Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Heavenhasmynikki targets Beholder Mile for next start
Heavenhasmynikki, who ran a big third in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston, is set to run next in the Grade 1, $400,000 Beholder Mile on March 16 at Santa Anita, owner Ron Paolucci said Monday.
Heavenhasmynikki set a contested pace in the Houston Ladies Classic at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 27 and was beaten a length by multiple Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou. She earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 89. One start prior, Heavenhasmynikki was fifth in the Grade 1 La Brea, a sevenfurlong sprint at Santa Anita.
“We’ve sent her back to California for the Beholder Mile,” Paolucci said. “When I shipped her there for the La Brea, she seemed to get over that track pretty well. I love the fact that the Beholder is only a mile. It’s a two-turn mile, right up her alley. It also gives her six weeks from the race in Houston.”
Heavenhasmynikki is trained by the Southern California-based Bob Hess Jr.
Paolucci has a division of horses at Oaklawn Park with trainer Anthony Quartarolo. He also said he sent recent 3-year-old purchase Grand Royale to Oaklawn to trainer Karl Broberg.
“We’ve got 11 head there and five more on the way,” Paolucci said.
Paolucci said Monday that both Imperative, a multiple Grade 2 winner of $3.2 million who was eighth in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and multiple stakes winner Mo Dont No are shipping into the region from Gulfstream to run in the Grade 3, $150,000 Mineshaft on Feb. 16 at Fair Grounds. The horses will then head to Oaklawn to run in the $300,000 Essex Handicap on March 16.
Uno Mas Modelo, a multiple stakes winner based at Gulfstream, could land in some of the Oaklawn sprint stakes if he does not travel to Dubai for an upcoming race, Paolucci said.
Big win for Runaway Ghost
One of the maxims the late Hall of Fame horseman Syl Veitch espoused was to have a horse properly prepared for his first start off a layoff because one never knows what that horse might encounter in his comeback race.
Todd Fincher had Runaway Ghost, the winner of last year’s Grade 3 Sunland Derby, ready for a fight in his first race back from a 10-month layoff last Saturday in New Mexico. The horse chased a hot pace in the $75,000 Fort Bliss at Sunland, worked past the stubborn leader, and carried on to win and cover six furlongs on a fast track in 1:08.44.
“He had to run a little harder than I wanted him to first time out – but I put him in a stakes,” Fincher said. “That was the point of having him dead-ready and not pushing him. It took a little more time, but it was the right thing to do.”
Fincher said Runaway Ghost was scheduled to go back to the track Tuesday. He said nextrace plans are to be determined for the four-time stakes winner based at Sunland.
“We just don’t know what we’re going to do yet,” said Fincher, who trains Runaway Ghost for Joe Peacock. “We’re going to go by what the horse tells us to do, what’s best for the horse.”
Fincher said Peacock gave him that luxury in preparing Runaway Ghost for his comeback. The horse was returning from a fracture to his right front cannon bone, which he sustained in one of his final works for last year’s Kentucky Derby.
The Fort Bliss was one of two stakes wins Fincher had on the card Saturday. He also saddled Hustle Up to a 5 1/2-length victory in the $85,000 Red Hedeman Mile for 3-year-olds bred in New Mexico. Hustle Up is now 7 for 9. Fincher said the ownership is meeting this weekend to discuss a potential start in the $100,000 Mine That Bird Derby on Feb. 24 at Sunland.
Louisiana Premier Night set
Underpressure, the winner of the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic at Fair Grounds in his last start, is scheduled to run Saturday night at Delta Downs in the $150,000 Louisiana Premier Night Championship. He drew post 4 for the 1 1/16-mile race, which has a full field of 10.
Trainer Chris Richard has given the mount to Corey Lanerie.
The Championship is the richest of six stakes races on a 12-race program that starts at 5:25 p.m. Central.
Others set to start in the Championship include Givemeaminit, winner of the Louisiana Championship Day Sprint at Fair Grounds, and Afleet Ascent, who invades from Southern California.
Monte Man goes in the $100,000 Sprint. He is coming off a third-place finish in the Louisiana Champions Day Sprint, his first loss in the state. He had won seven consecutive races – all at tracks in Louisiana – leading into Champions Day.
Testing One Two shoots for her third straight win at the Delta meet in the $125,000 Distaff.
Marzo, the runner-up in the off-the-turf Woodchopper in late December at Fair Grounds, returns to the overnight ranks for Thursday’s eighth race at Oaklawn. He has been working over the local strip for Brad Cox, who trains the horse for Arkansas resident Steve Landers. The feature is a first-level allowance for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles. Mercer Island, who has been racing in Southern California, is another top contender.