Dialed In skipping Fountain of Youth
 

One horse who will be conspicuous by his absence when entries are drawn here Wednesday for Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth is Dialed In. Trainer Nick Zito said he and owner Bob LaPenta both agreed that passing the race is in the best interest of their colt in light of his huge performance winning the Grade 3 Holy Bull in only his second career start here last month.

“I conferred with both Bob and his son Rob, and we all were in agreement that it would not be right to ask Dialed In to come back in four weeks after the Superman-type effort he turned in to win the Holy Bull,” Zito said. “They said let’s skip the Fountain of Youth and look for a two-turn race before the Florida Derby.”

http://www.drf.com/news/dialed-will-...n-youth-stakes

"Superman"....that 96 Beyer? Put down that pipe Nicky

I guess he's going to the Tampa Bay Derby? I didn't really understand what he said about wanting a two-turn race but the article being about skipping a two-turn race.

When the probables for the FOY were assembled you knew there were going to be defections.

I was confused too, but read it as waiting for the Florida Derby. I don't think they would do Tampa Bay, and then wheel him back in 3 weeks for the Florida Derby.
It's ridiculous. The horse has 2 lifetime starts.
Run him in both the FOY and FL. Derby

Maybe they should just retire him. I've never seen a performance quite like that one. I'm sure they wouldn't want him to die or anything. Plus it's rude to embarrass the competition. Maybe they can see if Dialed In can wrestle that high school girl instead on PPV.

LaPenta races his horses

Good for him. I look forward to this horse having one more prep before the derby. D'awesome.

When the old farts die in the next 20 years this sport will be DUNZO. It is controlled by scared money.

And really what sane person would watch that race and say, "Man that horse had to work hard. That pace was slow. He needs about two months to recover."

It's not like they're running a 3 mile race. It's one mile. A f.ucking mile for a horse. It's like asking Michael Johnson to run a 1600 and then take two months off.

Coach you know it's a lot more fun sitting around having a drink and talking about your Derby horse than actually taking a chance of him losing. After a win; if you don't race him for 2 months you feel better longer.

I think Zito knows what everyone else does-THAS is waiting for this race and gonna be dominant

Sucks tho cause would like to see Dialed In get some more experience

Which makes it a shame that a horse like Clubhouse Ride is off the Derby trail. Clubhouse Ride has started 11 times in his career, which makes him an iron horse by today's standards.

I am fairly new to racing so forgive me if my question seems "stupid".

I don't like hearing that horses are "skipping" races. Does this mean that Dialed In is injured and we are not being told?

If they trained and raced the horses of today like they did with the ones from 60 or 70 years ago - they'd probably all be crippled in a hurry.

I'm sure there are numerous reasons why that is.

I would have to think Veterinarians and sports medicine and nutrition became bigger and bigger over time as the biggest culprit.

Watching the 2-year-old in training sale is like watching an equine freak show. I highly doubt 2yo's of 50 years ago - even the fastest ones - would be able to breeze as fast as hundreds of these today do.

Watch tapes of a lot of the big races from more than 50 years ago - the jockeys all gun leaving the start - horses are put to the whip and in all out drives when the gates open. If they did that stuff today - every single route race would be a pace collapse.

Unrelated to advances in medicine, there is also a plethora of options on the trail for these horses. Whereas at one point there were a few well-defined routes, now you can bounce around, skip a few and still have a chance to make the race. It doesn't seem like too long ago when the Fountain of Youth was a key stepping-stone in the East... now it's one of many options for horsemen it seems.

I think going from the 'few well-defined routes' of five years ago to the bouncing around of today has a lot to do with the trainers wanting to give their horses more time in between starts.

Uncle Mo's campaign of just two Derby preps with a sound horse would have never been attempted. Ideally - they wanted no more than three or four weeks in between starts.

What makes you think Uncle Mo is sound?

What makes you think he isn't?

Plenty

You have spies at Palm Meadows?

His worktab has been going according to plan - and Pletcher has been raving about him. Even his facebook page gives every indication that all is well.

Well if it's on Facebook it has to be true. I would be careful watching his worktab and getting too hot in the panties, this horse can run 44 flat so getting all worked up about any work based on time is suspect. Sore or not he is a fn fast sort.

I know you're messing around, but we might have to have a facebook intervention soon for you.

how ridiculous.
two starts; yeah they've no doubt got to the bottom of that well already. what a disgrace this sport has become regarding colts.

I don't care what the times are Freddy - just that his work tab is active - which means one work every Sunday.

If something was wrong with him - he'll miss a work.

Nice facebook post.

bingo....we have a winner. people read way too much into this media crap. that horse has probably 4 to 6 other races to choose from. people don't schedule their horses according to gulfstream anymore...theres tons of options, even there....where they'll make a race just for these horses to run. if they said hes skipping because hes hurt, then it would be a story.

Zito has said he won't ship the horse out of Florida. He said that right after the holy bull. So if that's true, then it limits his options.

I am dubious on the "he is doing great facebook BS" Nobody seems to think he is doing great other then Uncle Mo and his knew found ability to type.

If the horse was trained by a guy like Bill Mott, I would agree with you. However, because it's Pletcher, and he's already on a tight schedule in terms of the Derby, it doesn't necessarily follow that he's working = nothing's wrong with him.