Race14 at Gulfstream Park | Saturday, February 28 | Post Time 6:11 PM Eastern

Fountain of Youth Stakes | Purse $425,000 | One Mile and One Sixteenth | Three Year Olds

Winning contenders are Chief Wallabee (6), Commandment (4), Solitude Dude (10)

Contenders and analysis:

Among the top three contenders, all won ‘easily’, but only Chief Wallabee (6) earned a “Handily” moniker. Off his winning debut, Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott entered him in the “Road to the Derby” race, where Mott won six stakes races in five years with horses off their debut wins. Chief Wallabee, in his debut, was in hand early, sitting fifth after a quarter, then fourth while three wide at the final quarter to win. He moved up to get within a head behind at the eighth pole and didn’t use any effort to win by one and a half lengths, earning a 91 Equibase Speed Figure, which would indicate he could easily have been faster. The only two that were faster are Solitude Dude (96) and Commandment (93), who posted faster numbers, but since Chief Wallabee won in his only race, he possibly has improvement in him. Mott won the 2025 Fountain of Youth Stakes with Sovereignty, the 2025 Horse of the Year. Last year, Sovereignty earned his maiden after winning this race. Although Sovereignty had four previous starts, his maiden win was before winning the Fountain of Youth Stakes. Mott also ran second with Rocket Can in this race in 2023.

Commandment (4) won his second and third career races by an average of six lengths, with an improvement from an 80 figure on November 1 to 93 figures on January 3. He won the recent race ‘ridden out’ with Irad Ortiz, Jr., who chose to ride him over Solitude Dude, who he won with in the Swale Stakes. If Commandment improves 13 speed points again, he wins.

Solitude Dude (10) is undefeated in three races, including two stakes. He won the Swale Stakes with a 96 figure, winning ‘ridden out’. In two of his races, he led from start to finish. In his second start, he was second after a quarter mile before winning. In his three wins, Solitude Dude won by an average of seven lengths. My only concern is that Ortiz, Jr., chooses Commandment, but Prat is also a fine jockey.

Bets:

Wins bets:

Chief Wallabee (6) at fair odds of 5 or 2 or higher.

Commandment (4) can be considered at odds of 3 to 1 or higher.

Solitude Dude (10) can be considered at odds of 7 to 2 or higher.

Exactas:

Box Chief Wallabee (6), Commandment (4), Solitude Dude (10)