Heiressall comes off freshening for Musical Romance Stakes

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla – Heiressall has been considered among the leading members of the Florida-bred filly-and-mare sprint division for the better part of the last two years, a position she will look to maintain with a big performance in Saturday’s $75,000 Musical Romance Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The 6 1/2-furlong Musical Romance drew a field of 10, including a trio from the barn of leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. led by Sound Machine.

The Musical Romance could prove a stepping-stone for some to the Grade 2 Princess Rooney on July 3, the spring-summer meet’s marquee event.

Heiressall played second fiddle to nemesis Wildwoods Beauty here in late 2019 when second best in both the Sheer Drama and Sunshine Millions Distaff. A year later, she returned to win the Sheer Drama here as well as the City of Ocala Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. All four of those races were restricted to statebreds and decided at seven furlongs.

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A 6-year-old homebred daughter of Wildcat Heir trained by Terri Pompay for My Purple Haze Stables, Heiressall has been freshened since a fourth-place finish in the six-furlong Minaret at Tampa on Feb. 13, her only start this year.

“We needed to back off on her and give her a little break after her last race at Tampa,” said Pompay. “She really had no excuse. She was flat and not herself that day for some reason after having run so well up there the time before.”

Heiressall has worked steadily and at times spectacularly over the past eight weeks prepping for her return, capping off the series with a bullet half-mile May 21 timed by Daily Racing Form in 46.94.

“She’s been a really good mare for us,” said Pompay. “She’s a really big, tall filly and we’ve tried to spread her races out, take our time with her. She has put weight on since her last start and really seems happy now.”

Heiressall will break from the outside in post 10 with Miguel Vasquez aboard.

“I’m hoping a couple of horses might scratch and she can move in a spot or two, but I’d rather be outside than down in posts 1 or 2,” said Pompay. “She’s doing great, I think she’s the class of the field, and hopefully she’ll give us another one of her big performances on Saturday.”

Joseph has entered Sound Machine, Merseyside, and Loriloupies.

Sound Machine finished second earlier this season behind Pacific Gale in the Grade 3 Hurricane Bertie here. She remains winless, however, in her last nine starts dating back to an easy victory in the Glitter Woman kicking off her 3-year-old campaign in January 2020.

Merseyside has started just once since late summer and has raced exclusively on grass for the past year. Loriloupies has won three times and not finished off the board in her last six starts, but will be taking a major jump in class making her stakes debut on Saturday.

Our Fantasy also makes her stakes bow in the Musical Romance. Trained by Kathleen O’Connell, she has won her last three starts by a combined margin of 9 1/2 lengths, with each of those victories coming at a mile.

Royal Meghan and Ms Meshak both had two-race winning streaks snapped in their most recent start. Royal Meghan started slowly and finished a distant sixth in the Hurricane Bertie, and Ms Meshak ran fourth on turf in the Golden Beach Handicap on May 2.

A Bit of Both, Bramble Berry, and Starship Bonita complete the lineup.