Fountain of Youth: Pletcher wants Emmanuel to prove himself

Delray Beach, Fla.

Emmanuel looked to have everything he needed to be a high-caliber horse when the son of More Than Ready sold for $350,000 at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale.

His Dec. 11 debut was everything WinStar Farm and Siena Farm could have hoped for, a buzz-creating 6 3/4-length romp going one mile at Gulfstream Park under a hand ride from Luis Saez.

Emmanuel offered more encouraging signs when he rolled gate-to-wire, controlling a 1 1/16-mile allowance race at Tampa Bay Downs by 4 1/2 lengths on Jan. 30.

The bay colt continues to train forwardly at Palm Beach Downs, acting very much like a 3-year-old capable of advancing to the Kentucky Derby with consecutive bullet works. He cruised through five furlongs in 1:00.2, fastest of 13, on Feb. 19. He was equally impressive with a four-furlong drill in 48.05 seconds last Saturday, swiftest of 32.

And yet, despite the robust sale price, the two impressive starts and the rapid works, Emmanuel will have everything to prove in the $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Todd Pletcher readily acknowledged that when he said, “He’s trained really well since the allowance win. He’s always trained like a nice horse. Now, it’s time to step up and test him a bit and see where we are. But we feel good about the way he’s coming into it.”

Emmanuel and Saez, listed at 9-2, will break from post eight in a field of 12. The 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth offers Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers on a 50-20-l0-5 basis. Pletcher is bidding for a record-breaking fourth victory in the race following successes with Scat Daddy (2007), Eskendereya (2010) and Itsaknockout (2015).

Although Itsacknockout delivered the Derby prep in only the third start of his career, Pletcher knows he is asking a lot. “I would be disappointed if he didn’t perform well based on the way he’s trained,” he said. “But you’re going into a graded stake for the first time and you’re going into a race that looks to have plenty of pace. The dynamics are going to change a bit for him. And that’s when you kind of find out what you have.”

Emmanuel will be Pletcher’s lone representative in the Fountain of Youth after a low-grade fever led him to scratch 3-1 favorite Mo Donegal. He reported that the Remsen winner’s temperature quickly returned to normal.

“I don’t anticipate it will set us back much. It’s one of those routine viruses that occasionally seem to hit some of these young horses,” said the Hall of Fame conditioner. “I don’t know what we were going to do for sure. But when he drew post 12, there was a good chance he wasn’t going to run in the Fountain of Youth anyway.”

Donegal Racing’s Mo Donegal will likely train up to the April 9 Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct.

Pletcher also has Dean’s List and Golden Code advancing to stakes competition in the $300,000 Gotham, a one-turn mile at Aqueduct on Saturday. Dean’s List is the more highly regarded of the two. He produced a pair of six-furlong victories at Gulfstream.

“He’s got to prove he can handle more distance,” Pletcher said. “This is a gradual stretch-out to a mile in a race that looks like it has quite a bit of pace in it. This will be a good test for him.”

Classy Edition, undefeated through three starts against fellow New York breds, also faces a stiff test. She will look to secure a chunk of the 85 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points available in the Davona Dale (G2) at Gulfstream.

“She is a very nice filly,” Pletcher said. “She is stepping into open company for the first time, but she has trained with plenty of open stakes caliber horses and did very well with them. I think ultimately she is a filly looking to go further, looking to go two turns.”

Pletcher’s potentially huge afternoon includes formidable entries in Fearless in the $200,000 Gulfstream Park Mile (G2) and Never Surprised in the $150,000 Canadian Turf (G3). Fearless, a 6-year-old gelded son of Ghostzapper, has not finished worse than third in any of his last six races. Never Surprised owns four wins and as many runner-up efforts through eight starts, including an impressive second to stablemate Colonel Liam after he had the misfortune of drawing post 12 in the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf (G1) in his last start.