Dance to My Tune a California transplant at Turfway

Southern California form typically translates pretty well almost anywhere, especially to a track such as Turfway Park in the wintertime. Or at least Jimmy Corrigan is hoping so.

Corrigan bought and now trains a mare named Dance to My Tune, a 7-year-old who has earned $536,906 and will be part of a big field Saturday night in the $50,000 Likely Exchange Stakes at Turfway in Florence, Ky.

“She’s trained very well for me,” said Corrigan, who bought Dance to My Tune via private purchase shortly after she finished second in a Nov. 19 turf allowance at Hollywood Park. “We’ll see how she performs before we decide whether to keep running her or have her bred. We’d certainly want to try her again if she runs like we think she will.”

Dance to My Tune, with Rodney Prescott to ride, will break from post 5 in the Likely Exchange, a one-mile Polytrack race that goes as the 11th of 12 Saturday races. First post is 5:30 p.m. Eastern, with the feature going at 10:20.

Probably the most formidable challengers will be the uncoupled Mike Maker duo of Jonmil’s Edge (post 6, Irwin Rosendo) and La Gran Bailadora (post 8, Jozbin Santana). Jonmil’s Edge was a two-back winner of a Turfway allowance, while La Gran Bailadora will be going for a third straight victory after capturing back-to-back Turfway allowances.

Maker, as usual, is enjoying a solid Turfway meet despite having many of his better horses stabled elsewhere during the winter. Into Friday action, Maker led the winter-spring meet standings in wins (11) and earnings ($144,138).

Other considerations in the Likely Exchange include Zonga Zing, who earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 96 in a recent sprint win, and Hungry Tigress, winner of the six-furlong Wishing Well Stakes last out.

In all, 13 fillies and mares were entered, although only as many as 12 can start.

This will be the 21st running of the Likely Exchange, named for a star racemare of the late 1970s on the Kentucky circuit. Lady’s Laughter prevailed last year under John McKee.

Turfway began night programs on Saturdays last week and will continue that way except for daytime racing on March 26, Vinery Racing Spiral Day.