Florida Preps for the Derby

Florida-based Kentucky Derby prospects get an orderly series of prep races at Gulfstream Park.

Two of those races, the $250,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at 1 1/16 miles and the $150,000 Hutcheson at seven furlongs, will be run Saturday, and then four weeks later, horsemen again have a choice between routing and sprinting when the Florida Derby and the Swale Stakes are scheduled on the same day.

Ideally, trainers would like to have their 3-year-old horses ready for the Florida Derby, which is worth $1 million and has produced 19 horses who have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby. Two of those winners -- Go For Gin and Strike The Gold -- were trained by Nick Zito, who’s running a 20-1 shot, El Prado Rob, in Saturday’s Fountain of Youth. One of Zito’s hotter Kentucky Derby prospects -- Birdstone, who finished third in the voting for last year’s best 2-year-old male -- will make his 3-year-old debut in an allowance race on the Fountain of Youth undercard.

The favorites in the Fountain of Youth, which drew eight horses, are Second Of June, who is 9-5 after winning the Holy Bull Stakes on Jan. 17, and Read The Footnotes, 2-1 on the morning line as he runs for the first time since winning the Remsen at Aqueduct 2 1/2 months ago.

The rest of the Fountain of Youth field includes two undefeated horses -- Sir Oscar, who has won six in a row, all at Calder Race Course; and Frisky Spider, who’s making his stakes debut after winning three in a row. Rounding out the field are Broadway View, Hopefortheroses and Silver Wagon.

In the 11-horse Hutcheson, the favorite is Wynn Dot Comma, who won the Spectacular Bid at Gulfstream.

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Victory Encounter, who has won six of eight starts, drew the inside post among eight entrants for Saturday’s $200,000 La Canada Stakes at Santa Anita.... In another stake on the card, Lennyfrommalibu, who’s on a three-race winning streak, will carry high weight of 120 pounds in the $100,000 Sensational Star Handicap. Spinelessjellyfish, winless in nine starts since winning the stake last year, is also entered.... Julie Krone, who rode Wednesday for the first time since she was injured Dec. 12, took off her two mounts Thursday because of body soreness.... Got Koko, third in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, won’t run until summer because of an ankle injury.