February 26, 2011
Soldat Quiets Doubters in Fountain of Youth
By JOE DRAPE
nytimes.com
HALLANDALE, Fla. — With every powerful stride that Soldat took in the stretch of the 65th running of the Fountain of Youth, the trainer Kiaran McLaughlin felt whatever doubts he had about his colt being pounded away. When the year began, McLaughlin wondered if Soldat was really a Kentucky Derby horse or if he was just hoping that he was.
After all, the colt’s best running had come on grass, where he won the Grade III With Anticipation and was the runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf. Soldat was set to provide an answer five weeks ago with a dirt start, but rain drenched South Florida and the track at Gulfstream Park came up sloppy.
Soldat ran away from a solid allowance field by 10 ¾ lengths anyway, but there is a penchant for mud in his pedigree, so little was answered.
On Saturday, there was nothing but sunshine and a cloudless sky above and an accomplished field of 3-years-old in the gate. The answers came fast and early as jockey Alan Garcia gunned Soldat, a son of War Front, from the gate and never looked back. He guided him through six furlongs in a sensible 1 minute 12.43 seconds, very aware that a couple of good horses were tracking his every move.
“We wanted the lead, and as soon as I got it, I wanted to slow it down,” Garcia said.
John Velazquez had To Honor and Serve gliding effortlessly two lengths back, and Ramon Dominguez was just asking the well-traveled Gourmet Dinner to get in the game from five back.
As they rounded the far turn, McLaughlin had to wonder if Soldat was good enough to hold off a colt as strong as To Honor and Serve, a son of Bernardini. It was To Honor and Serve’s first race as a 3-year-old, but he had been spectacular at 2, galloping off with the Nashua and the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct.
His trainer Bill Mott, however, was taking a deliberate road to the first Saturday in May. He had put To Honor and Serve through a light workout tab and was only hoping for an even effort — not a winning one — but something to build on.
But Velazquez and To Honor and Serve started what looked like a winning bit as they neared the stretch. Until it did not look so winning.
“He just flattened out,” Velazquez said. “He had just been great, and then he just didn’t have the explosive move. He needed a race.”
Gourmet Dinner was next. The colt has already outrun his $40,000 price tag by traveling from Louisiana to California and winning almost $1 million in purse money. Gourmet Dinner and Dominguez swung wide to the middle of the track and bore down on Soldat. He charged hard but came up two lengths short. To Honor and Serve finished third, four and three-quarter lengths behind Gourmet Dinner.
Soldat, who had been the slight favorite in the field of eight Triple Crown hopefuls, paid $4.80 for a $2 bet to win. He earned a $240,000 first-place check for his owners, Harvey A. Clarke and W. Craig Robertson III.
Most importantly, by covering the mile and an eighth in 1:50.23, Soldat put to rest McLaughlin and anyone else’s doubts about whether he could handle the dirt.
“He’s not a just a turf horse or slop horse,” a relieved McLaughlin said with a smile in the winner’s circle. “He’s done everything right, and today, we got the fast track we wanted.”
But is Soldat a legitimate contender to win the Kentucky Derby? McLaughlin did not have to think about it too long.
“I like our chances,” he said.
FLASHPOINT WINS HUTCHESON Flashpoint pulled away from Travelin Man down the stretch to win the $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park. Ridden by Cornelio Velasquez, he covered seven furlongs in 1:22.03 to win by seven and a quarter lengths. The trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. said he hoped to run Flashpoint in the Florida Derby and then perhaps the Kentucky Derby. (AP)
