Fair Grounds: Heitai to target Count Fleet at Oaklawn

With an assist from an inside-speed-favoring racing surface Saturday, Heitai aced his first test against open stakes rivals since his connections began focusing him solely on sprint races. Beating race favorite and defending champion Delaunay to the lead – and giving him three pounds under the race’s allowance conditions – Heitai won the Duncan Kenner Stakes by five lengths.

And owner Frank Rowell and trainer Karl Broberg aren’t stopping there. Broberg said Monday that rather than return to Louisiana-bred competition, Heitai, 4, will stay on the open-stakes trail and ship to Oaklawn to contest the Grade 3, $300,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap on April 10 at Oaklawn.

“I think we’re going to go ahead and try it,” said Broberg. “I think he deserves the chance. If we’re not okay, we can come back to the great state of Louisiana and go back to that.”

Heitai’s winning six-furlong time of 1:09.68 produced a graded-stakes-class 106 Beyer Speed Figure, but big figures have become routine for Heitai. As a late 2-year-old and early 3-year-old (trained then by Sam Breaux), Heitai dabbled in route racing, finishing seventh after contesting the pace in the 2013 Lecomte Stakes. Heitai didn’t race between May and November, and when he returned, it was in the care of Broberg and with a focus on shorter races. Heitai won his comeback race at Delta Downs by almost 19 lengths, ran off and threw in a clunker next out in a two-turn Delta sprint, and has since proved untouchable, winning four straight stakes races, three against Louisiana-breds before his Kenner score. All his victories during the run have resulted in triple-digit Beyers, and Heitai just might prove to be more than a regional sensation.

Heitai, Broberg said, “takes his racing really well. He looks no different the day after a race than the day before.”

Heitai will do the bulk of his preparation for the Count Fleet at Fair Grounds and ship to Oaklawn a couple days before the race, Broberg said.