Barbados makes it three straight in Hutcheson
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Suzanne Stables' Barbados (Speightstown) extended his win streak to three while making his graded stakes debut in Saturday's $150,000 Hutcheson (G2) at Gulfstream Park, edging past a determined X Y Jet (Kantharos) to post a half-length decision as the overwhelming 3-5 favorite. The Michael Tomlinson-trained colt covered seven furlongs in 1:24 1/5 with Luis Saez. A three-length winner of the January 3 Spectacular Bid at six furlongs, Barbados had to work harder to defeat pacesetter X Y Jet, who established opening splits of :22 4/5 and :45 1/5 as Barbados stalked in second. The eventual winner inched closer rounding the far turn and offered his bid turning for home. X Y Jet proved game to the wire, but Barbados always appeared to be going best in the final furlong. Big Family (Any Given Saturday) rallied belatedly to finish third in the six-horse field. "I looked at the race and I didn't see a lot of speed in the race," Saez said. "I knew the other horse (X Y Jet) was the speed because the other one (Bluegrass Singer [Bluegrass Cat]) was scratched. So I needed to keep my horse close.
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"The horse in front looked like he was going very easy. When we came into the
stretch, I was worried my horse wouldn't pass him. But my horse likes a fight.
When I asked him, he gave me a lot."
"Any good horse has heart, and he showed us some heart today," Tomlinson
added.
The trainer was asked about longer distances for the three-year-old.
"As we've said all along, we're going to let him take us as far as he can go.
We're not sure if there's distance limitations, but we're going to take it a
step at a time. Hopefully he comes out of this race in great shape and we'll see
where we go from here."
Bred in Kentucky by Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, Barbados is out of the
stakes-winning Street Cry mare Northern Station. This is the extended female
family of Breeders' Cup Classic winner and sire Raven's Pass; champion Rainbow
View; and Grade 1 winner Just as Well.
Barbados initially sold for $160,000 as a yearling at the 2013 Keeneland
September sale. He passed through the sales ring the following spring, bringing
$230,000 as a Keeneland April two-year-old, and made his first three starts for
WinStar Farm before being offered once again at the Keeneland November sale last
fall, selling for $340,000 to his current connections.
Under the direction of Kellyn Gorder, Barbados made his first two starts on
the Kentucky Downs' turf, recording a second and a fifth, before rolling to a
five-length decision over maiden special weight rivals on Keeneland's dirt track
on October 16. He made his first outing for Tomlinson in the aforementioned
Spectacular Bid, earning a 100 BRIS Speed rating. With Saturday's $92,070
payday, Barbados has now earned $205,320 from a 5-3-1-0 scorecard.
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