HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Greatest Honour, patiently ridden by Jose Ortiz, swept past front-running Drain the Clock with about 70 yards remaining when furthering his status as one of the Kentucky Derby favorites with a convincing triumph Saturday in the 74th running of the Grade 2, $300,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

Greatest Honour returned $4 as the even-money favorite in a field of 10 3-year-olds after completing the 1 1/16-mile distance in 1:44.02 over a fast track.

Drain the Clock led from the start after breaking sharply from post 1 while Ortiz allowed Greatest Honour to drop back toward the rear of the pack. Down the stretch, however, Greatest Honour had huge momentum, and he flew past for his third straight victory, following a Dec. 26 maiden race and the Jan. 30 Holy Bull, both at Gulfstream. Drain the Clock, the 5-2 second choice, held the runner-up spot, about 1 1/2 lengths behind the winner, while Papetu outran his 18-1 odds to be third. Tarantino, the Holy Bull runner-up, was fourth, while Fire At Will, the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner, faltered after closely tracking the early pace to finish well back.

With the Fountain of Youth offering Kentucky Derby qualifying points on a 50-20-10-5 scale, Greatest Honour clinched a spot in the May 1 race at Churchill Downs.

The Fountain of Youth leads to the annual highlight of the Gulfstream championship meet, the March 27 Florida Derby. McGaughey said afterward that he will run back Greatest Honour in that 1 1/8-mile race, just as he did when sweeping the Fountain of Youth and Florida Derby in 2013 with his only prior Kentucky Derby winner, Orb.

The $2 exacta (8-1) paid $12 and the $1 trifecta (8-1-10) returned $31.80.

Mike Welsch will have the full Fountain of Youth recap on drf.com before too long.