Halina's Forte could try longer in Ashland

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Halina’s Forte, winner of Saturday’s Ruthless Stakes at Aqueduct, left New York Sunday to return to Kentucky where she will most likely make her next start, trainer Phil Bauer said.

What’s less determined is at what distance Halina’s Forte will run next. Options include the Grade 1, $600,000 Ashland on April 5 at 1 1/16 miles or the Grade 2, $400,000 Beaumont at seven furlongs on April 7. Both races are at Keeneland.

Saturday, Halina’s Forte won the seven-furlong Ruthless by 1 3/4 lengths, earning an 84 Beyer Speed Figure. Halina’s Forte, a daughter of Mitole out of the Yes It’s True mare Lunarlady, has yet to race around two turns.

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“Last year I thought she was a one-turn type,” Bauer said. ”She’s really matured the right way going to 3. I guess this is the time you try it. We talked about maybe stretching her out, but there’s also a lot of good options keeping her around one turn.”

Bauer said one of the attractive things about perhaps trying the Ashland is the short stretch in 1 1/16-mile races at Keeneland.

“If you were going to try two turns, at least the wire comes quick,” said Bauer, who is based at Churchill Downs Trackside, a training center located about five miles from Churchill Downs.

The Beaumont could be used as a steppingstone to the Grade 2, $600,000 Eight Belles, a seven-furlong race at Churchill Downs on May 3.

Bauer said Sunday he was just happy to see Halina’s Forte bounce back after a somewhat disappointing second-place finish in the Letellier Memorial. Bauer said the track at Fair Grounds that day was speed-favoring and may have worked against Halina’s Forte whereas the track at Aqueduct on Saturday worked to her advantage.

“Closers showed the best yesterday with an outside trip,” Bauer said. “I think that’s the filly she is, she proved it in her first two starts. Right now, I think she’s shown she is one of the better 3-year-old fillies out there.”

Meanwhile, Bauer said Xigera, winner of last fall’s Grade 2 Mother Goose at Aqueduct and Grade 3 Falls City at Churchill Downs, is due to return to the work tab soon. Bauer said Xigera’s short-term goal is the Grade 1, $1 million La Troienne Stakes at Churchill on May 3.

“She’ll have to jump through every hoop to get there but at least we’re pointing that way,” Bauer said.

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