HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. (AP) -Benefiting from an inside post and a perfect trip, Cool Coal Man made a sweeping move at the top of the stretch to take the lead and win the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Sunday.
Ridden by Kent Desormeaux and trained by Nick Zito, Cool Coal Man stalked some slow fractions early, then led the whole way down the stretch and had enough left to edge Elysium Fields by a half-length at the line.
Cool Coal Man - sent off at 7-1 in the major Derby prep race - finished the mile and an eighth in 1:51.85 and returned $16.60 for the win. Court Vision grabbed third, while Todd Pletcher trainee Monba, the post time favorite at 7-2, was squeezed early and finished last in the field of 12.
The race immediately following the Fountain of Youth also went Zito's way, when juvenile champion War Pass opened his 3-year-old season with a dominating win in a $60,000 mile allowance race.
War Pass was sent off at 1-9 in a field of five and won by 7 1/2 lengths, even though jockey Cornelio Velasquez held him in check throughout.
The Fountain of Youth winner hasn't won the Kentucky Derby since 1995, when Thunder Gulch pulled the trick for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
But Zito hopes that may change at Churchill Downs 10 weeks from now.
This field of 12 was a strong one, with no fewer than four popular Derby choices in Court Vision, Anak Nakal, Z Fortune and Monba.
Yet in the end, none of them could hold up to Cool Coal Man, who only added to the Derby hopes for both Zito and owner Robert LaPenta - who also owns War Pass.
