Tonalist's Shape Rebounds With Hollywood Wildcat Win
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Photo: Coglianese Photos/Lauren King
Tonalist's Shape takes the Hollywood Wildcat Stakes at Gulfstream Park
The $75,000 Hollywood Wildcat Stakes May 15 at Gulfstream Park didn't provide qualifying points toward the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1), but it offered something else: redemption for Oaks contender Tonalist's Shape.
The 3-year-old filly, beaten for the first time when she placed seventh in the March 28 Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) in her sixth start, rebounded with a victory Friday, outrunning Dream Marie and Pleasant Orb in the 1 1/16-mile stakes. She also proved she could successfully negotiate two turns. Her other victories were one-turn races from 5 1/2 furlongs to a mile.
The Hollywood Wildcat represented a sizable class drop for Tonalist's Shape, noted in her 1-2 odds, and she ran to that strong mutuel support.
In third a half-mile into the race as stakes-winning turf horse Cheermeister set splits of :24.64 and :48.36, Tonalist's Shape swung into action on the second turn after Dream Marie had taken a narrow lead with six furlongs in 1:12.52. Sensing a bid from stalker Pleasant Orb to his inside, jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. asked Tonalist's Shape to seal off the move of her rival, forcing Joe Bravo to steady Pleasant Orb.
Tonalist's Shape then went to the lead with a three-wide rally and proved best by 3 3/4 lengths under persistent handling from Ortiz. The Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee finished in 1:44.57 on a good track and returned $3 for a $2 win wager.
The victory was the third of the day for Ortiz.
Dream Marie, who chased the pace early, stubbornly battled to edge Pleasant Orb for second by a half-length. The latter flattened out to third over the final furlong.
The $46,035 winner's share improved the earnings of Tonalist's Shape to $357,425. She has made $327,515 for her current owners of Slam Dunk Racing, Doug Branham, and Legacy Ranch, partners who bought her privately after a debut maiden win last fall.
With 60 points, Tonalist's Shape ranks sixth on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard, 150 points behind leader Swiss Skydiver, who beat her in the Gulfstream Park Oaks and later won the Fantasy Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park.
Bred in Kentucky by Sabana Farm, the daughter of 2014 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Tonalist is the first foal out of the stakes-winning Harlan's Holiday mare Hitechnoweenie. She twice fell short of her reserve at public auction, most recently when bidding stopped at $60,000 at the 2019 Ocala Breeders' Sales Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training.
The dam also has an unraced Outwork 2-year-old filly named Hitech Is Back and a yearling colt by Connect .