Gulfstream Park: Beeline wins by a nose in the Hutcheson

Beeline made a successful transition from debut winner to stakes winner Saturday at Gulfstream Park, earning a narrow victory in the $100,000 Hutcheson with a show of talent and grit of a veteran stakes performer.

“He’s a really game horse. I am really impressed by him,” Beeline’s jockey Édgard Zayas said. “It takes a lot. It’s one of the toughest races when they’re so young with only one start and running against horses that have run multiple times.”

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The 70th running of the Hutcheson, a six-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds in which Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint runner-up Valiant Force was making his highly anticipated debut on dirt, headlined Saturday’s 12-race program.

Owned by Vintage Thoroughbreds, Scott Estes and Brian Hanley and trained by Riley Mott. Beeline went right to the front Saturday, and Valiant Force took his customary early position at the back of the seven-horse field.

Pressed to the outside by Limehouse Stakes winner Ship to Shore along the backstretch and into the far turn, Beeline came under pressure wheeling into the homestretch after running a half-mile through fractions of 22.28 and 45.50 seconds with a sweeping Valiant Force looming boldly three wide.

Under a vigorous urging by Zayas straightening into the stretch, Beeline produced a somewhat surprising kick to open up again, rejecting the bid from Valiant Force before holding off a late surge by Improptude by a nose.

“It looked like he was going to quit for a second, but I kept riding him and finding more out of him,” Zayas said. “Probably, eventually, he’ll want to stretch out a bit. Not too much. A mile might be the perfect distance for him.”

Beeline, the 4-5 favorite, ran six furlongs in 1:10.59.

Beeline, who shook off early pressure to capture his Feb. 10 debut by 3 3/4 lengths, was purchased for $70,000 at the 2023 OBS open sale on the recommendation of Bradley Thoroughbreds’ Devon Bradley.

“Devon Bradley had a laser focus on this horse at auction,” said Hanley, a former Chicago sports-talk radio host who first became involved in Thoroughbred ownership in 2015, partnering with former NHL center Eddie Olczyk in owning Gulfstream stakes winner Who’s Your Drama. “It was all Devon Bradley and what a horse. Two-for-two. Devon said yesterday, ‘If he wins this race, visions of grandeur.’ ”

Improptude finished 1 1/2 lengths ahead of Patriot Spirit.

AMO Racing USA’s Valiant Force, the 8-5 second betting choice ridden by David Egan, finished fourth, 4 1/4 lengths behind the winner.

“He got a slight bump out of the gate, but for the first time on dirt, he got into a nice position. He was able to race without kickback and took me to the quarter pole like a real classy horse,” Egan said. “When push came to shove, I think it probably shows that he is a turf horse. The closer we were getting to the wire, the more we were fading, so I think (with) a switch back to turf, you’ll see a top-class horse again. He’s got a lot of class. He’s always a horse that breaks slow and comes from behind as he did the last time and in the Breeders’ Cup. I think this run today will teach him to break on (even) terms, so it was educational.”

Valiant Force had been scheduled to make his main track debut in the Jan. 6 Limehouse only to be a late scratch at the starting gate. Winner of the five-furlong Norfolk (G2) at Royal Ascot last summer, Valiant Force rallied from far back to be second by a half-length in the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita. After being scratched from the Limehouse, he returned to turf to finish second as the favorite in a five-furlong optional claiming allowance Feb. 7 at Gulfstream.