Heart to Heart Faces Eight Rivals in Canadian Turf
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Terry Hamilton’s
Heart to Heart will face eight rivals in the $150,000 Canadian Turf Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Saturday.
The Ontario-bred son of English Channel is coming off a pair of wire-to-wire wins, including the $200,000 Fort Lauderdale Stakes (G2) by a half-length from Luke’s Alley over this course on January 9. That effort was flattered when Luke’s Alley came back to triumph in the Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (G1) on February 6. Trainer Brian Lynch had considered that premier target for his charge, but elected to go easy on the 5-year-old.
“We just decided to give him a little bit more time,” Lynch said. “He’s doing good, everything has gone smoothly with him.”
Heart to Heart has won five graded stakes in his career, all of them on the front end.
“It seems to be effective, we just let him do his thing,” Lynch added. “It’s tough for them to get past him. As far as his training, he’s doing as good as he’s ever done. We’ve been patient with him and he may improve. I haven’t had a chance to handicap the field to see if there’s any other speed in the race—that’s always a factor with him. If he runs free, he’s dangerous.”
Regular rider Julien Leparoux will be aboard Heart to Heart when they break from post 8 in the Canadian Turf.
Gunpowder Farm’s Divisidero looked set to rise to the top of the sophomore turf division in 2015 after winning three of his first five outings, including the American Turf Stakes (G2) on the Kentucky Derby undercard and the Pennine Ridge Stakes at Belmont on May 30. However, the son of Kitten’s Joy could only manage a seventh-place finish in the $1-million Belmont Derby (G1) on July 4, and his connections opted to call time on his season shortly thereafter.
“There wasn’t anything that happened in the Belmont Derby, he was a little far back off a slow pace and we weren’t happy about that, but that’s how it comes up sometimes,” trainer Buff Bradley explained. “We did train him after that; he seemed 100 percent physically and there was no real problem, but he wasn’t himself. So we decided that with very few races through the fall for straight 3-year-olds on the grass there wasn’t much left for him, we all came to the conclusion that if we should give him some time off and look to (2016) to be a good year for him. He went to Silver Spring Farm in Paris, Kentucky. We did do preliminary checks on him just to make sure everything was fine before we turned him out, just so that if there were any issues we could address it then. We gave him the time off.”
Divisidero has never raced as short as the one-mile distance of the Canadian Turf, but Bradley is eager to got the talented colt back on track.
“In talking to the racing manager and owner, it seemed like the mile was a good starting point back for him,” Bradley added. “Obviously I think he might be a bit better at the longer distances. At a mile you can catch some pretty good sprinters that can go a mile on the turf and they can get pretty tough to catch. At the level that he’s going to be running at…obviously we hope that he steps up from the 3-year-old year to the 4-year-old year, that he makes that transition. Some of them aren’t as good in their class at four as they were as 3-year-olds. But he’s showing signs that he will be and it looks like he’s moving forward.”
In all of his previous races, Divisidero had been ridden by Rafael Hernandez, but that jockey was sidelined after a spill last weekend. Jockey Edgar Prado will have the mount in the Canadian Turf, where the pair drew post two.
“We went with Edgar because he’s a Hall of Fame rider and has ridden plenty of big races and top horses,” Bradley commented. “He knows the turf pretty well and we thought he’d be the most beneficial to get on him. He’s going to watch all his races. We’re not going to take the horse out of his race. Edgar will see how he likes to run and he’ll make the decisions once he’s on him.”
Also in the Canadian Turf field are Tower of Texas, Long On Value, Notacatbutallama, Quality Bird, Fredericksburg and Passion for Action.
Inaugural Sand Springs Attracts 14
A full field of 14 older fillies and mares will go postward in the inaugural running of the $100,000 Sand Springs Stakes. The one-mile turf test will feature the return of Daring Kathy, who has not started since finishing ninth as the favorite in the $100,000 De La Rose Stakes at Saratoga. Prior to that disappointment, the daughter of Wildcat Heir had won seven of 10 starts for owner-breeders John Eaton and Steve Laymon and trainer David Fawkes. Daring Kathy is perfect in four starts at Gulfstream, and also collected the My Charmer Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park West in 2014 and the $100,000 Perfect Sting Stakes at Belmont last July. Drawn in post six, Daring Kathy will be ridden by Luis Saez.
Partisan Politics will represent the Chad Brown barn in the Sand Springs. Heroine of the Pebbles Stakes at Belmont in October, the daughter of More Than Ready has checked in fifth in each of her last two starts, including the Marshua’s River Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park on January 9. Javier Castellano will be aboard the 4-year-old when she breaks from the eight hole.
Also in the Sand Springs field are Celestine, Unbridled Courage, Elusive Collection, Tela, Hope Cross, Aljalela, Sweetie Girl, Strike Charmer, Uchenna, Nisharoroa, Faufiler and Sawyer.
Source: Gulfstream Park
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