Smooth Air Posts Mild Upset in Hutcheson

Mt. Joy Stable’s 3-year-old Florida homebred colt Smooth Air rallied through the stretch of Saturday’s $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park to splash to a one-length victory over Tom Van Meter’s Silver Edition, posting a mild upset in the seven-furlong fixture, paying $20.60 for $2 to win.

Trained by Bennie Stutts, Jr., Smooth Air had run well in each of his previous four starts at Calder, winning twice with a second and a third, but the son of Smooth Jazz was taking a big step up in the Hutcheson. Zayat Stables’ Halo Najib finished third, three lengths behind the runner-up and 3 ¾ lengths before M375 Thoroughbreds’ Golden Spikes in the field of eight 3-year-olds.

Smooth Air was timed the seven-eighths in 1:23:21 over the ‘sloppy’ track.

Winning Jockey Quote

Manoel Cruz:

“I’m leaving for Brazil early tomorrow for two weeks. I lost my dad about six months ago and I’m going to help get my mom set up and have a vacation. It’s good to go on a vacation with money. This horse has improved a lot. I have been saying to the trainer that this horse will get better with longer races. He showed that here. He held himself up well for me. He was jumping shadows early in the race, so I had to take him close to the other horses to keep his attention. If he hadn’t done that early in the race he probably would have beaten that horse by even more. That’s a good boy right there.”

Winning Trainer Quote

Bennie Stutts, Jr.:

“The Calder horse did well. You should never count them out. I’ve been training for 40 years and this is the biggest race I’ve ever won. The plan was to take him off the pace today. I told Manny (Cruz) this morning to ‘just let the speed go early’ and it worked out well. He broke his maiden in the slop, so I wasn’t worried about the track. I want to thank Brian Burns (Mt. Joy Stable) for giving me the opportunity. I’ve had a small division for him at Calder for seven or eight years. He has others with Dallas Stewart. There are a couple of options to consider next, including the Sunshine Millions Dash (Jan. 26 at Santa Anita) and the Sam Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs (Feb. 16).” 

Fractions:  22:04, 44:53, 1:09:96 & 1:23:21