HOT SPRINGS -- A champion at Oaklawn Park has confirmed the handiness of versatility.
Most of Streamline's racing success has come from close to the pace. She also has won from the lead, but little in her past suggested her choice route was from the back of the pack, at least not until Saturday, when Streamline passed them all over a sloppy track to win the Grade III $150,000 1 1/16th-mile Bayakoa Stakes for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up in 1:47.22.
As Streamline's trainer Brian Williamson spoke about the race Friday, he said he thought it was nice to have a horse who could respond to whatever scenario unfolds.
Now he knows.
"I don't remember her running exactly like this," Williamson said Saturday. "I was a little worried, but everything turned out."
Streamline, a 6-year-old by Straight Line who started at 7-2, caught and passed 2-1 second-choice Terra Promessa in the stretch, an eighth of a mile from the wire, and held on to win by 1¼ lengths with Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens on board. Terra Promessa, by Curlin and trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, finished second, 1 length in front of third-place Torrent. Sully's Dream was fourth, 2 lengths behind Torrent in the field of six.
Farrell, the 7-5 favorite, finished last. Her trainer Wayne Catalano said the rain-soaked surface might have played a part in her subpar performance.
"I wouldn't have run her if I didn't think she could race in this, but I think now she's proven she doesn't like this kind of track," he said.
All seemed in order for Streamline out of the gate, but an unpredictable shuffle of entrants left Stevens no choice but to allow her to drift back. As Defy led the field through the first quarter-mile in 23.71, Streamline was last, 6¾ lengths back. Defy went through the half on the lead in 46.61, and Streamline remained last, 8 lengths behind the leader.
Williamson said he was concerned. Stevens said he was not.
"I was a little worried when I saw her back where she was," Williamson said.
"I knew as long as I had somewhere to run, we'd be fine," Stevens said.
Stevens directed Streamline toward the center of the track as she followed Terra Promessa's lead through three-quarters in 1:12.82, and Stevens said he could feel her power.
"I mean, she was really on her game today," he said. "She was very comfortable, giving me all the right signals all the way around there."
"I was thinking, right there, that she was closing, and that's a good sign," Williamson said as he watched the race replay on a TV screen near the paddock. "You could tell she had a head of steam going."
Once Streamline passed Terra Promessa, Williamson again became concerned.
"I was a little worried," he said. "Sometimes she gets to the lead and kind of quits, and she got a little lazy here, but we still got it, so that was a good thing."
"I made the lead a little early with her," Stevens said. "But she kept fighting. I think she has more in the tank. She's just an old pro."
In her career, which began in 2015, Streamline has finished out of the Top 3 just once. Including the Bayakoa, she has compiled a record of 8 wins, 3 seconds and 9 thirds.
Because of her dam Love Handle's favorable propensity for turf, Williamson entered Streamline in six consecutive turf races at Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course in Illinois. She won three of her first five races at Arlington, near Chicago, but her lone out-of-the-money finish came in her third race when she finished fourth.
Williamson tested Streamline on dirt, in her eighth 3-year-old race, at Hawthorne on Dec. 8, 2015. Her 15¾-length victory at 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.41 persuaded him to race Streamline at Oaklawn, which has no turf course, for her 2016 campaign.
"As soon as we put her on dirt, she won easy, so I brought her here," Williamson said. "That race at Hawthorne really decided it. As soon as she ran it, we said, 'We're going to Oaklawn.' ''
Streamline responded to win the Pippin. She then marched through graded-stakes performances of second in the Bayakoa, third in the Azeri, and second in the Grade I Apple Blossom Handicap. Her 2017 pattern at Oaklawn was similar, with respective finishes of third, third, first and third.
With Streamline's third-place finish in this season's Pippin on Jan. 13, and now the Bayakoa win, the trend continues. Williamson said the Azeri, scheduled for March 17, should come next.
"As long as she comes back good, then we'll come right back for the Azeri," he said. "That's what we're here for."
Sports on 02/18/2018