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Fountain of Youth Stakes

The Fountain of Youth Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida at the beginning of March. A Grade II event open to three-year-olds willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt, it offers a purse of $400,000. It is the final stakes prep to the Florida Derby and is an official prep race for the Kentucky Derby.

The race was named for the mythical Florida spring that granted eternal youth, it was sought by Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who searched throughout the south eastern United States for it but never found the fountain.

Four colts, Tim Tam (1958), Kauai King (1966), Spectacular Bid (1979), and Thunder Gulch (1995) won this race then went on to become "Dual Classic Winners," the first three won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes the last won the Derby and the Belmont Stakes. The 1985 winner, Proud Truth, won that year's Breeders' Cup Classic. The Fountain of Youth Stakes was inaugurated in 1945 and run at various distances until 1953 when it was modified to 1 1/16 miles. In 2005, it was changed to a distance of 1 1/8 miles. In 2009, it was run at one mile. In 2012, Gulfstream added a second finish line so the Fountain of Youth and other dirt races could be contested at 1 1/16 miles. The race was run twice in 1947 (at the beginning of the year for 3-year-olds and at the end of the year for 2-year-olds). The race was run in two divisions in 1953, 1983, 1986 and 1993.

Gulfstream Park Graded Stakes Races

Stakes Race Grade Purse
Sugar Swirl Stakes III $100,000
Mr. Prospector Handicap III $100,000
Old Hat Stakes III $100,000
Marshua's River Stakes III $100,000
Fort Lauderdale Stakes III $100,000
Hal's Hope Handicap III $100,000
Forward Gal Stakes II $200,000
Holy Bull Stakes III $400,000
Donn Handicap I $500,000
Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap I $300,000
Hutcheson Stakes II $150,000
Suwannee River Stakes III $150,000
Gulfstream Park Sprint Championship II $150,000
Hurricane Bertie Stakes III $150,000
Davona Dale Stakes II $250,000
Sabin Stakes III $100,000
Very One Stakes III $100,000
Fountain of Youth Stakes II $400,000
Mac Diarmida Stakes II $150,000
Canadian Turf Stakes III $150,000
Gulfstream Park Handicap II $300,000
Swale Stakes III $150,000
Herecomesthebride Stakes III $150,000
Palm Beach Stakes III $150,000
Inside Information Stakes II $150,000
Honey Fox Stakes II $100,000
Pan American Stakes II $150,000
Orchid Stakes III $150,000
Florida Derby I $1,000,000
Gulfstream Park Oaks II $300,000
Appleton Stakes III $100,000
Rampart Stakes III $150,000
Skip Away Stakes III $100,000

Live Racing Schedule

Race Tracks Time (EST)