The Fountain of Youth Stakes headlines a loaded Gulfstream Park card this Saturday as StableDuel hosts it’s $25,000 Fountain of Youth Fortune contest. The card is absolutely loaded with not one, not two, but 8 graded stakes races. You’ll have 14 races to build your stable so strategy will most certainly come into play in the Fountain of Youth Fortune. Here is a look at a few races that I think have some value and could help you take down a nice chunk of the $25,000 guaranteed prize pool.
In race 3, The HereComesTheBride Stakes (GR. III), we have a field of eight 3-year-old fillies going 1 1/16 miles on the grass. The 3-1 ML favorite, Con Lima, is coming off of a second place last out in her first try in graded stakes company. This frontrunner would prefer to have the lead all by herself, but I’m hoping she gets a little pressure early and we can get something home at a bit of a price. I like Lijana here at 8-1 ($3,000 StableDuel Salary). She comes off a maiden score after coming up a hair short on debut. The winner of her debut, White Frost, went on to beat Con Lima in January. Cherie DeVaux and Belladonna Racing LLC send this Hard Spun filly to the gate with a big shot at a solid price. In a perfect scenario, Lijana will sit just a bit off of the pace in a stalking mode and get by the leaders in the stretch and bring you home a solid 60+ points.
In race 7, I think you can get some solid value on Payne at 8-1 ($3,000 StableDuel Salary). I’m not sold on the 7/2 favorite and think the long layoff that Payne has faced is allowing us a nicer price than we really deserve. Eddie Kenneally is hitting at a 26% clip with horses coming off a more than 180-day layoff. If Payne is fit, which his last work would suggest he is, he is going to be a major player in this race and at this level. I wish that Carmouche would have got the nod since he is in town, but Lanerie has been bringing home some prices lately. I don’t expect Payne to be far off the pace and just run away as they head into the stretch.
The 9th race at Gulfstream is the Winstar Gulfstream Park Mile for 4-year-olds and up going a mile on the grass. Performer and Tax are nearly co-favorites on the morning line at 2-1 and 5/2 respectively. These two should be forwardly placed and I’m hoping they wear on each other a little and allow Avant Garde to come clean up the mess in time to get the win. Avant Garde is 7 for 7 in the money on Gulfstream’s grass and 5 for 5 in the money at a mile. He is the perfect value horse at 10-1 ($1,000 StableDuel Salary). He should be laying just off of Tax and Performer and set up Javier Castellano with a nice trip to take aim in the stretch. His speed numbers aren’t far off and has a big shot at pulling off the upset.
My day wouldn’t be complete without throwing in Irad Ortiz Jr on a play. In the 13th race, he rides Bacchanalia. It’s not often that you can get Irad and Chad Brown on 8-1 ($3,000 StableDuel Salary). She will be taking a step up in class after a win and will be second off a layoff. She took money two back and didn’t live up to the odds while another Brown entry, Orglandes, took the winner’s share of the purse. Orglandes went on to win her next start in the Grade III Red Carpet Handicap. Irad should be sitting right off the pace with her and look to beat some closers to the punch. I don’t see a ton of pace in the race giving her the perfect set up to have a shot and, in this game, that’s all we want. Hopefully, she is good enough.
There you have it. Hopefully you can use some of these value plays when building your stables in the Fountain of Youth Fortune on StableDuel this Saturday. In case you missed it, the winner’s share of that contest will be $10,000 and an entry into our big contest for the Florida Derby which will feature a big cash prize pool and a special prize for the winner that we will announce soon. See if you can connect the dots? Get those stables entered and let’s all have a huge day. Let’s get it. 
