Gulfstream Park Picks: Fountain of Youth Stakes Day, 2/28/26

Key Takeaways:

• Fountain of Youth Stakes Day sets up as a pace-driven horse racing card where tactical speed and trip efficiency should dominate across both dirt and turf stakes.
• With large fields, multiple pace battles, and competitive class drops, horses capable of stalking and finishing strongly offer the clearest betting value if they arrive in strong form.
• Flying Liam presents prime upset potential in the Gulfstream Park Mile, benefiting from a projected pace meltdown and his current career-best form.
• On Time Girl stands out as the class anchor in the Forward Gal, with a perfect stalking setup and pedigree pointing to further improvement at a mile.
• Anegada offers breakout value in the Mac Diarmida, stretching out effectively, thriving on Gulfstream turf, and entering in peak form for Mike Maker.

Big money and big prestige are on the line Saturday, February 28, at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. The 14-race card is headlined by the Fountain of Youth (G2), which virtually guarantees its winner a ticket to the Kentucky Derby. However, that’s just the tip of the iceberg: there are nine stakes races on the card, and it’s one of the most exciting horse racing events of the winter!

In addition to the Fountain of Youth, the card also features the Davona Dale (G2), a race that virtually punches its winner’s ticket to the Kentucky Oaks. Turf racing aficionados have a field day as well, with six of the day’s nine stakes races set to take place on the grass.

FanDuel TV is here all day with the latest news about horses at Gulfstream and all over the country, and you can catch every race. You can also get your own past performances and bet every race online at FanDuel! First post is set for 11:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, with racing set to continue until the Fountain of Youth at 6:11 p.m. EDT. Make sure to check scratches before you place your bets, since horses can defect for any reason, which can affect the pace and class balances.

These are best bets through the day in some of the stakes races on Saturday's card at Gulfstream.

Gulfstream Park Picks - 2026 Fountain of Youth Stakes Day Best Bets

Race 7: Gulfstream Park Mile (G3), one mile on the dirt - Flying Liam, Knightsbridge

FanDuel odds: 12-1 and 1-5

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The race only drew six horses, but the pace stands to be hot, hot, hot. Knightsbridge, Mika, and Bernin Hot all know only one way to go, and that's to the lead. This is Gulfstream Park, so it's a good place to be forward … but a contested pace can mean trouble for the pacesetters anywhere, meaning a horse who can show a tactical dimension can carry the day.

Flying Liam (12-1) looks like that horse. He is in strong form lately, the best of his career. He has been running in optional claimers and even higher-priced straight claimers, but he consistently turns in good efforts, has won two of his last three, and done so at Gulfstream from the kind of tracking trip that should work here. It's a positive that Javier Castellano, who rode Flying Liam to victory last out in an allowance-optional claimer, stays aboard despite the claim to the Nolan Ramsey barn. If he turns in one of his better races, he could ride a pace advantage to victory.

If one of the speedballs survives to win not just the battle but the war, Knightsbridge (1-5) looks like the one. The Bill Mott trainee survived a hot pace battle to win by daylight over course and distance last out in the Fred Hooper (G3), after all. If that didn't tap him out, and he can work the same kind of trip again, the lightly-raced son of Nyquist can continue his ascent as one of the most promising sprinter-milers on the scene.

Race 11: Forward Gal (G2), one mile on the dirt - On Time Girl, She Be Smooth

FanDuel odds: 9-5 and 5-1

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On Time Girl (9-5), winner of the Davona Dale (G3) in her first start of the year, is the horse to beat in the Forward Gal. She drew a nice outside post in this one-turn mile, and she should be able to track just off the pace and rally into it like she did last out—and likely get sharper fractions to attack, even. Though she has yet to try a mile, she looked great going seven furlongs last out (despite acting up before the race, even), and everything about her pedigree suggests the distance will move her forward. All of this means she deserves respect.

She Be Smooth (5-1) cedes experience to most of her foes, as she has only raced once. However, she had a good-looking debut over course and distance: she stalked the pace and took command in the final furlong to win a maiden special weight, and the race came back fast enough to mark her competitive with her foes in this. Trainer Todd Pletcher is excellent with last-out maiden winners, winning about a quarter of the time in the last three years, and this is a class rise but also a perfectly reasonable spot based on what she showed. She Be Smooth drew close to the outside and should be able to work an outside tracking trip under big-race maven Flavien Prat.

Race 13: Mac Diarmida (G2), 1 3/8 miles on the turf - Anegada, Layabout

FanDuel odds: 9-2 and 5-2

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This race drew a deep field of 10, and should be a strong betting race, especially because two horses who fit impeccably, Grand Sonata and Dancin in Da'nile, are on such a string of runner-up finishes to be worth betting against in the top rung of the ticket.

Anegada (9-2), one of a pair for trainer Mike Maker, is a new face on the long-distance turf scene. He was a solid horse last year as a three-year-old, not in the top echelon but competitive, winning ungraded stakes at Hawthorne and Turfway and also finishing just two lengths beaten in the Secretariat (G2) over the too-short distance of a flat mile. He stretched out to 1 1/2 miles last out in the John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston, facing older foes for the first time, and scoring by a length. With a comfy middle gate, a top jockey in Irad Ortiz, Jr., and a maiden win over the sometimes quirky Gulfstream lawn last spring? There's reason to think Anegada can have his breakthrough here.

Layabout (5-2), another four-year-old rising star in the turf division, comes into the race off of a win in the William L. McKnight (G3), the previous long-distance turf race at Gulfstream this meet. It was his first graded-stakes win and his third stakes win at Gulfstream, meaning he loves the local course. He is versatile enough to win from the front end or a tracking spot, and in six starts on the grass, he has never run a bad race. The biggest concern is trainer Patrick Biancone's general pattern of struggling in graded-stakes races, but Layabout bucked that trend last out and is sharp and consistent enough to do so again.

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