Gulfstream Park Barn Notes: Commandment May Command Respect After Saturday’s G2 Fountain of Youth

Mott: Running Chief Wallabee in Fountain of Youth Will ‘Answer Questions’
Thousandsticks Chasing Fourth Straight Win in Colonel Liam

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – When a yearling by Into Mischief went through the 2024 Keeneland September Sale, Case Clay thought he deserved a second look.

Wathnan Racing’s USA racing manager was not deterred by the fact that the well-bred colt’s $475,000 reserve had not been attained at The Saratoga Sale about a month earlier.

“He RNA’d at Saratoga and came back in September, so I got to see him twice in two auction scenarios,” Clay said. “He’s a well-bred horse and I liked him enough to give him a go.”

The colt sold for $500,000 and would become well known as Commandment, who has been installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2), the headliner on Gulfstream’s 14-race program featuring nine stakes, eight graded.

“Auctions can be funny environments. You just never know when they get bought and not get bought, and we were lucky that he showed up again,” said Clay, whose family operated Three Chimneys, where he continued to work for eight years after it was sold in 2014. “It was hard to find fault with him and when you get a well-bred horse like that, we decided to give it a go.”

Commandment, whose dam Sippican Harbor won the 2018 Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga, has rewarded Clay’s belief in giving second chances by winning back-to back races following a fourth-place finish in his debut at six furlongs at Keeneland Oct. 4. He came back on Nov. 1 at Churchill Downs to win a seven-furlong maiden race by 2 ? lengths before launching his 3-year-old campaign with a dominating 6 ?-length victory in the Jan. 3 Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream.

After drawing away at the one-turn mile distance of the Mucho Macho Man, Brad Cox-trained Commandment will make his two-turn debut in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth with 50 qualifying points for this year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) up for grabs.

“Brad, I think he’s so excellent at picking races. It was his idea. The Mucho Macho Man mile, from a distance progression standpoint, I think was his line of thinking there,” said Clay who also sits on the boards of Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup. “When he brought it up, it just sounded perfect.”

Leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr. has the return mount on Commandment.

Mott: Running Chief Wallabee in Fountain of Youth Will ‘Answer Questions’

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott has his reservations about running Michael and Katherine Ball’s Chief Wallabee in Saturday’s $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream coming off just a debut victory, no matter how impressive it may have been.

“This is not the progression, the proper way to do it. I think there’s a better way, but we got off to such a late start,” said Mott, who saddled the late-developing son of Constitution for an off-the-pace 1 ?-length victory in a seven-furlong maiden special weight Jan. 10 at Gulfstream. “It’s almost like I feel like I’m forced into the spot, but by the same token, the race will answer a lot of questions.”

Chief Wallabee has been rated third at 9-2 on the morning-line for the Fountain of Youth, the 1 1/16-mile headliner on Saturday’s 14-race program featuring nine stakes, eight graded.

“I don’t know he would have to win to maybe answer those questions. It depends on how the race shapes up and how he finishes,” Mott said. “The whole thing is a rush job. If I had three or four races, I wouldn’t have any hesitation about doing it, but the fact is we’ve only had one race. Other people have done it, and I’ve probably done it before.”

Chief Wallabee, along with all but one of his rivals (Jackson Hole), will need to prove himself around two-turns. His running style may well be a positive in getting the distance.

“He’s not a runoff leaving the gate and is not a horse that needs the front. I think he proved that the other day,” Mott said.

Junior Alvarado has the return call on the homebred Chief Wallabee.

Thousandsticks Chasing Fourth Straight Win in Colonel Liam

Silverton Hill’s Thousandsticks, riding a three-race win streak, chases a second consecutive stakes victory in Saturday’s $200,000 Colonel Liam going a two-turn mile on the Gulfstream Park turf Saturday.

The Colonel Liam for 3-year-olds is the first of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.025 million on a blockbuster 14-race program anchored by the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

Thousandsticks, by Twirling Candy, found stakes success last out at Gulfstream in the 1 1/16-mile Kitten’s Joy, pressing the pace throughout and getting up by a neck. It was his third win at the Championship Meet starting with a maiden score at the course and distance Dec. 6.

“He’s on a roll and he worked great the other day,” trainer Brian Lynch said. “He shortens up to a mile where I really think he’s effective because he’s got a solid punch. With him, it’s just a matter of the trip. If he gets a clean trip and he’s unimpeded, then he should run his race.”

Thousandsticks drew Post 6 in a field of eight with regular rider Mario Gutierrez. They are rated the narrow 5-2 program favorite.

Legion Racing and Awestrike Racing’s Honey Dutch (Post 4, 3-1) will race without blinkers for the first time since his debut last summer in the Sanford (G3) at Saratoga. His last four starts have come on turf, graduating at a mile last fall at Kentucky Downs and subsequently running third by less than a length in Aqueduct’s Central Park and second after setting the pace in Gulfstream’s one-mile Dania Beach Jan. 1.

David Romanik, Warren Cheekes, Deborah Dougherty, C2 Racing Stable, BAG Racing Stable and Robert Liedel’s Argos (Post 5, 9-2) is entered to make his season debut for trainer Riley Mott. Nominated to the Triple Crown, the Nyquist colt won the one-mile Summer (G1) in mid-September on the Woodbine turf and was a last-out eighth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) Oct. 31 at Del Mar.

Also entered are Zeppelin (Post 1, 7-2), third in the Dania Beach; Vasy (Post 2, 8-1), a last-out maiden winner Jan. 26 at Gulfstream; I C Light (Post 3, 10-1), coming off back-to-back Gulfstream turf sprint victories; Knoty Knicks (Post 7, 12-1), fourth in the Kitten’s Joy; and Behold the King (Post 8, 15-1), winner of the one-mile Armed Forces Nov. 1 on the Gulfstream turf.