Cool Coal Man uses a perfect stalking trip to run down a soft pace in G2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park on Sunday 2/24/08.
The Grade 2 Fountain of Youth was quite a race for handicappers to try and decipher heading into Sunday’s racing action at Gulfstream Park in Florida. In the end it was Nick Zito trainee Cool Coal Man who got first jump on the leaders after settling into a perfect stalking trip during the soft early fractions of the race.
Golden Spikes and Make the Point set the early pace, travelling a rather pedestrian 25 3/5 seconds in the first quarter, and 49 1/5 seconds for the half. Cool Coal Man and Elysium Fields nestled in behind the leaders and waited patiently for the real running to begin. Two of the other highly regarded colts in the race, Anak Nakal and Court Vision, probably left themselves a bit too much to do as they were 13 and 15 lengths behind at the half respectively.
Cool Coal man started his run in the far turn and quickly past the pace setters. His biggest challenge came from fellow stalker Elysium Fields, who really ran a heck of a race today and even fought back a bit against Cool Coal Man in the stretch and ended up falling short of a comeback by a neck at the wire.
Court Vision ran on well at the end of the race considering the extremely slow early pace and took show honors. Cool Coal Man returned $16.60 for the win after being sent off at odds of 7/1. Cool Coal Man covered the mile and 1/8 distance in 1:51.85.
So what have we learned from this race? Is the picture of the top 3 year old contenders any clearer? Honestly I’m not sure. I think Cool Coal Man benefited from his forwardly placed stalking position (as did Elysium Fields) and that we shouldn’t expect such soft fractions in the major Triple Crown races. Still, it’s hard to knock the colt for his performance and he’s certainly added his name to the ever changing list of contenders. Speaking of which, I’ll be updating my “Road to the Kentucky Derby” rankings tomorrow night.
I was perhaps even more impressed with both Court Vision and Elysium Fields. As mentioned earlier, Court Vision simply left himself too much to do, but if you read the article on the front page of the DRF Saturday, you saw that Bill Mott was basically expecting this type of performance. I like the way he was moving late and I still think he’s a top ranking Derby contender at this point. He won’t be quite at the #3 or #4 level in the rankings, but he won’t drop too far either. Elysium Fields was a horse I didn’t really give a lot of pre-race thought too, and what I saw of that one makes me think he has a future as well. That was a tremendous effort when you watch the replay as he exerted himself a bit sooner than Cool Coal Man and then still was able to fight back after it looked over with 1/16 of a mile left in the stretch. You don’t see moves like that every day. I’m not sure who would’ve won but if they had been going another furlong….. but then again the entire race might’ve played out differently if that were the case so such speculation is somewhat pointless.
Z Humor got up for 4th late, but he didn’t look to be moving nearly as good as Court Vision. I didn’t really get to see enough from Anak Nakal to warrant some of the hype I heard heading into the 2008 season. Likewise Ready Set was a bit of a disappointment. I really thought he might’ve been primed to run a big one today. Monba has to be the biggest disappointment, but it looks like he had a difficult trip all around. He wasn’t moving comfortably early on and looks to have been in a bit tight. Still, I was hoping we would be able to get a litmus test of sorts for some of the other west coasters from Monba’s performance, and sadly we really can’t tell a thing except that it wasn’t a good run. Monba finished dead last in the field.
If you happened to crack the trifecta, congratulations on a rather whopping $1267.60 payout. In complete contrast, the top 3 year old colt in the nation, War Pass, took a ridiculously easy Allowance race to begin his 2008 campaign in the race after the Fountain of Youth. War Pass went right to the front and never was asked for anything as he wired the field at odds of 1-9. There isn’t much we can learn from this race, but I’ve posted the replay below anyway.
War Pass wins his 2008 debut with ease at Gulfstream Park on 2/24/08
Kevin:
The timer at Gulfstream was tripped prematurely for the Fountain of Youth. Gulfsteam revised the time to 1:50.17. I have the correct splits at the Web site. The fractions really weren’t that slow. Also, Monba was injured going into the first turn. Someone took a piece out of his left hind leg. Pletcher said he’s hoping it will be healed in a couple of weeks. Keep an eye on Elysium Fields, that colt isn’t done yet.
Ron
Ron!!!! You have no idea what an honor it is to get a comment from you!
Yes sir, I saw your article yesterday and took note of the improved splits. So perhaps the race wasn’t as slow as it first appeared. I guess that helps explain why Court Vision was able to put in a run. I’m willing to scratch that effort for Monba and give him anouther chance. I’m still not 100% sold on Cool Coal Man though and agree that Elysium Fields was the more impressive of the two, but perhaps that’s because Elysium FIelds didn’t register anywhere in my pre-race handicapping while Cool Coal Man seemed a threat from the start?
So happy you stopped over, my good friend. Here’s a link for anyone reading along to Ron’s follow-up article about the race timing:
http://blogs.sj-r.com/themorningline/index.php/2008/02/25/fountain-of-youth-timing-adjusted/
Tagg put blinkers on Elysium Fields the race before and he became a different horse. A friend told me before the race that Elysium Field was his ‘shot’ horse. The blinkers may have been the problem in the FOY. They were full-cup and Elysium Fields may not have seen Cool Coal Man until he was by him. Tagg may want to consider cutting them back.
Ron
Interesting. I’m always amazed at what a difference such a small equipment change can make. Elysium FIelds was certainly the most visually impressive horse in the FOY. I just love the fact that no sooner did we lose a possible contender in Crown of Thorns than we get another in Elysium Fields.
You know, there is a horse racing venue only twenty minutes from my house and I have yet to attend a race. You make it sound truly exciting…now I may just have to go!
Awesome! Which track, Jamie? You should totally check it out. You don’t even have to bet – the sport is tremendous fun just to watch. The excitement is contagious. I’ve taken plenty of folks to the track for their first experience and they always seem to have a blast. It just gets more and more fun the more knowledgable about the game you become and the more you connect with certain horses.
I wasn’t impressed with anyone in that race. War Pass is the leader of the packs so far this year.
Really? Not even Elysium Fields? He looked plenty impressive to me. Obviously War Pass is in another stratosphere at the moment so we may be talking about contenders for place and show in May here, but I’m determined to play against the favorite every year in the Derby.
Elysium Fields getting better and better…sure Barclay everything in good order.
WAR PASS in Zito’s hands, go back and watch winning colors win the derby it will look like that. Don’t be surprised if we don’t see WAR PASS do what Zito denied Smarty Jones in 2004. The colt is that good and no one is better on Sat. afternoon than Nick. WAR PASS will get all of the distances in the triple crown because yes he is really that good. SHUT UP ABOUT PYRO, Z /Fortune/HUMOR etc. he beat all of those horses badly. and will again. no one has ever put a head in front of him, and doubt they will.
thanks for the “shut up” advice, but I’ll pass.
Here those on!,
I’d like you to look here – free download tutorial Brushes, you know it? I just found it in web