Have the television remote in hand Saturday as there are more than two dozen graded stakes races at tracks throughout the U.S. on March 5. Three Kentucky Derby (GI) stepping-stone races – the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park, the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct and the Grade 2 San Felipe at Santa Anita – are among the big events.

Santa Anita’s card also includes the Santa Anita Handicap (G1), not quite the race it was decades ago, and the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile and Beholder Stakes.

The focus will be on the 3-year-old stakes races, however, and the 12 colts in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth at 1 1/16 miles on dirt is the most intriguing of the trio of races.

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