Gulfstream News & Notes: Keep It Easy Remains on Target for G2 Fountain of Youth

By David Joseph —-

Keep It Easy; Coady Photography
Gulfstream Park News & Notes

Keep It Easy Remains on Target for G2 Fountain of Youth

‘More Mature’ Inveigled’s Future Involves One Turn on Dirt

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – St. Elias Stable, West Point Thoroughbreds and CJ Thoroughbreds’ Keep It Easy, a dominant stakes winner in his juvenile finale last fall, remains on course to make his 3-year-old debut in the $415,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) March 1 at Gulfstream Park.

The 79th running of the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth, Gulfstream’s next step for sophomores on the road to the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) March 29, headlines a blockbuster program of nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.15 million in purses.

Keep It Easy has been working steadily at Gulfstream for trainer Dale Romans with six breezes in the new year following his arrival from Kentucky, where he closed 2024 with a 5 ¼-length romp in the 6 ½-furlong Ed Brown. It was his fourth start, after being well-beaten first time out going 5 ½ furlongs and graduating by four lengths in front-running fashion when stretched out to six furlongs.

One of the horses he beat that day was Sandman, also co-owned by West Point, that won next out and has gone on to run third in the Street Sense (G2) last fall and second in the Jan. 25 Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn Park.

“He’s a really nice horse. We were disappointed in his debut and then he popped,” West Point executive vice president Tom Bellhouse said. “He really moved forward nicely. Dale’s been high on him. He’s basically taken more of a conservative approach. He’s kind of had a circle around the Fountain of Youth for a couple months now. Only time will tell if he’s a mile and a quarter-type horse, but he is fast and the barn’s real high on him.”

Romans, who won the 2018 Fountain of Youth with Promises Fulfilled, nominated Keep It Easy to Gulfstream’s Feb. 1 Holy Bull (G3) but opted to wait another four weeks. Holy Bull winner Burnham Square is also among the horses targeting the Fountain of Youth.

The Fountain of Youth will mark the return to graded company for Keep It Easy, who ran last of eight under jockey Junior Alvarado after a disastrous start in the 6 ½-furlong Saratoga Special (G2) last summer at Saratoga.

“The race at Saratoga was heartbreaking. It was one of the worst stumbles I’ve ever seen,” Bellhouse said. “He stumbled and somehow ended up almost underneath the horse next to him, the one Manny Franco was riding. Somehow Junior stayed on and Manny stayed on. It was a miracle.”

West Point also has an ownership interest in French-bred colt Revolutionnaire, who may make his North American debut in the $215,000 Colonel Liam on the Fountain of Youth undercard. The Colonel Liam for 3-year-olds is scheduled for one mile on the grass.

“He’s trained extremely well. I think [assistant trainer] Miguel [Clement] is going to work him on Saturday and then decide whether to enter or not,” Bellhouse said. “He’ll either go in that race or go to Tampa the following week. I would expect a good work on Saturday and you’ll see him in the entry box.”

Multiple G3 Winner Super Chow Back at 6F for GP Sprint

Lea Farms’ Super Chow, making his 5-year-old debut, cuts back to his favorite distance attempting to regain his three-time Grade 3-winning form in Saturday’s $140,000 Gulfstream Park Sprint.

In his most recent race, Super Chow set the pace for a half-mile before fading to sixth behind multiple graded-stakes winner Mufasa in the seven-furlong Mr. Prospector (G3) Dec. 28 at Gulfstream. Grade 1-winning millionaire runner-up White Abarrio returned to capture the $3 million Pegasus World Cup (G1) Jan. 25, while third-place finisher Little Vic went on to win the Fred Hooper (G3) on the Pegasus undercard.

“He’s doing well. He’s been running in tough races all along in his career. Last time he was a little bit out of his game going seven furlongs; he’s more of a six-furlong horse,” trainer Jorge Delgado said. “He’s been training well for the race.”

Super Chow’s two most recent works have come on the turf course at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. The Mr. Prospector was only the seventh race at his home track, where he owns a 3-2-1 record, and first since Christmas Eve 2023.

“He’s been traveling pretty much all over the East and he’s been running consistently well. He’s a horse that is pretty much all the time in the money, and he always tries,” Delgado said. “The post position is good and he should be clear and OK the whole trip.”

Jorge Ruiz will ride Super Chow from Post 4 in a field of seven that includes Grade 1 winner Nakatomi, multiple stakes winners Gordian Knot and Comedy Town, and 15-time career winner Concrete Glory. Ruiz has ridden Super Chow once before, in his third start, a September 2022 allowance at Pimlico.

Overall Super Chow has been worse than third just four times in 23 starts with $815,420 in purse earnings. He went 3-for-8 in 2024 with all three wins coming in Grade 3 stakes – the Toboggan and Tom Fool at Aqueduct and Pimlico’s Maryland Sprint – and is rated at 8-1 on the morning line.

“He hasn’t won in a few starts and the last two times he hasn’t been too flashy, but the horse remains the same,” Delgado said. “He has the same energy. He’s a very professional horse and I believe the day he runs his best race he always can win.”

‘More Mature’ Inveigled’s Future Involves One Turn on Dirt

Two turns and turf racing are both likely in the past for Mark Grier’s multiple stakes-placed Inveigled, who returned to the winner’s circle for the first time in 14 months Feb. 15 at Gulfstream Park.

With jockey Paco Lopez up for the first time, one of his six winners over the weekend, Indiana-bred Inveigled scored a 1 ½-length upset at odds of 14-1 in a one-mile optional claiming allowance, spoiling the return of well-regarded Grade 3-placed Knightsbridge.

It was the second win from four starts at Gulfstream for Inveigled, facing older horses for the first time. His prior victory also came at a mile over its main track Dec. 9, 2023, which was also the last time the Enticed gelding raced outside of stakes company.

“He does like Gulfstream and he loves Paco, and I like Paco. We’ve won a lot of races together,” trainer Jane Cibelli said. “We’ll sit down and think about it and see how he comes out of it. I do think a one-turn mile is really up his alley, because he gets that speed in front of him. I don’t know where we’ll run next, we’ll see. He ran a pretty good number.”

Inveigled went winless in six tries last year, all in stakes, finishing fourth in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man and 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull (G3) during Gulfstream’s Championship Meet. His last four starts also came around two turns, placing in the Private Terms and Federico Tesio at Laurel Park, before wrapping up with a troubled 10th in the Dec. 14 Tropical Park Derby at Gulfstream, his grass debut.

“He’s been training really, really well. I told the owner, actually, that he’s been training better than I’d ever seen him,” Cibelli said. “He had a little break. We put him on the turf last time because it was the last 3-year-old stake of the year, and he didn’t really like it. But he’d been training well for this, Paco rode him perfectly and it all came together.

“He’s always been a big horse but, mentally, he’s just a lot more mature,” she added. “It wasn’t an easy race, either. [Knightsbridge] is the real deal. And [Inveigled is] an Indiana-bred, so we can always go that way.”

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