In 1991, Hansel began his three-year-old campaign at the end of March when he won the Grade II Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, in track record time. In April, he finished third in the Grade I Florida Derby behind the 1990 U.S. Champion 2-Year-Old Fly So Free and second-place finisher Strike the Gold. Due to the result, jockey Pat Day had pulled out of the 1991 Jim Beam Stakes. Two weeks prior to the Derby, Hansel won the grade two Lexington Stakes at Keeneland Racecourse.