Debut win has Flashpoint heading to Florida

OZONE PARK, N.Y – Trainer Richard Dutrow Jr. already has a solid group of 3-year-olds stabled at Gulfstream Park. Another one will soon be on the way.

Flashpoint, on the basis of a scintillating 6 1/4-length debut victory at Aqueduct on Saturday, will soon be headed to south Florida, where he will be pointed to the Grade 2, $150,000 Hutcheson Stakes at seven furlongs on Feb. 26.

“I think with the way the horse ran – he was so impressive – we got to shoot for a big race with a lot of money,” Dutrow said Monday from Florida. “It looks like he belongs running in a stake next time, he looked like a stakes horse the other day.”

In winning his debut over the odds-on favorite Simba’s Story, Flashpoint went gate to wire under Cornelio Velasquez, carving out fractions of 22.89 seconds, 45.98, and 57.59 before completing six furlongs in 1:09.68. He earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure. The final time was the fourth fastest for six furlongs at the meet, behind only Fort Hughes (1:08.33 winning Monday's Jimmy Winkfield), and Calibrachoa (1:08.85 in the Gravesend) and Black Pen (1:09.67), recorded in back-to-back races on the Dec. 18 card.

Flashpoint will add depth to Dutrow’s 3-year-old crop that already includes Boys At Tosconova, Mountain Town, Rustler Hustler, and Rockin Out. Flashpoint, a son of the Grade 1-winning sprinter Pomeroy, will likely be kept at one-turn races.

Though owner John Fort would have preferred the horse begin his career in Florida, Dutrow liked the way the horse had trained in New York and wanted to debut him out of his own stall at Aqueduct.

“I did ask him to let me run him there first time, and he let me do it, and he showed up and ran a big race,” Dutrow said.

Dutrow said Flashpoint would likely remain in New York for a short period of time before vanning to Florida.

“I think the smart thing is to let him come out of his race, give him the proper time, let Cornelio breeze him once, and if everybody’s happy, put him on the next van coming down here,” Dutrow said.

Flashpoint was purchased at auction for $100,000.