Photo By: Adam Coglianese

Proud Accolade tries to rebound in this Saturday's Hutcheson after disappointing outings in the Breeders' Cup and Hollywood Futurity

Since it's inception in 1954, the Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park in South Florida has frequently proven to be an early preview of champions, so it's only appropriate that racing's newest champion trainer have a vested interest in this year's running on Saturday.

Todd Pletcher, who has won the Hutcheson several times, including last year with the Dogwood Stable runner Limehouse, will send Proud Accolade out for this year's grade II event in the hopes that last year's Champagne stakes winner can join the likes of Holy Bull, Swale and Spectacular Bid. First, though, the colt has to put his most recent, poor efforts behind him.

"We're still trying to figure out what happened in the Hollywood Futurity," Pletcher recently told Daily Racing Form writers in trying to explain a distant, fifth-place finish in California in December, Proud Accolade's most recent start. "He came back fine and is training well. The only thing I can put my finger on is that perhaps he was out there a little too long before the race. If I could have changed anything, I would probably have waited and shipped him out right on top of the race."

Prior to the Hollywood Futurity, the son of Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner Yes It's True also turned in a poor, sixth-place effort in last year's Juvenile at Lone Star Park in Dallas. While both uncharacteristically bad races were at 1-1/16 miles around two turns, Pletcher maintains the distance was not an excuse.

"It didn't matter how far he ran, he just didn't fire," the second-generation horseman offered. "If he hadn't won the grade I Champagne at a mile and a sixteenth, I'd say maybe he was just a sprinter, and perhaps he will eventually turn out to be better going one turn. We'll have to see."

In the meantime, Pletcher is not the only top horseman to have decided on the 7-1/2 furlong Hutcheson as an ideal starting point this year for his promising 3-year-old. Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, who saddles the Ogden Phipps homebred Defer, is looking to use the entire Florida 3-year-old prep series as a means of getting to Louisville the first Saturday in May.

"That's where we want to go with him," said McGaughey. "The Hutcheson is the kind of springboard we're looking for toward the Fountain of youth, the Florida Derby and hopefully, the Kentucky Derby."

"The race this weekend isn't do or die," the Kentucky native continued. "I'd like to see him win, but we just want to see him run well. If I feel like he's peaking too soon, we can skip a race like the Fountain of Youth and wait until later in the meet. There's a lot of options."

A son of Danzig, Defer has won two of his three lifetime starts-all last year-including the grade III Laurel Futurity. His only defeat was a second-place finish to the highly regarded Rockport Harbor in the grade III Nashua in Defer's second start.

The field (with jockeys) for the Hutcheson from the rail out includes:
1. Proud Accolade (J. Velazquez)
2. Carson's Bridge (C. Velasquez)
3. Vicarage (DeCarlo)
4. Park Avenue Ball (Castellano)
5. Devil At Sea (Santos)
6. Defer (Bailey)

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