Sun Feb 24 20:18:03 2008

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War Pass and Cool Coal Man post Gulfstream wins

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Hallandale Beach, FL (Sports Network) - Eclipse Award winner War Pass and Cool Coal Man, both trained by Nick Zito, registered victories Sunday at Gulfstream Park.

War Pass, the 2007 champion two-year-old male, defeated four rivals in an allowance race in his 2008 debut. Cool Coal Man captured the $350,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes which leads to the March 29 Florida Derby.

Both colts are owned by Robert LaPenta with War Pass perfect in five career starts and Cool Coal Man winning both races this year.

War Pass set the pace in the one-mile race. Jockey Cornelio Velasquez never had to use his whip on the Breeders' Cup Juvenile champ. War Pass drew off to win by 7 1/2 lengths over Web Gem. Chadwell finished third with Jet Run fading to last. Ultimate Authority was scratched from the race.

War Pass covered the mile in 1:36.38 on a fast track.

Sent off at odds of 1-20, War Pass returned the minimum $2.10 and $2.10. Web Gem paid $2.20. There was no show wagering.

Cool Coal Man, ridden by Kent Desormeaux, settled into fourth behind pacesetter Golden Spikes, Make the Point and Elysium Fields. Around the turn for home Cool Coal Man made a bold move on the outside hooking up with Elysium Fields on the lead.

Coming off the turn, Cool Coal Man began to edge away from Elysium Fields in the 1 1/8 mile race. Late down the stretch jockey Eibar Coa was able to rally Elysium Fields to draw within a half-length at the finish.

"I was concerned about the '9 horse' [Elysium Fields]," said Desormeaux. "It's hard to sustain that kind of speed for a long time, but when we were galloping out after the wire he moved out again once he felt the other horse come up to him. My horse was very handy and attentive to my needs. I think we went faster than what the clock said. But time is irrelevant, we won."

Court Vision finished third followed by Z Humor, Golden Spikes, Halo Najib, Kentucky Bear, Anak Nakal, Adriano, Ready Set, Make the Point and 7-2 favorite Monba. The highly regarded Anak Nakal is also trained by Zito.

The time for the 62nd Fountain of Youth Stakes was 1:51.85.

Cool Coal Man paid $16.60, $8.40 and $6.00. Elysium Fields returned $8.00 and $4.40, and the favorite Court Vision paid $3.40 to show.

"I had confidence going in with the post that Kent would get a good position with him," Zito said about Cool Coal Man. "He's run two great races here. With the slow pace, my other horse (Anak Nakal) really had no chance. He needs pace up front. I can't say where or what race he'll (Cool Coal Man) will run in, possibly the Florida Derby. He's not a big horse. He'd need to have a good 30 days from now. We'll see."

War Pass picked up $36,000 with Sunday's allowance win and has now earned more than $1.4 million.

Cool Coal Man has four wins in seven career starts. The Fountain of Youth victory was worth $210,000 to bring his bankroll to better than $300,000. In his first stakes race last year Cool Coal Man was seventh to Anak Nakal in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes.