The Beat Goes On for Mighty Heart at Keeneland

Two days after winning Canada's top horse racing prize April 15—the 2020 Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year—Mighty Heart showcases his skills in America.

The popular one-eyed colt, who also won the Sovereign Award as Canada's champion 3-year-old male of last year, kicks off his 4-year-old season in Keeneland's eighth race, an $85,000 allowance optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles on dirt. He faces six rivals, including stakes winners Final Jeopardy  and South Bend , plus Top Seed , a winner of three of five starts.

None of those foes can match the bankroll of Mighty Heart, who won the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown last year for owner/breeder Larry Cordes and trainer Josie Carroll. The first of those victories for Canadian-bred 3-year-olds came in the Queen's Plate Stakes at Woodbine on synthetic, followed by the Prince of Wales Stakes on dirt at Fort Erie.

He then fell short of sweeping the series after engaging in a speed duel and weakening to seventh in the Breeders' Stakes at 1 1/2 miles over a damp Woodbine turf course. His year ended with a fourth in the Nov. 21 Ontario Derby (G3) at Woodbine on synthetic, a race in which he again lacked his usual finish. 

"Hindsight is 20/20, but probably his campaign had knocked him out more than he showed," Carroll said via telephone April 16 from Woodbine. "Blood work was all good. He was acting good. But that Triple Crown series, it takes its toll."

Mighty Heart has earned the U.S. equivalent of $696,779 in winning three of eight races, with most of that coming from his scores in the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales. Those triumphs garnered support that led to his Canadian Horse of the Year title.

"I thought he was a great ambassador for racing for the year, as well as being a talented horse," his trainer said.

Carroll indicated she would not travel to Keeneland for Mighty Heart's race due to Canadian COVID-19 safety protocols that would require her to quarantine for 14 days upon return from the U.S. Her staff will oversee Mighty Heart at Keeneland. 

The upcoming race won't be Mighty Heart's first in America. Last year at 3, he was fourth in his debut in a dirt race before finishing a troubled 10th in a grass race second time out. He raced greenly in both races, which both came at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots.

He worked over Keeneland's dirt surface April 10 with five furlongs in 1:00 3/5. That followed a series of dirt workouts in South Florida, where Carroll had originally hoped to return him this year at Gulfstream Park. No suitable races were available once he neared race fitness, she said.

The colt's sire, Dramedy , won the Dixiana Elkhorn Stakes (G2T) on turf at Keeneland in 2015. That race is renewed Saturday, roughly a half-hour after Mighty Heart competes in the eighth race.

Carroll said how Mighty Heart performs Saturday could influence his race plans for the rest of the year. A COVID-19 stay-at-home order for the Canadian province of Ontario has delayed Woodbine's spring meet. Carroll and other Canadian horse people are hopeful authorities will lift that restriction, allowing for racing at Woodbine in addition to training, which is currently permitted.

"Obviously we want to bring him home to run up here—he's a fan favorite up here. We'd really like to get him home," she said. "But also if he turns out to be good enough, then we'd like to explore some options down there as well and try and get some graded type on him."