Nordic Truce flies home in Dania Beach

Trainer Christophe Clement was sitting on a plane waiting to take off to Los Angeles for Monday night's Eclipse Awards when the field went to post for Saturday's at Gulfstream Park. But it was Clement's Nordic Truce who really did some flying, finishing full to capture his stakes debut by a neck over two-time stakes winner Bim Bam.

Nordic Truce, a 3-year-old son of Yes It's True, entered the one-mile Dania Beach with just a single race under his belt, a last-to-first victory in a maiden special weight race on Nov. 15 at Calder. Despite his inexperience, Nordic True went postward the surprising 2-1 favorite in the Dania Beach, and the stretch-running colt got the pace setup he needed when Bernie the Maestro set fractions of 21.80 seconds and 44.69 for the opening quarter- and half-mile.

Jockey Julien Leparoux had Nordic Truce tucked in along the inside at the rear of the pack for six furlongs. Nordic Truce was shuffled back to last awaiting racing room approaching the stretch, found a hole between horses nearing the eighth pole, then finished full of run to overtake Bim Bam inside the final sixteenth of a mile.

"He was very impressive breaking his maiden but this was an ambitious jump," Clement said by phone while on the runway awaiting takeoff. "Hopefully he's going to have a nice career."

Clement said he has nothing picked out as yet for Nordic Truce's next start.

Leparoux, who was aboard Nordic Truce for the first time said, "I was patient, and when I found a hole she really kicked very well."

Nordic Truce, a homebred owned by Ammerland Stud, covered the distance in 1:33.66 and paid $6.40.