a 92 figure. Pletcher then sent the colt across the state to run in an allowance race at Tampa Bay Downs on January 30 and in that race Emmanuel dominated once again, this time by four lengths. The distance of the race was one mile and forty yards, but Emmanuel likely ran the mile and one-sixteenth distance of the Fountain of Youth as he was in the three path for nearly the entire race. The pace was slow that day but in his debut he ran much faster and I am not concerned about the prospect of the colt having come from off the pace. Luis Saez, who rode Emmanuel in his debut win locally, gets back on and the 98 figure the colt earned in that last win certainly puts him right there with the best of the best in this field if repeated or improved upon.
Honorable mention:
Mo Donegal, as mentioned above, really hasn't done much wrong and should improve in his second start as a 3-year-old and off his 95 figure effort in the Holy Bull last month.
Rattle N Roll returns from nearly five months off and may need a race before his best as he's facing a field full of horses which have run once or twice already in 2022, but he was very impressive winning the Breeders' Futurity last fall with a 100 figure.
Galt is on an improving pattern of efforts and figures as he earned an 84 figure winning off the layoff in December then took another step forward with a 93 figure effort in the Holy Bull, a race in which he was not expected to be on the lead early but when Simplification tossed his head at the start, Galt found himself doing the dirty work on the front end before tiring to fourth. He should improve and with an outside post and is definitely a horse which would run better than his high odds suggest.
Similarly, Howling Time led from the start in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes which was unusual as he had relaxed in fourth early before winning the Street Sense Stakes one month prior with a strong 96 figure. The Kentucky Jockey Club has turned out to be one of the most productive races for 2-year-olds in 2021, with runner-up Classic Causeway winning the Sam F. Davis Stakes off a two month layoff in February, and White Abarrio winning the Holy Bull Stakes off a similar layoff last month as well as with Call Me Midnight winning the Lecomte Stakes off a similarly long layoff.
The rest of the field, most who have the ability to compete effectively in this race, with their best Equibase Speed Figures, is A. P.'s Secret (98), Dean Delivers (95), Giant Game (90), High Oak (97), Markhamian (91) and O Captain (87).
Win Contenders, in preference order:
In Due Time
Simplification
Emmanuel
Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth Stakes – Grade 2
Race 12 at Gulfstream Park
Saturday, March 5 – Post Time 5:42 PM E.T.
One and One Sixteenth Miles
Three Year Olds
Purse: $400,000
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