Full Salute, Sheikh of Sheikhs Top Hutcheson

Stakes winners Full Salute and Sheikh of Sheikhs top the field of seven 3-year-olds entered in the Hutcheson Stakes (gr. III) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 2, one of five stakes on the first Saturday card of 2016.



At seven furlongs, the Hutcheson is one of two early preps for the April 2 Florida Derby (gr. I) on the Gulfstream card that also includes the Mucho Macho Man Stakes for 3-year-olds at a one-turn mile.



A son of Speightstown   trained by Eddie Plesa Jr. for Morris Bailey, Full Salute was first or second in his first five career starts, capped by a victory in the $150,000 Hall of Fame Stakes at Parx Racing Sept. 26.



Elevated in company in the Futurity (gr. II) at Belmont Park Oct. 17, the Kentucky-bred colt chased the pace before fading to fifth in the six-furlong sprint. With jockey Edgard Zayas aboard for the first time, Full Salute rebounded with an off-the-pace score in the Buffalo Man Stakes at Gulfstream Park West Nov. 28.



"I told him, 'Last time he was rushed off his feet and he didn't respond well to that, I thought,'" Plesa said of his pre-race instructions to Zayas. "I said, 'Just gather him up and then make a run at them.' That's what he did. He dropped back a little farther than I thought he would, to be honest with you."



Plesa, who saddled grade I stakes winner Itsmyluckyday   for a victory in the Mucho Macho Man in 2013 when the race was known as the Gulfstream Park Derby, is viewing the Hutcheson as a test of his colt's quality level.



"We're going to find out. 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," said Plesa, who awarded the return mount to Zayas. "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."



Co-highweighted with Full Salute at 120 pounds, Sheikh of Sheikhs won the Juvenile Dirt Sprint Stakes on the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup undercard at Keeneland.



A son of Discreetly Mine   trained by Wesley Ward for Abdullah S. Almaddah, Sheikh of Sheikhs previously broke his maiden at Saratoga Race Course in his debut and finished a late-fading sixth in the Breeders' Futurity (gr. I) over a sloppy Keeneland surface.



Bear Stables' Noholdingback Bear, who finished a half-length behind in the Juvenile Dirt Sprint, is also returning in the Hutcheson.



"He ran a real good race on the synthetic at Woodbine," trainer Michael DiPaulo said of the Put It Back colt. "We ran him at Keeneland on the undercard on Breeders' Cup Day and he ran a decent race that day. He might have been a little green. That was his first race on dirt. He's trained really well here. He's had three real good works."



Jacks or Better Farm's Awesome Banner is returning from a seven-month layoff to make his stakes debut in the Hutcheson. The Stanley Gold-trained colt had an auspicious debut at Gulfstream June 5, coasting to a 9 3/4-length triumph while setting a track record for 4 1/2 furlongs (51.07 seconds).



"He's ready," Gold said. "It's really Plan B, because Plan A would have been an 'a-other-than' and then the Hutcheson. It is what it is. The timing didn't work out. You can't always do what you want to do. The allowance race was just too close to the Hutcheson and he wasn't ready."



PTK LLC's While Ye May was also entered to make the leap to graded-stakes off a debut in which the Dane Kobiskie-trained colt closed from off the pace to win by 1 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park West Nov. 28. The son of Pioneerof the Nile   ran five furlongs in 57.19 seconds.



Danbury and Union Grace round out the field.