Beer: How I'd play Gulfstream on Saturday, Jan. 2

Gulfstream Park will kick off 2016 with three graded stakes Saturday, all of them for newly turned 3-year-olds.

Hutcheson Stakes

SHEIKH OF SHEIKHS (7) turned back out of an underrated try in the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity to best a game NOHOLDINGBACK BEAR (4) last time, and the speedy colt looked comfortable stalking the pace in that spot, a good sign for him going forward. He's the one to beat from a nice outside post, but it will be interesting to see what we get from AWESOME BANNER (2). It is clearly not a good sign he hasn't started since crushing maidens in 4 1/2-furlong debut that broke the track record way back in June, but he was impressive there, and if he is over whatever it was that held him back through the second-half of 2015, he may be too good for these horses.

Old Hat Stakes

The Grade 3 Old Hat failed to draw an inspiring field, with just six 3-year-old fillies stepping in to shoot for the $100,000 purse over six furlongs. LUCY N ETHEL (5) is the clear horse to beat. She has won both her starts at Parx for a high-percentage trainer, and the 89 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in a comprehensive win over allowance foes last time is the top last-out figure in the field by a clear margin. She will be hard to beat if she repeats that performance here, but there is another filly in this field with a fast race, and she looks to be the main threat to the favorite.

That horse is BALLET DIVA (1), and she also has the benefit of experience, which Lucy N Ethel lacks. Ballet Diva has plenty of early speed, and she has winning experience from the rail at Gulfstream Park, having won each of her first two career starts from this post, one of them a stakes race with a Beyer of 82.

Dania Beach Stakes

For 3-year-olds over 7 1/2 furlongs on grass, the Grade 3 Dania Beach has pulled a competitive field of 10, including a pair of colts who competed in Breeders' Cup races. ISOTHERM (1) took a shot in the BC Juvenile on dirt to no avail, and he will return to his preferred surface here as the horse to beat. He was victorious in both turf starts last year, including the Grade 3 Pilgrim at Belmont.

RAY'S THE BAR (9) finished third behind Isotherm in that Pilgrim when making his stateside debut for Chad Brown, and he then went on to try the BC Juvenile Turf, in which he endured a traffic-filled trip and never had a fair chance to run. He can do better, but it remains unclear exactly how good he is, and he is unlikely to offer much value in this race.

The two favorites will be challenged by three exiting the $75,000 Pulpit Stakes at Gulfstream Park West on Nov. 28. LIFE IMITATES ART (4) just missed in that race, nearly overcoming a tough outside post in the process. Still, he had his chance in the stretch of that race but settled for second-best for the third consecutive time in a close finish (he was placed first after missing in a close photo two starts back at Belmont). The ability appears to be there with this colt, but he may require a bit more experience before he puts it all together.

MOUNTAIN MUSIC MAN (2) was third in the Pulpit after a perfect trip, and while he was game in the stretch after taking over the lead, he really had no excuse as the odds-on favorite there. The third horse exiting that race is SURGICAL STRIKE (10), and he is the horse I'll take a shot with in the Dania Beach. He improved two starts back when finishing gamely and just missed closing down a front-running winner, and he was ridden straight into traffic in the stretch of the Pulpit while finishing up with run. It's possible he may have been best that day, and while this is a tougher spot, he should be a fair price in this race.