Kentucky Derby Blog

Cool Coal Man won the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park, putting himself squarely into the muddled mix of Derby hopefuls. A half-hour later, his barn mate War Pass — last year’s juvenile champion — made his 3-year-old debut by essentially jogging to a 7 1/2-length win in an allowance race.

Both are trained by Zito and owned by Robert LaPenta, who, like the trainer, was exuberant afterward.

Cool Coal Man finished in 1:51.85 and returned $16.60, $8.40 and $6. Elysium Fields paid $8 and $4.40, while Court Vision rallied from way back to get third, albeit about 6 lengths from the front, and paid $3.40.

War Pass was officially sent off at 1-9 on the Gulfstream toteboards and 1-20 overall. There was $763,758 wagered on the race, virtually all of it on War Pass — who returned the absolute minimum, $2.10 for the win.
Cool Cool Man, War Pass,

Here is the complete field for the Fountain of Youth in post position order.
What is your pick?

1. Cool Coal Man, Kent Desormeaux, 6-1 (ML from DRF)
2. Golden Spikes, Javier Castellano, 12-1
3. Court Vision, Garrett Gomez, 3-1
4. Kentucky Bear, Elvis Trujillo, 10-1
5. Z Humor, Cornelio Velasquez, 8-1
6. Ready Set, Jose Lezcano, 20-1
7. Monba, Edgar Prado, 4-1
8. Anak Nakal, Julien Leparoux, 6-1
9. Elysium Fields, Eibar Coa, 15-1
10.Halo Najib, Rene Douglas, 12-1
11.Make the Point, John Velazquez, 12-1
12.Adriano, Eddie Castro, 20-1

1 1/8 Miles | 3 Year Olds Stakes | Purse: $350,000
Post-time for the Fountain of Youth Stakes is scheduled for 6:15 PM EST.

Fountain of Youth Stakes

This is really a great free resource. Past performances for probably every 3 year old with a chance of winning the 2008 Kentucky Derby.

http://www.brisnet.com/promo/dby0505y.pdf

Graded Earnings: $1,320,000
Race Record: 4-4-0-0
Winnings: Finish 1st at 2007 Beeders’ Cup Juvenile, Champagne Stakes, Allowance Optional Claiming and Maiden Special Weight.
Pedigree:
His sire, Cherokee Run, won the ’94 Breeders’ Cup Sprint and banked over $1.5 million in his career. In ’07, Cherokee Run rates as the fifth-leading Juvenile sire, and the No. 18-leading stallion overall. He’s been represented by four Breeders’ Cup starters, all in Juvenile races, and his Chilukki (’99 Juvenile Fillies) and Kafwain (’02 Juvenile) ran second in their respective races. War Pass’ dam, Vue, also produced G1-winning 2-year-old Oath, heroine of Saratoga’s Spinaway.

As of 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb 28th, and with $47,492 bet into the win-only wager, the field was a 5-2 choice over the 23 separately listed entries. War Pass was a clear-cut second choice at 7-2, followed by Pyro (9-1), Court Vision (14-1), El Gato Malo (19-1), Monba (19-1), Crown of Thorns (21-1), and Majestic Warrior (22-1). Check out more Kentucky Derby contender odds!

There were two Kentucky Derby prep races last weekends. Here are the results.

Sam F. Davis Stakes
Fierce Wind charged to the lead entering the stretch of his stakes debut and held off fast-closing Big Truck to prevail by a half-length in the $200,000 Sam F. Davis Stakes on Saturday at Tampa Bay Downs. The winner paid $5.40, $3, and $2.40. Fierce Wind, a Kentucky-bred son of Dixie Union, ran the 1 1/16 miles on a fast track in stakes-record time of 1:44.13 with Cornelio Velasquez riding. He now has three straight wins since shipping to Florida last October.

Borderland Derby Winners
Poni Colada swept to the lead on the turn to complete a last-to-first rally and accelerated clear to an eight-length romp in the $100,000 Borderland Derby on Saturday at Sunland Park. The son of Volponi covered the 11/16-mile dirt race in 1:47.19 and paid $5.40. The Steve Asmussen trainee earned $60,000 for the win, doubling his lifetime earnings to more than $123,000.