Keeneland news: Lynch 'quietly confident' in Heart to Heart

On Friday, Terry Hamilton’s millionaire Heart to Heart will make his third bid at Keeneland's Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile after finishing second in the last two editions of the race. The 7-year-old son of English Channel, trained by Brian Lynch, is a 10-time graded stakes winner who enters the Maker’s 46 Mile following his first Grade 1 victory in the Feb. 10 Gulfstream Park Turf.

In the 2016 Maker’s 46 Mile, Heart to Heart finished 1 ¼ lengths behind Miss Temple City. In 2017, he was a neck behind American Patriot. Heart to Heart, with Julien Leparoux aboard, is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for this year’s Maker’s 46 Mile, which drew a 10-horse field. 

“It’s a very competitive field,” Lynch said. “But he’s training very well going into it, so we’re quietly confident.”

The Maker’s 46 Mile will mark Heart to Heart’s seventh start at Keeneland. During the 2017 Fall Meet, he finished second by a half-length to Suedois (FR) in the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (G1), and he won an allowance here during the 2014 Spring Meet.

Now in his sixth season of racing, Heart to Heart has 14 wins from 34 starts and has earned $1,737,290.

“We space his races and he tells us when he’s ready and when he’s not,” Lynch said. “He’s been a lovely, sound horse throughout his career, so we’ve been blessed with that. He’s just a horse that with racing and time and maturity seems to have gotten better and better.”

Lynch describes Heart to Heart as a “cool sitter and a go-getter,” referring to the horse’s calm and collected nature and consistent talent on the race track.

“He doesn’t worry a bit. He (doesn’t really act like a) colt,” the trainer said. “For a full horse, he’s a very kind horse to be around. He’s very unassuming; you wouldn’t even know he’s in the barn.”

Lynch said at this point in Heart to Heart’s career, retirement does not appear immenent.

“While he’s still happy and sound and competitive at that level,” he said, “we’ll continue to race him.”

Arriving at Keeneland Tuesday for the Maker’s 46 Mile was Green Lantern Stables’ homebred Frostmourne for trainer Christophe Clement.

A two-time graded stakes winner in 2017, Frostmourne was given time off following a fourth-place finish in the Hill Prince (G3) in October at Belmont Park. He resurfaced with an allowance win at Gulfstream Park on March 16.

“It is great to have them come back the right way,” Clement said of the victory going a mile. “He settled nicely and got a great ride from Irad (Ortiz Jr.). The timing was just right for this race.”

CHAMPION LADY AURELIA MAKES 2018 DEBUT SATURDAY 

Stonestreet Stables and Peter Leidel’s European champion Lady Aurelia will face nine rivals Saturday when she kicks off her 2018 campaign in the 22^ndrunning of the $100,000 Giant’s Causeway.

The Giant’s Causeway, run at 5½ furlongs on the turf, will go as the eighth race on Saturday’s 11-race program with a 4:57 p.m. ET post time.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Lady Aurelia will be attempting to become the first repeat winner of the Giant’s Causeway. She used last year’s race as her 2017 debut for a campaign that included a Group 1 victory in the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot in England.

She has not raced since finishing 10^th as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) at Del Mar. John Velazquez will ride Lady Aurelia and break from post position eight.

The field for the Giant’s Causeway, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: Excessivespending (Robby Albarado, 120 pounds), Lady to the Max(Alberto Pusac, 115), Morticia (Jose Lezcano, 125), Triple Chelsea (Adam Beschizza, 120), There’syourtrouble (Jose Ortiz, 120), Storm the Hill (Joel Rosario, 120), Jennifer Lynnette (Julien Leparoux, 122), Lady Aurelia (Velazquez, 120), Brave Daisey (Rogelio Miranda, 115) and Girls Know Best(Javier Castellano, 125).  

GUEST SUITE, RATED R SUPERSTAR TOP BEN ALI FIELD OF SEVEN

Grade 3 winners Guest Suite and Rated R Superstar top a field of seven older horses entered Wednesday for Saturday’s 88^th running of the $200,000 Ben Ali (G3).

The Ben Ali, run at 1 1/8 miles on the main track, will go as the seventh race on Saturday’s 11-race program with a 4:24 p.m. ET post time.

Owned by W.S. Farish and Lora Jean Kilroy, Guest Suite comes into the Ben Ali off an allowance victory at Fair Grounds. Guest Suite, a maiden winner in his lone Keeneland start, is trained by five-time Ben Ali winner Neil Howard.

Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount on Guest Suite and will break from post position one.

Radar Racing’s Rated R Superstar enters the Ben Ali off a runner-up effort in an Oaklawn Park allowance race March 23.

Trained by Kenny McPeek, Rated R Superstar will break from post position five and be ridden by Javier Castellano.

The field for the Ben Ali, with riders and weights from the rail out, is: Guest Suite (Hernandez Jr., 118 pounds), Rafting (Feargal Lynch, 118), HollywoodHandsome (Jose Ortiz, 118), Giuseppe the Great (Joel Rosario, 118), Rated R Superstar (Castellano, 118), Chip Leader (John Velazquez, 118) and Aurora Way (Julien Leparoux, 118).

UPCOMING STAKES PROBABLES

$100,000 Hilliard Lyons Doubledogdare (G3) (Entries taken Sunday; race Friday, April 20) – Apologynotaccepted (trainer Brendan Walsh), Blue Collar (Eddie Kenneally), Jenda’s Agenda (Larry Jones), Julerette (Ben Colebrook), Mines and Magic (Vicki Oliver), Not Now Carolyn (Keith Desormeaux), Someday Soon (Will VanMeter), Tapa Tapa Tapa (Tim Hamm), Valadorna (Mark Casse).

$250,000 Dixiana Elkhorn (G2) (Entries taken Wednesday April 18; race Saturday, April 21) – Canessar (FR) (Arnaud Delacour), Hayabusa One (FR) (Peter Miller), Itsinthepost (FR) (Jeff Mullins), One Go All Go (Scooter Dickey), Some in Tieme (BRZ) (Kenny McPeek).