Heart to Heart Will Not Race in 2018 Breeders' Cup
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Photo: Adrianna Lynch
Heart to Heart after winning the Maker's 46 Mile in April at Keeneland
Trainer Brian Lynch said Terry Hamilton homebred Heart to Heart is out of Breeders' Cup consideration following the two-time grade 1 winner's ninth-place finish in the Oct. 6 Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) at Keeneland.
"He is definitely off the (Breeders' Cup) trail," Lynch said Monday morning. "He is going to go to Florida and freshen up. He got caught in a speed duel Saturday, and he doesn't really like ground that is soft. There are three stakes that he likes at Gulfstream Park, and that is a speed-favoring track."
The 7-year-old son of English Channel , who earned his first grade 1 this year in the Gulfstream Park Turf Stakes (G1T) and followed it with a score in the Maker's 46 Mile (G1T) at Keeneland, had been knocking on the top-level door since finishing second to Miss Temple City in the 2016 Maker's 46 Mile. Last year Heart to Heart grabbed the lead in the Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) only to fade to 10th in the final sixteenth.
Starlight Racing's Sombeyay likely will remain at Keeneland for the time being following a troubled fourth-place finish in Saturday's Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1).
"He had a rough trip and got banged around and he sprung a shoe in the race," said Ginny DePasquale, assistant to trainer Todd Pletcher. She said plans are uncertain for the juvenile colt's next start.