Flatlined Seeks Encore Effort in Turf Handicap

The last time Flatlined took down a field that included some grade 1 winners, it qualified as a stunner.

If the gelded son of Flatter   can duplicate that feat again in the $350,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1T) Feb. 11 at Gulfstream Park, trainer Scooter Dickey will officially be able to say he has a budding —albeit late-blooming—star on his hands.

The eight-horse field for the 1 1/8-mile Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap is as solid as one could ask for at this time of year, with grade 1 victors Divisidero, Beach Patrol, and defending race winner Lukes Alley all passing the entry box. Divisidero and Lukes Alley, however, ended up chasing Flatlined last time out, when the 5-year-old gelding rallied from well back to win the Jan. 14 Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G2T) at Gulfstream to earn his first graded stakes victory and give the venerable Dickey his first graded triumph since saddling Flat Out   to victory in the 2011 Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1).

WINCZE HUGHES: Flatlined Breaks Through in Ft. Lauderdale

While others have back class, Flatlined's last outing proved he was a horse on the upswing. After taking five tries to break his maiden and not winning his first stakes until he prevailed in the Old Friends at Kentucky Downs last September, the bay runner came into the Ft. Lauderdale having just been beaten a neck by multiple graded stakes winner Heart to Heart in the El Prado Stakes at Gulfstream Dec. 17.

"When he came back to the winner’s circle, (jockey) Joe (Bravo) said, ‘I knew we had him at the top of the stretch.’ And I said, ‘Are you crazy? I didn’t know it until the wire,’" Dickey said of the Ft. Lauderdale win. “Joe said he was a monster that day. He just needs room to run and he’ll give it to you at the end.” 

Owned by Brian Hytrek, Rodney Paden, and Ryan Kuhn, Flatlined has won five of 19 starts with earnings of $346,765.

Divisidero closed well to get third in the Ft. Lauderdale, his first start since finishing fifth in the Woodford Reserve Manhattan Stakes (G1T) June 11. The 5-year-old son of Kitten's Joy   has not finished worse than third in five starts at Gulfstream and broke through last May for trainer Buff Bradley to win the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1T) at Churchill Downs.

"He really ran well last time,” Bradley said. “He didn’t have the best of trips like the two in front of him. He was wide and on a course like this, it’s tough … the turns are tighter. I’m hoping for a little better trip and with stretching out to a mile and an eighth that will help him as well, and hopefully it will spread the horses out a little bit."

HAMMONDS: Divisidero Edges Clear in Woodford Reserve

Like many turf runners before him, Beach Patrol has found his best form since joining the barn of Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown last year. The 4-year-old Lemon Drop Kid   colt captured the Secretariat Stakes (G1T) in August after racing just off the early pace and closed out his 2016 with a runner-up effort to stablemate Annals of Time in the Dec. 3 Hollywood Derby (G1T) at Del Mar.

"I freshened him up a little bit. He’s been breezing nicely at Palm Meadows,” Brown said “It’s his first start of the year, and it’s a little bit hard to come off a bit of a break into a grade 1 and face older horses for the first time, but I think he is a really talented horse. I think a mile and an eighth is perfect for him. He’s a really neat horse to be around; he has a lot of class.”

Beach Patrol will be making his seasonal debut and has only finished off the board once in 10 starts.