Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Heart to Heart wants lead in Gulfstream Turf
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – For all intents and purposes, last month’s Fort Lauderdale Stakes was over seconds after it began for Heart to Heart. As soon as the speedy turf specialist reared at the start and then steadied sharply in the run to the first turn, he was taken out of his game, leading to a seventh-place finish as the odds-on favorite.
Heart to Heart will seek to make amends for the uncharacteristically poor performance while making his eighth attempt at becoming a Grade 1 winner when going postward as the highweight under 123 pounds against seven rivals Saturday in the $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf. The local fixture is the highlight of a 12-race program that also includes the Grade 3 Suwannee River, with first post at noon Eastern.
Heart to Heart will reunite with his favorite rider, Julien Leparoux, for the Gulfstream Park Turf, and barring another troubled beginning, he figures to assume his usual position on the lead after breaking from the rail. Although Heart to Heart has tried nine furlongs only three previous times in his 26-race turf career, he has won at the distance twice, capturing the Grade 3 River City Handicap at Churchill Downs in 2015 and the Grade 3 Knickerbocker at Belmont Park in 2016.
“Hopefully, we can just throw a line through his last race,” trainer Brian Lynch said. “He popped in the air a little bit and didn’t get the trip he likes. He’s trained great in between, and we’ve schooled him at the gate a little since. He’s always had a tendency to pop in the air a little bit, but I’ve never seen him as exaggerated as the last time. I’m hoping we have the kinks out of his armor for this one.”
Lynch left no doubt about his horse’s strategy.
“The rail is still the shortest way around, and having Julien back is a plus,” he said. “They’ve always been a great combination. Hopefully, he’ll break better this time and find himself in the position he likes up front.”
There is no shortage of prominent players in the Gulfstream Park Turf. The field also includes One Go All Go, beaten a head by the pacesetting Shining Copper after sticking his head in front near midstretch of the Fort Lauderdale; the Chad Brown-trained duo of the multiple Grade 1-placed Money Multiplier and Chilean-bred Group 1 winner Kurilov; the versatile, Grade 1-placed March; the Grade 1-placed Channel Maker; Hi Happy, another Group 1 winner from South America; and Revved Up, the only supplemental entrant in the field.
Money Multiplier, second in the Grade 1 Man o’ War and Grade 1 United Nations two years ago, won just once in four starts in 2017, taking the Grade 2 Monmouth going 1 1/8 miles in his seasonal debut.
“His best race last year was at nine furlongs on the Haskell undercard, and I think a cutback in distance is in order,” Brown said. “He’s fresh right now and seems to be doing well.”
Kurilov will be making his U.S. turf debut. He won once in four starts on grass in his native Chile before joining Brown’s barn last season.
“I was very pleased with the way he breezed on the grass here last week, so I’m going to give him a shot, too,” Brown said.
March was a multiple graded stakes winner on dirt and Grade 1-placed on grass with Brown early in his career but returned from a long layoff to capture his 2017 finale on turf for current trainer Jonathan Thomas.
“It’s just a testament to his athleticism and his overall generosity as a horse,” Thomas said of March’s ability to win high-level races on both turf and dirt. “He’s a horse who was always in good hands and super well managed, so we got a finished product. You just hope to do your best when training them to run off an extended layoff.”
One Go All Go “pulled himself up,” according to trainer Scooter Dickey, after getting the lead near midstretch in the Fort Lauderdale.
“I told the rider [Chris Landeros] he’s got to time his move so as not to make the lead until right before the wire this time,” Dickey said.
Hi Happy has posted five of his six wins on grass, all in his native Argentina. He was winless in four starts after coming to the United States in 2016 and joined Todd Pletcher’s barn late last season.
“There’s a mile allowance race here on Sunday, but I think a mile and one-eighth suits him better,” Pletcher said. “He’s been a nice horse to train, seems versatile enough, although his form indicates he might be a tick better on turf than dirt, so we decided to just give him a shot in here.”