Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Prime Factor gets second chance in Fountain of Youth
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Less than four weeks ago, Prime Factor was all the rage heading into the Grade 3 Holy Bull here. But after finishing a tiring third as the even-money favorite in his stakes debut, Prime Factor will take a back seat to both Holy Bull winner Greatest Honour and Breeders’ Cup hero Fire At Will when he gets a second chance on the Triple Crown trail in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
Prime Factor burst on to the scene in spectacular fashion, winning his career debut by 8 3/4 lengths going six furlongs here Dec. 12, earning an 85 Beyer Speed Figure. He rated well placed off an honest early pace stretching to 1 1/16 miles in the Holy Bull, but came up empty after seven furlongs, proving no match for Greatest Honour while also fading nearly four lengths behind runner-up Tarantino.
Pletcher, who has won the Fountain of Youth three times, most recently with Itsaknockout in 2015, noted that the Holy Bull wasn’t his first choice for Prime Factor coming off his eye-catching maiden win.
“The original idea was to come back in some sort of an allowance race, which never materialized,” Pletcher explained. “I think we jumped into the deep end, considering the amount of experience the winner had compared to what we had. I think that made a difference. So we have to hope by running in that race and coming back with a couple of good breezes that he’s able to close the gap a little bit and will be able to improve.”
Prime Factor, the only horse Pletcher plans to enter from among the four horses he nominated to the Fountain of Youth, will again have Irad Ortiz Jr. aboard. Post positions for the Fountain of Youth will be drawn Wednesday.
Prime Factor will see many familiar faces when he arrives in the paddock for the Fountain of Youth, which is expected to lure the top five finishers from the Holy Bull, including Greatest Honour, Tarantino, Papetu, and Jirafales. Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf winner Fire At Will and the once-beaten Drain the Clock, who dominated the Grade 3 Swale on the Holy Bull undercard, are the two new kids on the block in the Fountain of Youth.
Dale Romans said Monday he plans to start one of the five horses he’s nominated to the Fountain of Youth, which include Sittin On Go, the sixthplace finisher in the Holy Bull.
Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. opted to keep Drain the Clock locally rather than ship him to Aqueduct the following week for the Gotham. Drain the Clock worked five furlongs here Sunday in 1:00.70, with his final quarter in 22.96 seconds, in company with his older stakeswinning stablemate Sound Machine.
“He’s unbeaten over this track and it makes things a lot easier just to lead him over out of his own stall than to ship to New York,” Joseph explained after announcing his decision early Monday afternoon.
Trainer Antonio Sano, who won the 2017 Fountain of Youth with Gunnevera, said he thought Papetu “moved a little too soon” in the Holy Bull, getting within a couple of lengths of the leaders after six furlongs before fading to finish fourth, 10 1/4 lengths behind Greatest Honour.
“I thought it was a good race for him, first time going two turns, but I wasn’t 100 percent happy with the way the race went,” Sano said. “Hopefully, things will be different this Saturday.”
Papetu turned in his final work for the Fountain of Youth on Sunday at Gulfstream Park West, where he went five furlongs in 1:01.40. Greatest Honour also completed his preparations for the race on Sunday, breezing an easy halfmile in 51.20 at Payson Park, while Fire At Will went five furlongs in 1:02.75 in company before easing up after completing a full mile in 1:44.19 here Saturday.
Walder rides six-win roll
Trainer Peter Walder will enter the Wednesday card at Gulfstream on the roll of a lifetime, having won with his last six starters.
Honolulu Express began the streak with a victory last Thursday. Walder followed that up with a hat trick Friday, winning with odds-on favorites Liza Star, Florado, and Happy Champ, before continuing Saturday with comfortable wire-to-wire victories by Northern and Ludington.
“Anybody who knows anything about racing knows claiming trainers go on streaks,” Walder said. “It’s all about the condition book sometimes, and the right races coming along for the right horses at the right times, although I’m not sure I’ve ever won six in a row before. Certainly not here. Of course, I have to thank all the owners, who let me take my time with their horses and run them where I thought they could win. It’s pretty cool, though, especially since they all won the same way, wire to wire, and all pretty impressively.”
Barring a miracle, however, Walder’s streak will have to come to an end Wednesday since he runs two horses on the card, High Heater and Surf Shack, both in the second race.
“Unless I scratch one, which at the moment I don’t plan to do, or they dead heat, the streak will come to an end,” Walder said. “Both horses are doing good right now. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ran one-two, although getting them to finish in a dead heat is probably a little too much to hope for.”