One of the leading 2-year-old prospects earlier last year, Proud Accolade re-established himself as a top performer with an easy victory in the grade II Hutcheson Stakes Saturday at Gulfstream Park. The son of Yes It's True had to overcome adversity to win the 7-1/2 furlong event as he was shut off and forced to steady nearing the half-mile point, shuffled back to last, but circled horses on the turn to win drawing away.

Jockey John Velazquez, who won three graded stakes races that afternoon including the Hutcheson, remained philosophical about the traffic and trouble. "I put him into a spot where I wanted him to be, because in other races he had dirt hit him in the face and he'd start jumping up and down. I had to grab him because he got on his heels. He tried to go into a hole that got shut off, but I guess it was a blessing because I snatched him up and brought him outside, and he jumped into it."

"We always thought he could go longer distances," he continued. "We're scratching our heads about the last two races."

Owned by Satish Sanaan's Padua Stable, Proud Accolade captured the first three starts of his life last season including the grade I Champagne Stakes before faltering in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Lone Star Park in Texas. Purchased for $450,000 last March at the Ocala Breeders' Sale, the colt went off one of the favorites in the grade I Hollywood Futurity in December two weeks after the Breeders' Cup but finished fifth, 13 lengths behind eventual 2-year-old champion Declan's Moon. While distance may be one of the factors that contributed to the colt's demise in those last two races, trainer Todd Pletcher, who captured the Old Hat Stakes at Gulfstream just two races before the Hutcheson, still believes Proud Accolade can go on.

"He's four for four and got a perfect record around one turn now, and you'd like to think that a mile and a sixteenth around two turns would be the same thing," Pletcher said after the race. "You'd like to think he'd get a distance-I'm not saying a mile and a quarter, but we thought everything was on schedule the last two times, but it just didn't work out for us. Today, we just wanted to get him back on track. I'm not sure what's next but I wouldn't rule out either the Swale of the Fountain of Youth at this point."

The Swale Stakes, a 7 furlong event and the Fountain of Youth at a mile and an eighth are on March 5, the next stops on Gulfstream Park's route to the Kentucky Derby. Proud Accolade paid $3.60 to win and ran the 7-1/2 furlongs in 1:29.90. Park Avenue Ball was second in the Hutcheson with Vicerage in third. The biggest disappointment in the six-horse field might have been fourth-place finisher Defer, the Phipps Stable homebred trained by Shug McGaughey who was said to be training well prior to the race but may be better suited for longer distances.

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