Fair Grounds: Warm Breeze holds on in Happy Ticket

Warm Breeze’s early pace was just slow enough for her to hold off fast-finishing favorite Same Cross by a nose and win the $60,000 Happy Ticket Stakes on Saturday at Fair Grounds.

Four-year-old Warm Breeze didn’t clear the maiden ranks until this past August, and though she won impressively in the mud Dec. 28, she was coming off only a first-level allowance win while making her stakes debut in the Happy Ticket. But Grant Forster, who trains Warm Breeze for Ten Broeck Farm, made the right call bumping Warm Breeze up to stakes competition, and benefited when Honey Hues, an obvious pace player, was scratched Saturday.

That left Warm Breeze and jockey Leandro Goncalves alone on the lead in the six-furlong race, and they set a modest tempo of 22.25 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.92 for the first half while racing along the fence.

“She was doing it easy and relaxed – long strides,” Goncalves said.

Meanwhile, Same Cross – as is always the case – lacked positional speed, racing along at the back of the field into the far turn. Rosie Napravnik, sensing the moderate fractions, urged Same Cross to close ground midway around the turn, and Same Cross responded, rallying on the far outside. She came into the stretch still full of run, but Warm Breeze had enough zip after straightening away to open an insurmountable advantage. Same Cross closed ground steadily while still several paths off the fence but fell just short of the winner while several lengths clear of third-place Ire.

Warm Breeze, by Street Sense, paid $9.20 to win and was timed in 1:10.33 for six furlongs on a fast track. She won for the third time in eight starts, and now has won two straight since Forster cut her back in distance from routes to sprints.

“We were making the mistake of trying to make her a two-turn horse,” Forster said. “We were wrong and she was right.”

Battle of New Orleans: Kiss to Remember wins turf debut

Kiss to Rembember, claimed Dec. 4 for $50,000 by owner Maggi Moss and trainer Tom Amoss, won her turf debut by easily capturing the $60,000 Battle of New Orleans, a grass sprint for 3-year-old fillies.

Ridden by Rosie Napravni, Kiss to Remember stuck close to the flank of pacesetting Adrianne G through moderate splits of 22.32 seconds and 47.40, pushing clear of her pace rival and running unchallenged to the finish. Kiss to Remember stopped the timer in 1:05.80 for about 5 1/2 furlongs on “good” turf, winning by 4 1/4 lengths and paying $5.20 as the favorite.

Mizzen Moon stalked the pace and earned the place, finishing three-quarters of a length in front of Toni’s Hollyday.

Kiss To Remember, by Big Brown, now has won two of her four career starts.