Heavenhasmynikki targets Beholder Mile next

Heavenhasmynikki, who ran a big third in the Grade 3, $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic at Sam Houston, is set to run next in the Grade 1, $400,000 Beholder Mile on March 16 at Santa Anita, owner Ron Paolucci said Monday.

Heavenhasmynikki set a contested pace in the Houston Ladies Classic at 1 1/16 miles on Jan. 27 and was beaten a length by multiple Grade 1 winner Midnight Bisou. She earned career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 89. One start prior, Heavenhasmynikki was fifth in the Grade 1 La Brea, a seven-furlong sprint at Santa Anita.

“We’ve sent her back to California for the Beholder Mile,” Paolucci said. “When I shipped her there for the La Brea, she seemed to get over that track pretty well. I love the fact that the Beholder is only a mile. It’s a two-turn mile, right up her alley. It also gives her six weeks from the race in Houston.”

Heavenhasmynikki is trained by the Southern California-based Bob Hess Jr.

Paolucci has a division of horses in this region at Oaklawn Park, with trainer Anthony Quartarolo. He also said he sent recent 3-year-old purchase Grand Royale to Oaklawn to trainer Karl Broberg.

“We’ve got 11 head there and five more on the way,” Paolucci said.

Paolucci said Monday that both Imperative, a multiple Grade 2 winner of $3.2 million who was eighth in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational, and multiple stakes winner Mo Dont No are shipping into the region from Gulfstream to run in the Grade 3, $150,000 Mineshaft on Feb. 16 at Fair Grounds. The horses will then head to Oaklawn to run in the $300,000 Essex Handicap on March 16.

Uno Mas Modelo, a multiple stakes winner based at Gulfstream, could land in some of the Oaklawn sprint stakes if he does not travel to Dubai for an upcoming race, Paolucci said.