Let the Kentucky Derby debates begin.
Social media was aflutter with comparisons of the wins by GREATEST HONOUR (Tapit – Tiffany’s Honour by Street Cry (Ire) in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream and ESSENTIAL QUALITY’s (Tapit – Delightful Quality by Elusive Quality) victory in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park.
Big and leggy Greatest Honour’s win was visually impressive since the big colt seemingly was going to finish well back as the field left the quarter pole in the FOY. Suddenly, the Courtlandt Farms’ homebred, trained by Shug McGaughey, got in the clear and away from the dirt and flew past rivals to win eased up.
Just a few minutes earlier, Essential Quality, the Champion 2-year-old in America and unbeaten in three races in 2020, powered to a big win in the Southwest in the slop.
Fans of each horse were quick to toast their colts’ Kentucky Derby chances two months from now. The Greatest Honour camp knows that colt will get better with more distance (his second dam produced Belmont Stakes winners Rags to Riches and Jazil) and McGaughey said he was just glad the colt did not have to race at 1 1/16 miles anymore.
The Essential Quality fan club knows their colt has never lost and seemingly ran faster in his win, posting a 96 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form, compared to the 83 put up by Greatest Honour.
Let’s check out the recap of the Fountain of Youth:
Courtlandt Farms’ Greatest Honour wove his way through traffic before unleashing an impressive kick in the stretch to capture Saturday’s $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park.
The Shug McGaughey-trained 3-year-old son of Tapit, who captured the Jan. 30 Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream, virtually clinched a spot in this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) field with his gutsy score in the Fountain of Youth, a 50-20-10-5 qualifying points race.
Greatest Honor, the even-money favorite ridden by Jose Ortiz, raced far off a solid early pace set by Drain the Clock, who darted from the starting gate to show the way while setting fractions of 23.66 and 47.18 seconds for the first half-mile. Greatest Honor lagged far back while racing in traffic but made steady progress approaching the far turn. Drain the Clock continued to show the way under Edgard Zayas around the far turn and into the homestretch turn as Papetu, the early trailer, made a sweeping moving around Greatest Honour to enter contention under Junior Alvarado.
The long-striding Greatest Honour was steered to the outside while building momentum on the turn into the homestretch and kicked in powerfully through the stretch to sweep past Papetu and catch Drain the Clock approaching the finish line. Greatest Honour prevailed by 1 ½ lengths, galloping out strongly after completing the 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.02.
“He was a little farther back that I thought he would be going down the backside. A lot of dirt was hitting him. They weren’t going overly fast. Going three-quarters in 1:11 and change over this track is not fast,” McGaughey said. “When Jose got him in the clear it was over.”
Ortiz, who was aboard for the considerably easier 5 ¾-length Holy Bull victory, said Greatest Honor’s momentum was briefly stopped on the far turn.
“He’s such a big horse with such a big stride. At the three-eighths [pole] I’m trying to get him going and I got a space on the inside but I didn’t what to stop him again,” Ortiz said. “I decided to go wide and when he hit the clear, boom!”
Drain the Clock, who captured the seven-furlong Swale (G3), finished two lengths ahead of Papetu.
“He ran huge. I thought he was the winner. I didn’t see the favorite coming,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “He ran I can’t be disappointed. It was his first time around two turns and he got beat by a quality horse.”
Jockey Jose Ortiz (Greatest Honour, 1st): “He broke good, a bit slow like he always does, and I put him in the race. I tried to be as close as I could going to the backside and I got a good path behind Prime Factor. But, when we hit the turn I bumped the horse outside of me and lose my hind end a little bit and it was very hard to get him back going. He’s such a big horse with such a big stride. At the three-eighths pole I’m trying to get him going and I got a space on the inside but I didn’t want to have to stop him again, so I decided to go wide and when he hit the clear, boom. He was there for me. Huge run.”
“Not just this race. I won the first one [Holy Bull] and the second one, now we’re going to the Florida Derby and if we could sweep the three legs that would be great momentum going into the Derby. I know there’s a lot of time left and anything can happen. We just pray for the best and stay healthy. I know if the Florida Derby we’re going to face tough competition, for sure.”
Owner Donald Adam, Courtlandt Farm (Greatest Honour, 1st): “It’s very exciting. Being a horse that I bred and the history by which I came by him is very gratifying. I was a little concerned in this one. It looked like he wasn’t in the best position, but this will be the shortest race he runs in a long time. And the longer he goes, the better he will be.”
“I bought the mare [Tiffany’s Honour] in foal to a Tapit colt and that colt hit the ground and was killed in a paddock accident. So, I bred her back to Tapit and got him. I bought her at a Fasig-Tipton sale.”
The Southwest Stakes recap: Reigning Two-Year-Old Champion Essential Quality capped a huge day for owner Godolphin, LLC with an impressive victory in Saturday’s $750,000 Southwest Stakes (G3), his 3-year-old debut. Earlier on the card, Godolphin’s Mystic Guide won the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3).
Breaking from the rail under regular rider Luis Saez, 4-5 favorite Essential Quality settled behind the speed as Jackie’s Warrior, the 6-5 second choice, set the pace of :23 2/5 and :48 for the first half-mile. The winner patiently moved to the outside of horses, began advancing down the backstretch before making his move entering the turn for home and drawing well clear through the stretch to win by 4 ¼ lengths. Spielberg, who had shipped in from California, overcame a poor start to get second.
“I’m so excited,” Saez said. “I’m very happy to be riding this horse. We were waiting a long time. What a talented horse. We knew the speed was to our outside. The plan was to try to follow him (Jackie’s Warrior) the whole way. Everything came together. He broke pretty well and at the 5/8th pole he took the bridle and was really pulling me, but I was waiting, just trying to wait with him. We came to the stretch just so easy. He switched leads and just took off. What a nice horse. He finished very strong and I still had a lot of horse.”
Jackie’s Warrior held on for third followed by Woodhouse, Last Samurai, Santa Cruiser, and Saffa’s Day.
Essential Quality, the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) winner, earned 10 points towards eligibility in the Kentucky Derby (G1) with the win to increase his total to 40 points. He is currently ranked third among the top 20 horses. Spielberg earned four points and currently sits seventh on the list with 17 points. Jackie’s Warrior is ranked eighth with 14 points after picking up two points in the Southwest. Woodhouse earned one point for fourth.
*The John Battaglia Stakes at Turfway Park on Friday night also offered Derby points. HUSH OF A STORM (Creative Cause) rallied to win in a crowded stretch run, surviving a 13 minute post race inquiry. The Battaglia was run on Turfway’s Tapeta surface. Canadian-bred Gretzky the Great set a pressured pace and held third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths. The time of the race was 1:44 for 1 1/16 miles.
Essential Quality handled the slop and Spielberg in the Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn – Oaklawn photo
KENTUCKY DERBY POINTS
Rank Horse Points Owner(s) Trainer Non-Restricted Stakes Earnings
1. Greatest Honour 60 Courtlandt Farms (Donald & Donna Adam) Shug McGaughey III $295,740
2. Mandaloun 52 Juddmonte Farms Inc. (Prince Khalid Abdullah) Brad Cox $260,000
3. Essential Quality 40 Godolphin LLC (Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum) Brad Cox $1,730,000
4. Midnight Bourbon 26 Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC (Ron Winchell) Steve Asmussen $230,000
5. Proxy 24 Godolphin LLC (Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum) Mike Stidham $120,000
— +Drain the Clock 20 Slam Dunk Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Wonder Stables & Michael Nentwig Saffie Joseph Jr. $163,950
6. Keepmeinmind 18 Spendthrift Farm (B. Wayne Hughes), Cypress Creek LLC (Kevin Moody) & Arnold Bennewith Robertino Diodoro $379,040
7. Spielberg 17 SF Racing LLC (Gavin Murphy), Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf et al), Madaket Stables LLC (Jason Monteleone & Sol Kumin), Golconda Stables (Ben Goldberg & Elliot Friman), Siena Farm LLC (Anthony Manganaro, Ignacio Patino & David Pope) & Robert E. Masterson Bob Baffert $362,000
8. Jackie’s Warrior 14 J. Kirk & Judy Robison Steve Asmussen $532,500
9. Rombauer 14 John & Diane Fradkin Michael McCarthy $180,500
10. Medina Spirit 14 Zedan Racing Stables Inc. (Amr F. Zedan) Bob Baffert $80,000
11. Capo Kane 12 Bing Cherry Racing Inc. (Tony Como) & Leonard Liberto Harold Wyner $112,500
12. Papetu 11 Magic Stables LLC Antonio Sano $68,425
13. Hot Rod Charlie 10 Roadrunner Racing (Greg Helm), Boat Racing LLC (Eric Armagost, Dan Giovaccini, Reiley Higgins, Patrick O’Neill & Alex Quoyeser) & Strauss Bros Racing (Bill Strauss) Doug O’Neill $352,000
14. Get Her Number 10 Gary Barber Peter Miller $186,000
15. Sittin On Go 10 Albaugh Family Stables LLC (Dennis Albaugh & Jason Loustch) Dale Romans $141,800
16. Risk Taking 10 Klaravich Stables Inc. (Seth Klarman) Chad Brown $137,500
17. Candy Man Rocket 10 Frank Fletcher Racing Operations Inc. (Frank Fletcher) Bill Mott $120,000
18. Caddo River 10 Shortleaf Stable Inc. (John Ed Anthony) Brad Cox $90,000
19. Brooklyn Strong 10 Mark Schwartz Daniel Velazquez $82,500
20. Life Is Good 10 CHC INC (Ah Khing Teo) & WinStar Farm LLC (Kenny Troutt) Bob Baffert $60,000
21. Hush of a Storm 10 Joseph P. Morey Jr. Revocable Trust Bill Morey $43,710
22. Tarantino 9 SF Racing LLC (Gavin Murphy), Starlight Racing (Jack Wolf et al), Madaket Stables LLC (Jason Monteleone & Sol Kumin), Stonestreet Stables LLC (Barbara Banke), Golconda Stables (Ben Goldberg & Elliot Friman), Siena Farm LLC (Anthony Manganaro, Ignacio Patino & David Pope) & Robert E. Masterson
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