Hesinfront sheds blinkers in effort to end three-race skid

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – There are several new faces on the Gulfstream Park backstretch this spring, many having shipped in from the recently concluded Fair Grounds meeting.

Among them is trainer Keith Bourgeois, who shipped 25 horses here for the spring and summer, including stakes winner Hesinfront, who will be among the favorites in Sunday’s $44,000 optional-claiming/allowance feature at one mile on the main track.

Bourgeois claimed Hesinfront for $62,500 out of a win at Churchill Downs in September and reaped the dividends less than two months later, when the son of War Front won the $250,000 Delta Mile at Delta Downs. Hesinfront has gone winless in three subsequent starts, most recently finishing seventh on grass at Fair Grounds on Feb. 4.

“I tried blinkers last time because Robby [Albarado] thought he wanted to shy a little when he ran, but I didn’t see where it made a whole lot of difference, so I’m taking them off again for this race,” Bourgeois said.

“I gave him a little break after that last start because I thought he’s probably run a little too much, before I claimed him, for a horse of this caliber. He seemed to show he was a little tired at that time. But I’m pleased with the way he’s been training. He finished up well in his one work here, and I’m really happy with the way he’s going into this race.”

Bourgeois has won with two of his nine starters since arriving in south Florida and is looking forward to his stay here this summer.

“I brought 25, but I’m in the box [claiming] a lot, so we’ll probably wind up having about 29 to 30 throughout the summer,” Bourgeois said. “Last year, I went to Churchill Downs after the Fair Grounds, but a lot of the horses I brought from Louisiana are turf horses, and they don’t do as much of that kind of racing out there, especially the lower-level turf races.

“It may take me one time running many of these horses before I can get the right number on them, figure what they’re worth here. One thing I did find already is that the starter races down here are really tough, likely because they don’t put any date on them. But if we put our horses in the right spot and have a little racing luck, we should do just fine.”

Hesinfront will face seven rivals in the headliner, with Adirondack King the one to beat. Adirondack King is coming off a fourth-place finish in defense of his title in the Challenger Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs. He ran Beyer Speed Figures of 95 to 97 three times in 2016, and such an effort likely would be good enough to win Sunday.

Encryption should benefit from his last start, where he finished fifth going seven furlongs under similar conditions April 1. The outing was the first in nearly six months for the multiple stakes winner, who finished third in the Grade 3 Skip Away here during the spring 2015.