After a 2 1/4-length victory in a nine furlong allowance race at Gulfstream Park on Feb. 5, (Watch Video) the connections of Shackleford were looking to the $400,000 Fountain of Youth (G2) as the next start for the 3-year-old son of Forestry.

Shackleford was making his third career start for owner/breeders Mike Lauffer and Bill Cubbedge. The striking chestnut colt with a big white blaze was always within a length of the lead for the entire trip. He tracked in second until the top of the stretch, when he took the top spot and continued to widen down the lane. The final time was 1:50.04.

“He’s a first-class horse, he acts the part and he trains the part,” said trainer Dale Romans afterward. Romans said the Fountain of Youth on Feb. 26 would be a “strong possibility”.

The Kentucky-bred Shackleford is now two-for-three lifetime. He broke his maiden at Churchill Downs on Nov. 27. After Saturday’s $24,300 payday, his total earnings stand at $59,666.

Shackleford certainly has the pedigree to be a top-class performer. He is a half-brother to both Lady Joanne, who earned just shy of $1 million and won the Grade 1 Alabama S., Grade 2 Golden Rod S., and Grade 3 Dogwood S.; and  Baghdaria, who won two “Oaks”, both Grade 3: the Iowa and Indiana, and also the Grade 3 Silverbulletday S.