On the 1996 version of the Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park on February 24, all indicators pointed to Unbridle’s Tune. The flashy grey or roan colt, out of Unbridled, capped off his 2-year-old season with a Breeders’ Cup Juvenile win and was getting ready for the 1 1/16-mile race three weeks in the past on the Hallandale Seashore, Fla., observe with a dash tune-up.
It’s true that Tune, an Unbridled offspring, might have had run in his 3-year-old debut within the Hutchison Stakes on February 4th, ending second as the favourite with one win and two losses, however that was his first race in additional than three months, operating at 7/8 of a mile. Actually, the juvenile winner will probably be even stronger heading into his second begin after coach Jim Ryerson’s lengthy absence.
Unbridle’s Tune had file of 4 wins and 5 losses within the Fountain of Youth, and Editor’s Observe, a graded stakes winner who was third within the Juvenile, was second with 5 wins and a pair of losses within the nine-horse subject. Victory Speech was the opposite runner at single-digit odds at 6.20-1, whereas Construct for Pleasure at 143.10-1 and Gomutu at 144.90-1 entered the race at outdoors triple-digit odds.
As you in all probability know, Gomtu took the lead beneath Walter Guerra and set a cushty tempo for the primary 400 meters with a one-length lead. Unbridle’s Tune rapidly moved to the entrance and took on a seemingly hopeless longshot, taking command from a faltering Gomtoo early on. However the victory speech had one thing to say in regards to the end result and it was Gary Boulanger’s Constructed for Pleasure who closed out from sixth place. The trio raced in direction of the end line, with Boulanger driving Constructed for Pleasure to a stunning upset on the surface, trailing Unbridled’s Tune by a neck, with Victory Speech squeezing again into third place.
Shocked proprietor and coach Tom Heard Jr. instructed Bloodhorse after the race that if he hadn’t received an allowance race over the identical course and distance 12 days earlier, he would not have even run Constructed for Pleasure. Constructed for Pleasure, bought as a 2-year-old for $40,000, ran the most important shocker in Fountain of Youth Stakes historical past in 1:43.64, returning $288.20 on a $2-to-win guess and defeating Unbridle’s Tune, bought at public sale for $1.4 million the 12 months earlier than.
“Frankly, I assumed the Florida Derby was going to be too robust for us, as a result of I assumed for some time that Unbridle’s Tune was the most effective horse within the nation,” Hurd instructed Bloodhorse. “I could have to alter my thoughts.”
Sadly, Hurd’s preliminary suspicions turned out to be appropriate. The Florida Derby was too robust for Constructed for Pleasure. He had good outcomes, ending seventh within the Florida Derby and Flamingo Stakes, and completed nineteenth within the Kentucky Derby. Constructed for Pleasure completed two-thirds of the best way within the allowance race within the remaining 23 begins of his profession, his finest end result since then, and misplaced.
Unbridle’s Tune received the Florida Derby by 5 3/4 lengths and the Wooden Memorial Stakes by 1 1/2 lengths. Within the Kentucky Derby, he led by two lengths after the primary mile, however fell again to fifth place. Editor’s Observe went on to win the Belmont Stakes that June.
Constructed for Pleasure was unable to search out success towards both of his vanquished Fountain of Youth opponents, however on Gulfstream Day in February, the House Builder colt and his associates loved an unforgettable second on the Kentucky Derby path.
