Heart to Heart taking shot at $6 million Dubai Turf

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Heart to Heart, the winner of the Canadian Turf and Fort Lauderdale stakes here earlier in the meet, will make his next start in the $6 million Dubai Turf on March 26 at Meydan.

After conferring with owner Terry Hamilton, trainer Brian Lynch said the decision was made to accept the invitation tended to Heart to Heart late last week.

“We’re going to go over and give it a shot,” Lynch said Wednesday. “The opportunity to run for a $6 million purse is the obvious reason to go. Also, he looks like he could be the pace of the race. The way they like to bunch up and take a hold over there, maybe he can shake loose, and that’s his style.”

Heart to Heart, a Canadian-bred son of English Channel, has won his last three starts, all graded stakes, and six stakes overall since the fall of 2014. Jockey Julien Leparoux has been aboard Heart to Heart for five of those stakes wins, and he’ll have the mount again in the Dubai Turf, which will be decided at 1,800 meters, or about 1 1/8 miles.

“The distance might be extending him just a bit, but he’s in winning form at the moment, and I’m a big believer in taking a shot like this when a horse is in this kind of form,” said Lynch. “This is also a great opportunity for me. I’ve never been to Dubai, and I’m really looking forward to the experience.”

Heart to Heart is scheduled to leave for Dubai on Sunday and likely will have one half-mile work at Meydan prior to the race.

Lynch also said that Private Zone has returned to him at Palm Meadows and has resumed training in preparation for his 2016 campaign. The four-time Grade 1 winner has not started since finishing fifth as the favorite while defending his title in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile in November. The Cigar Mile was Private Zone’s first start since his second-place finish behind champion sprinter Runhappy in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and his first since being transferred to Lynch’s barn shortly after the Breeders’ Cup.

“He’s training willingly,” Lynch said, emphasizing the word “willingly.” “He’s galloping regularly and will probably have his first breeze next week.”

Lynch said that “if everything falls into place,” Private Zone could return in the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Stakes on May 7, a race Private Zone won by 4 1/4 lengths last spring when with trainer Jorge Navarro. Now 7, Private Zone has earned more than $2 million and has been with four different trainers since being brought to the U.S. from Panama by managing partner Rene Douglas during the summer of 2012.