Pulpit Tries to Keep Faith Before Derby

The best race to be seen at Santa Anita today will be run in Florida.

On a day when the local feature is a restricted handicap for turf horses, the most anticipated event will be the $200,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

To be simulcast between the fourth and fifth live races, the Fountain of Youth will mark the stakes debut of the much-heralded Pulpit, who will take on eight other 3-year-olds in the 1 1/16--mile race.

Unbeaten in two starts and the recipient of some rave reviews, Pulpit, a son of 1992 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner A.P. Indy, will be racing, among others, Arthur L and Acceptable, the 1-2 finishers in last month’s Holy Bull; Captain Bodgit, a winner of five of seven who will be ridden by Alex Solis, and Wrightwood, who will be in from California with jockey Gary Stevens and trainer Wayne Lukas.

After breaking his maiden by 7 1/2 lengths in a seven-furlong race at Gulfstream on Jan. 11, Pulpit, owned by Claiborne Farm and trained by Frank Brothers, returned Feb. 8 and won by nearly seven lengths at the Fountain of Youth distance.

“This is Pulpit’s biggest race,” Brothers was quoted as saying. “Hopefully, there will be some bigger races down the road for him. This is a huge step up for him, but I think he’s a good colt.”

Pulpit, one of the favorites in the Kentucky Derby future books, figures to get more pressure than in his allowance victory. Against seven opponents, he was able to win in 1:42 over a track that has been very fast.

Confide, a sprinter who will be trying two turns for the first time today, will show speed and Arthur L will be going for his fourth consecutive win.

With jockey Shane Sellers choosing to stay with Pulpit, Jerry Bailey will be aboard Acceptable for the first time in the Grade II race. Beaten by a neck by Boston Harbor in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Capote colt, owned by George Steinbrenner, was beaten by the same margin in his ’97 debut in the Holy Bull.

Called by Lukas his “Grindstone of 1997,” Wrightwood is the only Fountain of Youth starter who didn’t last race at Gulfstream Park. Making his initial start as a 3-year-old in an allowance race at Santa Anita on Jan. 29, the son of Seattle Slew beat Inexcessivelygood by half a length. Thirteen lengths behind in fourth was Effect, who returned to win impressively a week ago.

Since his win, Wrightwood, owned by Bob and Beverly Lewis, has had two solid workouts, a 59 4/5 on Feb. 13, the best of 31 at the distance that morning.

A $325,000 yearling purchase at the 1995 Keeneland July sale, Wrightwood was operated on to free an entrapped epiglottis after he finished last in his final start of 1996 at Belmont Park.

“I thought so much of this horse, I said we should send him to the best doctors,” Lukas said. “The surgery was textbook, it turned out so well.

“We couldn’t have scripted a race [like his comeback]. [Inexcessivelygood had run recently and Wrightwood] was coming off a four-month layoff. He was relaxed . . . and he was content to stay right where [Stevens] put him. He moved up, the other horse moved up.

“If you drew it up in the morning and said, ‘OK, this is what we want you to do and then let us run by you,’ that’s what it was like.

“The timing is perfect [for the Fountain of Youth] and we’re stepping up to find out what we’ve got.”

Bought by Team Valor, which is headed by Jeff Siegel and Barry Irwin, after he was a distant third in the Holy Bull, Captain Bodgit had won five in a row racing in Maryland and Delaware before that loss. He hadn’t been out in over two months before the Holy Bull, so he could move forward.

The three other entrants are Jack Flash, who, like Acceptable, is trained by Nick Zito; Frisk Me Now, who won the Hutcheson at nearly 106-1, and Blazing Sword.

Horse Racing Notes

Isitingood, who set a world record when he ran a mile on turf in 1:32 on Feb. 5, will skip the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap on March 2 and run instead in the $250,000 New Orleans Handicap a week later at the Fair Grounds. . . . Pulpit is the 5-2 favorite in the Fountain of Youth and Acceptable is the 3-1 second choice. . . . Wings Bash is the 6-5 favorite in Santa Anita’s feature, the $75,000 San Marino Handicap at 1 1/4 miles on grass.

Jockey Matt Garcia was suspended for five days for an incident involving Jabawaki in Thursday’s fourth race. . . . A decision on whether Gentlemen will run in the Big ‘Cap is expected after the weights for the race are released Sunday. Gentlemen worked seven furlongs in 1:26 Friday morning at Hollywood Park. . . . Alex Solis won twice Friday and leads Gary Stevens in the jockey standings, 51-38.