Tami Bobo's Simplification (Not This Time) came out of his victory in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. in fine shape and will now be aimed at the Apr. 2 GI Curlin Florida Derby.
“Yesterday, good break, a little problem in traffic, and when the jockey took him outside, the horse ran well,” trainer Antonio Sano said Sunday morning. “I am proud of my horse. I'm happy for all the support the people give to me. I'm happy for another chance to win the GI Kentucky Derby.”
Simplification earned 50 Derby qualifying points for his 3 1/2-length victory at Gulfstream Saturday and gave Sano his second Fountain of Youth win following Gunnevera (Dialed In)'s 2017 score.
Fountain of Youth runner-up In Due Time (Not This Time) exited the race in good order, but connections will wait to pick out a next start for the colt.
“We always thought that he was a nice horse,” trainer Kelly Breen said of In Due Time. “We were contemplating going to Tampa, but I wanted to stay here in surroundings he's been accustomed to, and because of his affinity for the track, not that he doesn't like any other track. Why do anything different? I thought he ran a creditable race against a nice field of horses.”
Breen continued, “Where we go from here? I'm going to wait for him to get back onto the track and see how he's training. The Florida Derby is in our backyard, but I won't say anything until I talk to the owners and come up with a game plan.”
Also likely for the Florida Derby is O Captain (Carpe Diem), who finished third in the Fountain of Youth as an 87-1 longshot.
“We expected him to run a big race. He was training so good for it,” Gustavo Delgado, Jr., assistant to his father Gustavo Delgado, Sr., said. “We knew he would like the mile and a sixteenth because of his family.”
Junior Alvarado and Joel Rosario, who were unseated when their mounts High Oak (Gormley) and Galt (Medaglia d'Oro), respectively, fell on the turn into the homestretch in the Fountain of Youth, escaped serious injury. Alvarado took off his scheduled mounts Sunday, but is expected to return to action for Wednesday's program at Gulfstream. Both horses also escaped injury.
White Abarrio (Race Day), who defeated Simplification by 4 1/2 lengths to win the Feb. 5 GIII Holy Bull S., skipped the Fountain of Youth, but prepped for the Florida Derby with a four-furlong work in :47.12 (2/125) at Gulfstream Sunday.
“He worked really well second work back. We were looking for a little bit more and we emphasized galloping out because we're looking to build up his stamina a bit more,” trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. said. “The gallop-out was as good as the work.”
Of the Fountain of Youth result, Joseph said, “I'm a big believer in form lines, as far as horses that you beat coming back to win. To see Sano's horse come back and run like that was a big result for us. Full credit to Sano for having his horse ready to run like that.”
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