Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Heart to Heart ready to roll
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After a brief freshening, Heart to Heart is set to resume his 7-year-old campaign in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga. On Monday, he put in his final workout in preparation for what will be his fourth straight appearance in a Grade 1 turf stakes this season.
Heart to Heart, the first of more than 100 horses to put in workouts over the Oklahoma turf course Monday, breezed a half-mile in 49.69 seconds under Julien Leparoux. Heart to Heart went his opening halfmile in 25.14 and got his last quarter in 24.55. Following a bullet five-furlong move last week, trainer Brian Lynch said he wasn’t looking for a fast work Monday.
“Just an easy half, very comfortable, Julien was happy with it and visually I thought it was a nice work,” Lynch said. “No one’s worked this horse any more than Julien, and when he’s happy it has to give you confidence.”
Heart to Heart is a two-time Grade 1 winner this year, having taken the Gulfstream Park Turf and the Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland. On May 28, he got beat a neck by Hunt in the Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.
The Fourstardave will be Heart to Heart’s first race in 75 days.
Two of Heart to Heart’s main rivals Saturday – Delta Prince and Yoshida – also worked Monday.
Delta Prince, who won the King Edward at Woodbine in his most recent start, worked a halfmile in 47.01 over the Oklahoma dirt track. Working in company with Timber Ghost, Delta Prince went in even quarter splits of 23.51 and 23.50, and went out an extra eighth in 13.22.
“I thought he looked good,” trainer Jimmy Jerkens said. “The track over here’s been pretty fast lately, but I thought he still bounced right over it.”
Yoshida, beaten 1 1/4 lengths in the Group 1 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot in June, worked a half-mile 51.16 over the Oklahoma turf, getting his last quarter in 24.37.
“He worked well,” trainer Bill Mott said. “The boy thought he really worked well.”
A field of at least five is expected to be entered Wednesday for the Fourstardave. With weight assignments, they are Heart to Heart (124 pounds), Yoshida (122), Delta Prince (118), Voodoo Song (118), and Made You Look (115). Divisidero (119), and Forge (116) were possible.
Bee Jersey to stay on dirt
Bee Jersey has worked on turf three times and is nominated to Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap, but the Met Mile winner will remain on dirt, trainer Steve Asmussen said.
Asmussen’s primary objective for 2018 is the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs, and he will likely use one race to get Bee Jersey there. Options include the Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack on Sept. 29 at Churchill Downs and the Grade 2, $300,000 Kelso Handicap on Sept. 22 at Belmont Park.
“We considered running him in the Fourstardave. His turf works were not up to his standard and with the lack of quality of mile races this time of year we will map out a campaign that culminates with the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile,” Asmussen said.
Bee Jersey, a son of Jersey Town owned and bred by Charles Fipke, is 4 for 4 this year with victories in the Met Mile and Grade 3 Steve Sexton Mile.
She’s a Julie in Alabama work
She’s a Julie, dominant winner of the Iowa Oaks on July 5, worked a sharp five furlongs in 59.02 seconds Sunday morning over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $600,000 Alabama Stakes on Aug. 18.
“Obviously, the track was in great shape this morning. With the rain it was tighter than usual,” Asmussen said Sunday.
Following She’s a Julie’s 5 1/2-length victory in the Iowa Oaks, Peter Bradley and Sol Kumin purchased part interest in the filly from Whispering Oaks Farm.
Kumin, who owns leading 3-year-old filly Monomoy Girl, also is part-owner of Midnight Bisou, the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks runnerup who also is targeting the Alabama.
On Monday, Midnight Bisou worked five furlongs in 1:01.02. Talk Veuve to Me, the Indiana Oaks winner, worked five furlongs in 1:00.89 over the main track for the Alabama.
Brown mulling his options
Trainer Chad Brown would ultimately like to stretch Separationofpowers out in distance. But given her performance winning Saturday’s Grade 1 Test Stakes, the two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer isn’t sure if the time is now to do that.
“This filly could be a real contender for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint the way she ran” Saturday, Brown said. “I need to consider that a target, and if I do, I have to consider how much I want to stretch her out before that.”
The Grade 1 Ballerina is run at seven furlongs – the same distance as the Test and the Filly and Mare Sprint – but is against older fillies and mares and comes back in just three weeks.
“That race was a hard race,” Brown said of the Test. “My instinct is to give her some recovery time and then think about what I want to do next.”
If Brown elects to stretch Separationofpowers out in distance, the options include the Grade 1 Cotillion at 1 1/16 miles on Sept. 22 at Parx Racing, where she would meet Monomoy Girl. There also is the Grade 1 Beldame, a one-turn, 1 1/8-mile race Oct. 6 at Belmont.
Separationofpowers earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for her head victory over Mia Mischief in the Test.
Steve Asmussen said Mia Mischief would likely cut back in distance for the Grade 2, $250,000 Prioress at six furlongs here Sept. 2.