Hidden Scroll Returns With Dominant Gulfstream Win

Juddmonte Farms homebred Hidden Scroll, who has not raced since May after being on the Triple Crown trail last spring, returned a dominant 12 1/2-length winner March 1 at Gulfstream Park.

The 4-year-old son of Hard Spun 's previous race was a third in an allowance optional claiming race May 4. He was scratched from a comeback race Jan. 17 at Gulfstream after becoming fractious in the starting gate.

With John Velazquez aboard Sunday for trainer Bill Mott, Hidden Scroll initially balked at loading again and approached the gate sideways before entering post 5. After the two final horses went in, Hidden Scroll broke sharply but yielded the early lead to Unpublished before taking over the top spot unasked after a quarter-mile in :22.88.

Favored at 1-5 in a field of seven, Hidden Scroll began to pull away from Lord Adare to his inside around the turn following a half in :45.27, then continued to widen the margin through the stretch, going five furlongs in :56.81. The winning time for the six-furlong allowance optional claimer was 1:09.25 on a fast main track.

"He was a little tense getting to the gate. Once he got to the gate, we had a couple horses to load in there," said Velazquez, who was riding the colt for the first time. "He got to relax in the gate, and that was it. He broke well. I put my hands down and just let him get his own stride, and by the half-mile pole he was in the long stride, rolling."

Hidden Scroll was a 14-length debut winner on a sloppy track in January 2019 at Gulfstream, then finished fourth after setting the pace in the Xpressbet Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) and sixth in the Xpressbet Florida Derby (G1) as the favorite in both races.