Travelin Man heads Swale on stakes-packed Fla. Derby undercard

Travelin Man (rail) won’t have Flashpoint (middle) to deal with in the Swale (Adam Coglianese Photography)

With Hutcheson S. (G2) winner Flashpoint (Pomeroy) entered in the $1 million Florida Derby (G1) on Sunday, TRAVELIN MAN (Trippi)
will likely inherit the favorite’s role in the $150,000

Swale S. (G2) on the undercard. The seven-furlong test for
sophomores only drew six runners and will start the stakes action off at
Gulfstream Park as the 3RD race on the program.

Travelin Man ran in the Hutcheson as well, but the Todd Pletcher
trainee was no match for Flashpoint while finishing second. He was easily
best of the rest, though, crossing under the wire three lengths clear of
third-place finisher and Swale rival LITTLE DRAMA (Burning Roma). While
Little Drama racked up his sixth career start in that test, Travelin Man
was actually making only his second start. The bay colt impressively
broke his maiden by 7 1/4 lengths on January 6 to open his account, and
will keep regular rider John Velazquez in the saddle for the Swale.

Little Drama was no stranger to stakes company, but was facing graded
rivals for the first time in the Hutcheson. Breaking his maiden in the
Frank Gomez Memorial S. at his homebase of Calder, the David Fawkes
pupil was unable to factor in the Dr. Fager and In Reality divisions of
the Florida Stallion S. He did sandwich a neck score against allowance
rivals between those two events, and rallied from the rear of the
Hutcheson to take third by 1 1/4 lengths over RAZMATAZ (Forest Wildcat).
Joe Bravo was aboard for the chestnut’s graded bow last out and will
give it another try in the Swale.

Colizeo wired the Northern Dancer (G3) last year under the Twin Spires (Reed Palmer/Churchill Downs)

Grade 3 hero COLIZEO (Distorted Humor) and stakes victor JARDIM (Brz)
(Ski Champ) finished one-two in the Challenger, and will line back up
here while also making their second starts of the season. The Skip Away
also includes Grade 3 scorer RON THE GREEK (Full Mandate), who was sixth
in the Donn H. (G1) in February; Breeders’ Cup Marathon (G3) runner-up
GABRIEL’S HILL (A.P. Indy), sixth in the grassy Mac Diarmida S. (G2)
most recently; and classic-placed stakes winner JACKSON BEND (Hear No
Evil), fifth by only two lengths following a stumbling start in the
Gulfstream Park H. (G2).

LITTLE MIKE (Spanish Steps) will be seeking his third graded victory
when going in the Appleton one race prior to the Skip Away. Most
recently a front-running winner of the Canadian Turf S. (G3), the
four-year-old gelding opened the year with a nose score in the Ft.
Lauderdale S. (G3) for trainer Allen Iwinski before taking up a spot in
Romans’ shedrow. The bay has won half of his 12 lifetime starts and will
keep Bravo in the saddle for the Appleton.

A threat to Little Mike in the race will be CHEROKEE ARTIST (Cherokee Run),
who just missed by a head in the 2010 Canadian Turf. The six-year-old Kentucky
homebred is on the comeback trail after finishing third and second in two
allowance events.