Barbados Seeks Hat Trick in Hutcheson
It has been 11 years since veteran trainer Mike Tomlinson went down the Triple Crown trail with a horse named Sir Cherokee, until an injury forced the multiple graded stakes winner to miss the spring classics.
Tomlinson has similarly high but guarded hopes for Barbados, who puts his two-race win streak on the line in Saturday’s 66th running of the $150,000 Hutcheson (G3) for 3-year-olds at Gulfstream Park.
The seven-furlong Hutcheson is one of five stakes for sophomores, four of them graded, on Saturday’s card, along with the $400,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (G2), $200,000 Forward Gal (G2), $100,000 Sweetest Chant (G3) and $100,000 Kitten’s Joy.
A bay son of champion sprinter Speightstown, Barbados returns to Gulfstream’s main track three weeks after opening his 3-year-old campaign winning the six-furlong Spectacular Bid by three lengths over favored Ready for Rye.
“The plan was the Hutcheson if he passed the first test,” Tomlinson said. “He’s doing excellent. He’s a very intelligent colt. He’s the kind of colt that may run a little farther than his pedigree says just because he’s such a smart horse.”
Paul and Suzanne Hanifl’s Suzanne Stables purchased Barbados for $340,000 out of a WinStar dispersal sale last November at Keeneland, where he was an impressive five-length maiden winner in mid-October to close his juvenile season.
“We gave a lot of money for the horse,” Tomlinson said. “He showed a lot of talent in his race at Keeneland and the ability to sit off the pace. He’s not necessarily one-dimensional. He’s got good conformation and he’s absolutely sound. He’s got as much talent as anything I’ve ever had, and he definitely is as smart as any colt I’ve ever had.”
Tomlinson said he won’t push Barbados beyond his limits despite the temptations that come with having a talented 3-year-old in the barn to begin the new year.
“At this time of year, it’s hard not to think about it, but we’ve got to let the colt take us where he’s going to take us, and let him lead us as far as he can go. We’ll see what that is,” Tomlinson said. “We’re going to take it a step at a time and see how far he takes us. If two turns is in the picture, then we’ll take advantage of it.”
Richard the Great suffered his first career loss in his last start, the six-furlong Buffalo Man on November 29 at Gulfstream Park West, where he endured a nightmare trip from the rail under Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado and wound up sixth of 10 as the betting favorite.
“The horses came up on the outside of him and it startled him,” trainer Ralph Nicks said. “Edgar said he thought he was going to try to jump the fence at one point. He almost ended up hitting the fence, so it was pretty much a throw-out race. Physically he’s fine, but he was just a little frazzled. He’s always been an easy horse to train, always very professional, that’s why it was a surprise when that happened. If I had chosen one horse in the barn that that trip wouldn’t bother, he would have been the horse.”
A bay son of Distorted Humor owned by Arindel Farms, Richard the Great was an easy winner of his first two starts, both at Gulfstream. He beat fellow Florida-breds in his August 17 debut and came back November 2 to romp by 6 ¾ lengths in an optional claiming allowance at six furlongs.
“He’s very classy and has a big, huge stride to him,” Nicks said. “He’s a small horse. He’s only 15 hands tall, but he’s a Distorted Humor-type, a real good mover. I’ve been wanting to go further with him. I cannot wait to try him a mile and around two turns.”
Lightly raced Stanford will make just his third career start in the Hutcheson for trainer Todd Pletcher and owners Stonestreet Stables, Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith.
A smart winner of his career debut last summer at Monmouth Park, the Malibu Moon colt has not raced since finishing sixth in the Saratoga Special (G2) at Saratoga Race Course last August.
“We trained him for a while and he just seemed to be going through the motions a little bit,” Pletcher said. “He seems to be training much better now. I’m not really sure why. He seemed to benefit from a little bit of time. We couldn’t really identify anything particularly bothering him, but he didn’t seem to be training up to his standard. We just turned him out for a little while and it seemed to make a difference.”
Mucho Macho Man Stakes winner Bluegrass Singer and multiple Illinois-bred stakes winner Dom the Bomb are each cross-entered in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull and both coming off back-to-back victories. Dom the Bomb has never run in South Florida, while Bluegrass Singer is 3-for-4 at Gulfstream.
Also entered are maiden winners Big Family, Bridget’s Big Luvy and Pasco Stakes runner-up X Y Jet.
Source: Gulfstream Park