Heart to Heart Heads West in Hopes of Winning G1, $400,000 Shoemaker Mile

ARCADIA, Calif. (June 1, 2016)—East Coast invader Heart to Heart will hope to take home a trophy to his New York base as the 5-year-old English-bred horse, trained by Brian Lynch heads a field of six in Saturday’s 73^rdrunning of the Grade I, $400,000 Shoemaker Mile on turf for 3-year-olds and up.

The Shoemaker Mile is the first of what will be eight total ‘Win & You’re In’ Breeders’ Cup Challenge Races leading up to the World Championships on Nov. 4 & 5 here at The Great Race Place. The Shoemaker Mile winner will be an automatic qualifier, with entry fees waived, into the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Mile.

HEART TO HEART: A six-time overall graded stakes winner on the grass, Heart to Heart won the Grade III River City Handicap at Churchill Downs Nov. 26, the Grade II Ft. Lauderdale Stakes at Gulfstream Jan. 9 and the Grade III Canadian Turf Stakes also at Gulfstream Feb. 27 before running second to Miss Temple City in his last outing, the Grade I, Maker’s 46 Mile Stakes at Keeneland on April 15. The 5-year-old English Channel horse earned a 105 Beyer speed figure for the Maker’s Mile effort, his fourth straight 100-plus rating.

Owned by Terry Hamilton, Heart to Heart will again be ridden by East Coast based jockey Julien Leparoux and is 21-9-3-2 overall with $786,030 in earnings.

TOURIST: The other East Coast invader, Tourist ships in for trainer Bill Mott and owners WinStar Farm, LLC, Wachtel Stable and Gary Barber and will be seeking his first graded stakes win. The 5-year-old horse by Tiznow last ran at Santa Anita in the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Mile where he finished 13^th behind Karakonite. Off for much of the early part of 2015, Tourist returned to the Winner’s Circle in his first race back, the More Than Ready Mile Stakes at Kentucky Downs Sept. 5 and followed that with solid third place finishes in the Grade I Shadwell Turf Mile Oct. 3 and the Maker’s 46 Mile behind Miss Temple City and Heart to Heart April 15. He is 14-4-2-3 overall with $590,340 in earnings.

MIDNIGHT STORM: Second in last year’s edition of the Shoemaker Mile, Midnight Storm, the speedy 5-year-old horse by Pioneerof the Nile, trained by Phil D’Amato will hope to return to earlier form and will most likely find himself on the lead once again Saturday.

A winner of the mile and a sixteenth Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar on Nov. 27, Midnight Storm has since run fourth in the Grade I, Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita and a disappointing seventh in the Grade I, mile and an eighth Turf Classic at Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby Day. He is 15-5-3-0 overall with earnings of $591,110.

TWENTYTWENTYVISION: The 5-year-old gelding by Pollard’s Vision trained by Richard Mandella will seek his first added money victory Saturday but is well on his way to making a name for himself. The least experienced in the field with only 10 lifetime starts but continually improving, Twentytwentyvision has never run out of the money, whether on dirt or grass and will be reunited with Flavien Prat Saturday. He is 10-4-3-3 overall with $289,480 in earnings.