Fountain of Youth Stakes

The Fountain of Youth Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida at the beginning of March. A Grade II event open to three-year-olds willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the dirt, it offers a purse of $350,000. It is the final stakes prep to the Florida Derby and is an official prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

Tim Tam (1958), Kauai King (1966), Spectacular Bid (1979), and Thunder Gulch (1995) won this race then went on to win the Derby and 1987 winner, Bet Twice, won the Belmont Stakes. The 1985 winner, Proud Truth, won that year's Breeders' Cup Classic.

The Fountain of Youth Stakes was inaugurated in 1945 and run at various distances until 1953 when it was modified to 1 ¹/16 miles. In 2005, it was changed to its present distance of 1⅛ miles.

The race was run in two divisions in 1947, 1953, 1983, 1986 and 1993.

Records

Speed record:

• 1:49.00 - First Samurai (2006) at present distance of 1⅛ miles
• 1.41.00 - Sensitive Prince (1978) at previous distance of 1 ¹/16 miles

Winners of the Fountain of Youth Stakes since 1987

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
2008	Cool Coal Man	Kent Desormeaux	Nick Zito	Robert V. LaPenta	1:50.07
2007	Scat Daddy	John R. Velazquez	Todd A. Pletcher	Scatuorchio & Tabor	1:49.11
2006	First Samurai *	Edgar Prado	Frank L. Brothers	Bruce Lunsford / L. Robbins III	1:49.00
2005	High Fly	Jerry D. Bailey	Nick Zito	Live Oak Plantation	1:49.70
2004	Read the Footnotes	Jerry D. Bailey	Richard Violette, Jr.	Klaravich Stables	1:42.71
2003	Trust n Luck	Cornelio Velasquez	Ralph Ziadie	Paul Robsham	1:43.33
2002	Booklet	Jorge Chavez	John T. Ward, Jr.	John C. Oxley	1:44.49
2001	Songandaprayer	Edgar Prado	John Dowd	Bobby Hurley	1:43.48
2000	High Yield	Pat Day	D. Wayne Lukas	Tabor/Magnier/R & B Lewis	1:42.56
1999	Vicar	Shane Sellers	Carl Nafzger	James B. Tafel	1:45.64
1998	Lil's Lad	Jerry D. Bailey	Neil J. Howard	L. Durst/Farish/Centennial Farm	1:42.63
1997	Pulpit	Shane Sellers	Frank L. Brothers	Claiborne Farm	1:41.86
1996	Built For Pleasure	Gary Boulanger	Tommy Heard, Jr.	Tommy Heard, Jr.	1:43.64
1995	Thunder Gulch	Mike E. Smith	D. Wayne Lukas	Michael Tabor	1:43.21
1994	Dehere	Craig Perret	Reynaldo Nobles	Due Process Stable	1:44.70
1993	Duc d'Sligovil	Julie Krone	Jeremy McNeill	Ray McNeill	1:45.16
1993	Storm Tower	Rick Wilson	Ben Perkins, Jr.	Charles Hesse	1:44.98
1992	Dance Floor	Chris Antley	D. Wayne Lukas	Oaktown Stable	1:45.32
1991	Fly So Free	Jose Santos	Scotty Schulhofer	T. & E. Valando	1:44.30
1990	Shot Gun Scott	Dave Penna	Ronald J. Sarazin	Jean Friedberg/A. Scott Hamilton	1:44.60
1989	Dixieland Brass	Randy Romero	Charlie Peoples	Bayard Sharp/W. S. Farish III	1:44.60
1988	Forty Niner	Eddie Maple	Woody Stephens	Claiborne Farm	1:43.20
1987	Bet Twice	Craig Perret	Warren A. Croll, Jr.	Blanche P. Levy/Cisley Stable	1:43.40

* In 2006, Corinthian won but was disqualified for interference and placed third.

Earlier winners

References

• The Fountain of Youth Stakes at the NTRA
• The Fountain of Youth Stakes at Pedigree Query