Abdullah Saeed Almaddah's Sheikh of Sheikhs (Discreetly Mine) looks to kick off the new year with a win in Gulfstream's GIII Hutcheson S. Saturday for trainer Wesley Ward. After breaking his maiden smartly at Saratoga Aug. 22, the bay colt jumped up in class to the GI Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland, where he faded to sixth over a muddy track Oct. 3. The sophomore came back to win his last start in the $100,000 Juvenile Dirt Sprint over six panels on the Breeders' Cup undercard at Keeneland Oct. 31 and Ward removes the blinkers for this test.
The second-place finisher in that race, Noholdingback Bear (Put It Back), looks to turn the tables on the favorite this time around. The Bear Stables Ltd. runner broke his maiden over the all-weather track at Woodbine Sept. 27 prior to his effort at Keeneland last time. The Michael DePaulo trainee has been working well in the interim, including a pair of bullets over this strip last month.
Conditioner Eddie Plesa saddles Morris Bailey's Full Salute (Speightstown), who enters off a one-length victory in this venue's Buffalo Man S. Nov. 28. Never worse than second in his first five starts, including a win in Parx's Hall of Fame S. Sept. 26, the chestnut finishing fifth in Belmont's GII Futurity S. two back Oct. 17. “We're going to find out [how good he is],” Plesa said. “That's why we're putting him in the race–to see how good he is. He's done everything we've asked him. He's run seven times and, except for that one race in New York, in which we think he could have done better, he's been first or second in all of his starts. He's going to be a nice horse. Now, whether he's a nice horse in the top tier or the second tier remains to be seen.”
The Stanley Gold-trained Awesome Banner (Awesome of Course) comes into the Hutcheson off a seven-month layoff and makes the class jump from maiden to graded stakes company. The Jacks or Better Farm colorbearer blitzed his rivals with a 9 3/4-length graduation in his June 5 unveiling here en route to setting a new track record for the 4 1/2-furlong distance.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
