He is the most beautiful animal and while he did some amazing feats last year to earn him the American 2yo Male Horse of the Year, he has filled out since then and has become drop dead gorgeous. Todd Pletcher was being quite lyrical – in fact for TP very lyrical – about the horse before the race and he and all the connections have big grins on their faces following Irad Ortiz's trouble free win by 4.5 lengths. Of course there was the odd tight spot in the run and a bit of a bump at the start but the horse seems to have a racing brain which switched on and saw that he concentrated on the task at hand. The race we are talking about is the Fountain of Youth in which he started odds-on for his first 3yo appearance. His sire Violence came second in the race in 2013 and was retired shortly after that following injury with his record being four starts, three wins and one second.
There were other races on the card starting with the Gulfstream Park Mile where Endorsed got the better of favourite Charge It thanks to a great ride from Gaffalone. Simplification was third.
The Davona Dale for the 3yo fillies raised far more questions than provided answers so don't think there is much that is reliable to take from the result. Dorth Vader won at 49/1 from Guns N Graces 29/1 and favourite Red Carpet Ready third.
The MacDiarmida over the turf 2200m went to Value Engineering 6/1 from Marwad 6/1 and our old friend Master Piece showed signs of improvement in taking third on 5/1.
Over at Santa Anita it was Big 'Cap day and starting off with the Buena Vista G2 on the turf where Quattroelle 3/1 just defeated the Brazilian-bred Macadamia (so is he a Brazil nut or an Aussie nut) 7/2, and Closing Remarks 32/5. The favourite Kitty Kitana was running well then must have suffered an injury and was pulled up.
The San Felipe Gr2 went to Practical Move 4/1 who downed the favourite Geaux Rocket Ride 3/1 with Skinner 14/5 running a bold third.
The Frank E Kilroe Mile Gr1 turf again saw upsets: the winner was Gold Phoenix 10/1 with Du Jour second also on 10/1 and third Cabo Spirit 4/1. Hong Kong Harry was the unplaced favourite.
The Santa Anita Handicap aka "the Big 'Cap" was a win for our tip Stilleto Boy 5/1 with Kent Desormeaux riding for the Mogers. Godolphin's Proxy was second and favourite Defunded third.
