Rockies Balboa Coolmore Fountain of Youth Live Longshot?

G1 Winner Burnham Square Launches 4YO Season Saturday
G3 Winner Hades Making Tapeta Debut in San Cristobal

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Charles Monfort, American Pastimes LLC, Bloom Racing Stables LLC and Edwin Barker’s Rockies Balboa will seek his third straight victory at Gulfstream Park Saturday as a 20-1 morning-line chance in the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2).

Bettors might want to take a closer look his past performance lines and the history of his connections before dismissing the son of Girvin as a live longshot in the 80th running of the tradition-rich 1 1/16-mile stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (G1) that will headline Saturday’s 14-race program featuring nine stakes, eight graded.

Rockies Balboa has blossomed during the Championship Meet, graduating in his fourth career start by 5 ¾ lengths in a Dec.12 optional claiming maiden going 6 ½ furlongs and coming right back to defeat fellow Florida-breds by five lengths in a seven-furlong optional claiming allowance Jan. 29.

“Rocky has got a lot of talent. We don’t know what he was beating in those Florida-bred races, but he beat them like you’re supposed to,” trainer Dale Romans said. “So, it’s time to step up and see if he’ll go two turns and run with the best.”

Although Rockies Balboa was winless in his first three career starts, he did finish second in a Keeneland maiden special weight event in which Commandment, the Brad Cox-trained 2-1 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s Coolmore Fountain of Youth, finished fourth.

Romans views two turns to be well within his colt’s capabilities.

“I don’t think it’s a problem. I think he’ll want to do it. He’s fast, but he doesn’t seem to get tired,” Romans said. “He worked great [Saturday] morning, and he looked great doing it. He’s always looked good working. He hasn’t missed a beat.”

Romans, it should be noted, has had past success with a longshot in the Coolmore Fountain of Youth. He saddled Promises Fulfilled for an 18-1 upset victory in the 2018 running, in which odds-on favorite Good Magic finished third.

G1 Winner Burnham Square Launches 4YO Season Saturday

Whitham Thoroughbreds’ Grade 1 winner Burnham Square, unraced since trying turf for the first time late last August, will remain on the grass when he launches his 4-year-old season Saturday on the undercard of the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) program at Gulfstream Park.

Ian Wilkes-trained Burnham Square drew Post 8 in an overflow field of 16 in Race 8, an optional claiming allowance for older horses scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass. Edgard Zayas is named to ride.

“It’s a long year. You want to get him back going,” Wilkes said. “It’s probably a little quicker than what I wanted, but sometimes you have to play the hand you’re dealt.”

Zayas was Burnham Square’s regular rider last winter at Gulfstream, up for all three of his races, each at 1 1/16 miles. The Liam’s Map gelding broke his maiden by nine lengths third time out in December 2024, then rallied to beat Tappan Street in the Holy Bull (G3). Tappan Street would skip the Fountain of Youth – a race in which Burnham Square ran fourth behind Sovereignty – then beat the eventual Horse of the Year in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

Burnham Square left South Florida for Kentucky, where he overcame a troubled trip to win the Blue Grass (G1) by a nose and earn a spot in the Kentucky Derby (G1), finishing sixth to Sovereignty. From there he was beaten a half-length when second in the Matt Winn (G3), ran fifth in the Haskell (G1) and came up a head short at odds of 13-1 in the Nashville Derby (G3) going 1 5/16 miles over the undulating turf course at Kentucky Downs.

“Very happy with his year last year,” Wilkes said. “He was a Grade 1 winner on the dirt, which I think he’s not bred for. I think he’s more bred for grass. He lost a $3.5 million race by a [head]. He had a hell of a year.”

Wilkes will have a couple of stakes starters Saturday, Omaha Bay in the $225,000 Davona Dale (G2) presented by Inglis Digital USA for 3-year-old fillies on dirt and Just Basking in the $175,000 The Very One (G3) presented by DRF en Espanol for older fillies and mares on the grass.

Jim Gladden’s Omaha Bay enters the Davona Dale off one start, a front-running three-quarter-length debut triumph sprinting six furlongs Dec. 28 at Gulfstream. Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, up for that race, returns to ride from Post 4 in a field of nine; they are rated at 6-1 on the morning line.

“She was impressive in her debut. It’s a tough assignment for her, coming off a maiden win and not having run in two months,” Wilkes said. “She got a little bit of a temp when I wanted to run her back in four weeks. I missed a little bit of training, but she has trained good and we need to run somewhere.”

The Davona Dale offers 105 qualifying points to the May 1 Kentucky Oaks (G1) to the top five finishers on a 50-25-15-10-5 basis. On Time Girl, impressive winner of the seven-furlong Forward Gal (G3) Jan. 31, is the 9-5 program favorite.

“She’s always done everything right. She’s a big filly and she’s a very imposing sort of filly. Whenever she’s worked she’s always worked very well,” Wilkes said. “I’m very happy with her. If she’s good enough, we’ll run really good.”

Andrew Schwarz and Wendy Schwarz Gilder’s Just Basking won the Iowa Oaks and was third by a length in the Alabama (G1), both on dirt, the latter in what would be her 2024 season finale. She made one start last year, finishing seventh as the favorite in an optional claimer on the Fair Grounds turf in mid-March, and is back on the grass after running third in a similar spot going a mile on Gulfstream’s main track Jan. 15.

“She came up with some minor issues, and we had to give her a lot of time, so she only ran once last year. She came back and ran a good third on the dirt,” Wilkes said. “Just watching her work on the grass, the distance is her asset, and she looks really good on the grass. I felt that’s where she’ll end up, but she can run either turf or dirt.”

G3 Winner Hades Making Tapeta Debut in San Cristobal

D. J. Stable and Robert Cotran’s 2024 Holy Bull (G3) winner Hades will face synthetic specialists Classic Mo Town, Prevent, Private Thoughts and Iron Hand while making his debut on the all-weather Tapeta course in Saturday’s $100,000 San Cristobal overnight handicap at Gulfstream Park.

Hades has made 15 of his 16 career starts on the main track, winning each of his first three capped by the Holy Bull before running fifth to champion Fierceness in the Curlin Florida Derby (G1). Placed in five subsequent stakes, he next won an optional claimer Dec. 6 at Tampa Bay Downs and most recently finished third after setting the pace in the 1 1/16-mile Sunshine Classic Jan. 10.

The San Cristobal, for 4-year-olds and up, is scheduled for one mile and 70 yards on the Tapeta. It is carded ninth on a 14-race program featuring nine stakes, eight graded, worth $2.025 million in purses anchored by the $425,000 Coolmore Fountain of Youth (G2) for 3-year-olds on the Triple Crown trail.

Classic Mo Town won the 1 1/16-mile Eclipse (G2) last spring on the all-weather surface at Woodbine, finishing off the board in four following graded attempts. A five-time winner on synthetic, the 6-year-old gelding was sixth last out in the Carousel Club overnight handicap Jan. 24 on the undercard of the Pegasus World Cup (G1).

The one-mile, 70-yard Carousel Club was won by Prevent, who has been first or second in 10 of 15 career synthetic starts, seven of them wins, including the 2025 Sabal Palm and Mambo Meister overnight handicaps. Iron Hand, whose last three races have come on turf, went a perfect 4-0 on the Gulfstream Tapeta last year with two wins at the San Cristobal distance.

Private Thoughts owns eight career wins, four on the Tapeta, with overnight handicap victories in the 2025 St. Augustine on synthetic and Jet Propulsion on turf. Palazzi is 2-for-7 lifetime on the synthetic highlighted by a come-from-behind victory in Woodbine’s 2024 Eclipse. He is also a two-time stakes winner on the grass highlighted by the 1 ¼-mile Singspiel (G3), also at Woodbine.

Tomasello, Act a Fool, Ciao Chuck, Lost and Confused, Brawn, Horsepower and also-eligible Takecareofbusiness complete the field.