By Dick Downey

Most of the horses in the Hutcheson Stakes field have something in common. And then there's Ever So Lucky.

Just before the gate opens for the Grade II Hutcheson Stakes, posts 1 through 5 will hold Tarpy's Goal, Wildcat Creek, Thunder Moccasin, Quick Wit and Il Villano. Their sires' fees ranged from $2,500 to $12,500, and they fetched auction prices ranging from $32,000 to $95,000.

Ever So Lucky, in post 6, is by the late Indian Charlie, whose fee was $70,000 in 2009. Ever So Lucky's sale price at a 2011 Fasig-Tipton auction was $600,000.

After he finished second to Gemologist in the Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club, Ever So Lucky had a little bit of heat in an ankle, according to trainer Jonathan Sheppard. "Nothing showed in the x-rays, so they said it was nothing but possibly a little bruising at the base of the cannon bone. It’s quite common in young horses,” he said. So with that diagnosis, Ever So Lucky spent some time rehabbing on a farm in Camden, S. C.

Sheppard said that while Ever So Lucky was scheduled for a workout on Jan. 15 or 16, frost on a portion of the racing surface in Camden prompted him to call it off. “We decided to do a compromise and do a strong gallop. The track never got the way I’d hoped it would.” He said it was likely he would “do a little more” within the next day or two.

Only one workout at Camden is on the Equibase tab, but there was talk of three workouts there. Two more have been recorded at Gulfstream Park.

Other pieces of the puzzle are that on Wednesday, Sheppard said he might scratch Ever So Lucky and wait for the Grade II Swale; Sheppard has stated on the record that the colt is "cut out to be a high-class miler"; and Julien Leparoux gets off Quick Wit to stay on Ever So Lucky.

My conclusion is that if Ever So Lucky isn't scratched, Sheppard has him ready to run. I like his outside post position going seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park.

Todd Pletcher is on a roll, and so is Starlight Racing. Of eight nominees from the Pletcher barn, only Thunder Moccasin was entered in the Hutcheson. Spring Hill Farm, a Pletcher runner who was also considered "likely" about a week ago, will run in an allowance race instead. So Thunder Moccasin looks like the pick of an impressive litter. John Velazquez rides.

Of the remaining four, who look evenly matched in several respects, I like Quick Wit on the 14-day turnaround by Dale Romans following a facile win at the track going 7 1/2 furlongs. Ramon Dominguez is aboard in the absence of the unavailable Leparoux.

DICK'S PICKS:

1. EVER SO LUCKY
2. THUNDER MOCCASIN
3. QUICK WIT