Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Heart to Heart in better shape
OLDSMAR, Fla. – When the 2018-19 Tampa Bay Downs meet began in late November, there were two future dates that many racing fans circled on their calendar. The first of those arrives Saturday, when the meet hits its initial high point with a 12-race Festival Preview card.
Three stakes, all with excellent fields, precede the featured Sam F. Davis Stakes on a program that starts at 12:12 p.m. Eastern. The meet hits its apex four weeks hence with the $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby, the richest of five stakes on Festival Day, March 9.
The supporting stakes this Saturday are the Grade 3, $175,000 Tampa Bay; the $150,000 Suncoast; and the Grade 3, $175,000 Endeavour. They’re all part of a pick-five wager that spans races 8-12.
Purse values for all four stakes include potential bonuses for registered Floridabreds. For instance, the Tampa Bay Stakes is billed as a $175,000 race, but $25,000 of that is in bonuses.
Tampa Bay (race 8, 3:50)
No doubt this 1 1/16-mile turf race runs through Heart to Heart. As a two-time Grade 1 winner who has earned more than $2 million, the 8-year-old horse will have every chance to loom a race-long factor – assuming he breaks alertly from post 7 in a field of eight older horses.
Brian Lynch, who trains the Ontario-bred star for Terry Hamilton, is insistent that Heart to Heart hasn’t lost a step despite his advancing age. After going off form for his last two races of 2018, Heart to Heart broke tardily four weeks ago at Gulfstream Park and was at an immediate disadvantage.
One thing in his favor: He most likely needed that race, which puts him in good stead for his first start at Tampa.
“He got tired last time,” said Julien Leparoux, his regular rider. “From that race, he should move up.”
Heart to Heart once reeled off triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures with regularity, and that’s not unfamiliar territory for a few of his rivals. Among them is Inspector Lynley (post 2, Jose Ortiz), who earned a 102 Beyer in winning this race two years ago. He is trained by Shug McGaughey.
Also, Divisidero (post 3, Jevian Toledo) has earned a 100 Beyer or better in 12 of 23 career starts, and Qurbaan (post 4, Joe Bravo) got a 102 Beyer in two of his three starts in the U.S.
Suncoast (race 9, 4:22)
Although ungraded, this mile and 40-yard race offers the same qualifying points toward the Kentucky Oaks (10-4-2-1) as the Davis for the Kentucky Derby. There is no clear-cut favorite in a field of nine 3-yearold fillies, with the Atlantic Coast shippers Tapit’s Princess, Lady Kate, and Point of Honor set to tangle with well-regarded locals Sweet Diane, Twixt and Shout, and Winning Envelope.
Tapit’s Princess, despite her 64 Beyer, was visually impressive in winning a Jan. 17 maiden race at Gulfstream for trainer Happy Alter. Lady Kate, with Ortiz back riding, won her lone start, as did Point of Honor.
Across the peninsula, Sweet Diane has trained right along at Tampa for Mike Stidham since being narrowly defeated in a Gulfstream stakes in December, while Twixt and Shout won a two-turn maiden race here with authority in her most recent start and Winning Envelope is the unknown of the group while going turf to dirt off a sharp allowance win at Churchill Downs in late September.
Endeavour (race 10, 4:52)
The most pressing prerace issue to this filly-mare counterpart to the Tampa Bay is whether Chad Brown actually sends Rymska here instead of to Gulfstream, where she is cross-entered in the Suwannee River. Brown said he likely would decide by early Friday after having a discussion with the owners of the French-bred mare about which spot is best.
If she runs here, Rymska surely will be favored with Ortiz riding. A four-time stakes winner from eight well-spaced races in North America, the late-running mare brings a distinct class edge to the 1 1/16mile turf race, which drew a field of 11.
If Rymska goes instead at Gulfstream, then Hawksmoor will inherit the favorite’s role, even though she has not won a race since June 2017, a span of nine defeats. The Irish-bred mare has frequently competed amid the upper crust of the filly-mare turf division over the last two seasons and enters off a steady series of local works for trainer Arnaud Delacour and the Lael Stables of Barbaro fame.
Outside considerations include Get Explicit, who came to hand last fall for trainer Barbara Minshall; Bombshell, a winner in three of her last five starts, all for Delacour and Team Valor International; and Goodyearforroses, a 7-year-old mare making her first start in 15 months after changing hands.