High Heritage hoping mile plays to speed
ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. - Is an Arlington Park one-turn mile an extended sprint or a truncated route? The answer probably depends on the specifics of a given race, and there are both fast sprinters and slower-paced route horses in the one-mile Sweetest Chant Stakes on Sunday at Arlington.
A prep for the nine-furlong Arlington Oaks on Aug. 19, the Sweetest Chant drew six horses, three of whom are obvious win contenders: High Heritage, Rolling Sea, and Coolwind. The other three - Bootery, Tactical Warning, and Just Ducky - need a quantum leap in form to win.
, in from Kentucky for trainer Bernie Flint, wants the one-turn mile to be more like a sprint. She's never raced at a distance longer than 6 1/2 furlongs, and her last two starts have been at five furlongs, one on turf, the other rained off turf. High Heritage, who already has 14 career starts, is a four-time winner with two victories this season. He almost certainly will make the lead from an inside post under jockey James Graham.
But it has been no easy task racing wire to wire at a mile this meet, and though High Heritage looks like the speed of the speed, she is likely to feel heat in the stretch from Rolling Sea and Coolwind, both of whom figure to stalk the pace. Coolwind won her maiden at first asking here last August, but then lost six times in a row, all in stakes races, five of them graded. Finally entered in an allowance spot, Coolwind and jockey Eddie Razo scored a six-length win here June 30, a major step in the right direction.
"She finally ran the way she was supposed to run," said trainer Greg Geier. "When he asked her to go, she went."
has worked one moderate five furlongs between starts, but Geier said he likes the way Coolwind has been training.
is an Illinois-bred, but has the talent to compete in this open race. Purchased privately by owner Ro Parra's Millennium Farms in late May, Rolling Sea made her first start for trainer Steve Asmussen in the Purple Violet, winning by a length in a solid field. With Asmussen suspended, Rolling Sea starts under Scott Blasi's name Sunday. Since the June 24 Purple Violet, Rolling Sea has posted three published workouts, the most recent of which was a bullet half-mile, an unusually fast breeze for a filly by Asmussen stable standards.