Heart to Heart, Oscar Performance put in turf works

Heart to Heart is a nine-time graded stakes winner and millionaire, but one goal has been elusive. The horse will be seeking his first Grade 1 victory as a supplemental entry to the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

“I’d be elated,” said trainer Brian Lynch after sending out Heart to Heart and Grade 1-winning stablemate Oscar Performance, bound for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, for solo works over the Keeneland turf course Sunday. “I’d lift the roof off that grandstand at Del Mar.”

Heart to Heart, the winner of the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap and Grade 3 Canadian Turf this year, has lost three Grade 1 races this season by less than 1 1/2 lengths combined. He was beaten a neck by American Patriot in the Maker's 46 Mile, less than a length by Bal a Bali and Farhaan in the Shoemaker Mile, and, most recently, half a length by Suedois in the Shadwell Mile.

In all three races, the front-running Ontario-bred held a clear lead in the stretch. Lynch said his charge has bounced out of the Oct. 7 Shadwell Turf Mile with good energy, prompting his connections to put up the hefty supplemental fee.

"Everything says right now that he's going well, and we've got an opportunity to run for $2 million on a turf course I think this horse will really like – tight turns, a short stretch,” Lynch said. “A few factors went into it, but after seeing him work today, I'm real happy that we put up the $160,000."

Under Julien Leparoux, who has the call in the Breeders’ Cup, Heart to Heart worked four furlongs in 49.20 seconds Sunday during the turf training session. A few minutes later, Oscar Performance covered four furlongs in 51.40.

"He went off nice and kind and gradually built into his work," Lynch said of Oscar Performance. "I was real happy with the way he galloped out around the top turn. I think we accomplished what we set out to do today."

Last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner, Oscar Performance opened his season with a pair of losses as the favorite in Kentucky, finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Transylvania and then last of 10 in the Grade 2 American Turf on a Churchill Downs course rated “good” after rain during Kentucky Derby weekend. The colt "got his legs back under him" at Belmont, winning the Grade 3 Pennine Ridge Stakes and Grade 1 Belmont Derby, then shipping out to Arlington to take the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes. Most recently, he was third in the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic behind Beach Patrol, beaten a nose for second by Fanciful Angel.

"I think he got down on the worst part of the track and got in a position he wasn't really comfortable in," Lynch said. "He's a free-running horse. I thought he boxed on gamely and was unlucky to get nosed out for second."

Lynch’s duo will fly to Del Mar on Friday.

• European champion Lady Aurelia was on a flight to San Diego on Sunday after completing her serious preparations for the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint the day before at her Keeneland base.
Lady Aurelia, working to the inside of stablemate Master Merion, breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Saturday on the Keeneland turf.

“She settled behind him and came right up through on the inside and pricked her ears right there at the finish to where you could tell [rider Julio Garcia] had her nice and relaxed, speed to spare,” trainer Wesley Ward said. “The turbo button – he didn’t push it. We still got it left in us.”

Ward said Lady Aurelia will jog with a pony for a few days at Del Mar before galloping over the local track. She will have "a nice, easy breeze" the weekend prior to the Breeders' Cup.

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