Florida Fabulous fitter for optional claimer

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Friday’s co-featured fourth race, a $52,000, second-level optional claimer at a mile, drew a field of six fillies and mares led by My Country, She Takes Heart, and the enigmatic Florida Fabulous.

My Country and She Takes Heart are coming off second-place finishes under similar conditions earlier in the meet. My Country fell a neck shy of running down Miss Kentucky while going six furlongs Jan. 19, while She Takes Heart was second to runaway winner Shar Ran at seven-eighths in her 2017 finale.

Trainer David Fawkes said he is expecting a better performance from Florida Fabulous, who stopped badly as the 8-5 favorite behind She Takes Heart while making her first start since finishing a distant seventh in the Grade 1 Acorn nearly seven months earlier. The loss was the third by double-digit lengths since she opened her career with two one-sided victories going a mile here during the 2017 championship meet.

“I wasn’t surprised she got tired last time,” Fawkes said. “She definitely wasn’t fit enough off the layoff, although I didn’t expect she’d get beat like that. I’ve given her a couple of nice five-eighths [works] since then, and hopefully she’s tightened up a lot more for this one.”