Scat Daddy Takes Fountain of Youth Stakes

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Posted on Monday, March 5th, 2007

HALLANDALE BEACH, Florida (Ticker) — By a nose, Scat Daddy has established himself as one of the contenders for the Kentucky Derby. Scat Daddy stormed through the stretch and nosed out Stormello to win Saturday’s $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The race was one of the major preps for the “Run for the Roses” to be held the first Saturday in May.

With John Velazquez in the irons for the Todd Pletcher-trained colt, Scat Daddy came from well off the pace to reach the winner’s circle.

“We were wide all the way around, but we got the trip we wanted,” Pletcher said.

Scat Daddy gobbled up ground with each stride in the stretch and covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.11. He paid $13.80, $6.20 and $2.80.

“I couldn’t have planned it better,” Velazquez said. “I wanted to get into good position early and follow Cornelio (jockey Velasquez on Nobiz Like Shobiz) to head of the lane and run him down. He (Scat Daddy) was running hard through the stretch. He was coming little by little and got there.”

Stormello, a West Coast invader, paid $6.20 and $3 with Kent Desormeaux aboard.

“He left (the gate) like a quarter horse,” Desormeaux said. “I did the best I could to get him to settle. I think it’s a good effort on his part, but it still hurts. It’s an aggravating defeat.”

Nobiz Like Shobiz, the 2-1 favorite and considered a top Derby contender, returned $2.10 to show.

“My horse ran good,” Velasquez said. “He got a little fussy. I had trouble with him in the gate.”

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"Scat Daddy Takes Fountain of Youth Stakes" was posted on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 10:14 am and is filed under Gulfstream Park, Horses, Jockeys, Kentucky Derby, Race Tracks News, Stakes Races, Trainers, Triple Crown. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.