Hot Kiss streaks into a new season
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Hot Kiss will take a three-race win streak into her 4-year-old debut in a second-level, $62,500 optional-claiming route Friday at Woodbine.
It took Hot Kiss five tries to earn her diploma, and she turned the trick in July in her second two-turn attempt. She didn’t fire in a subsequent turf allowance but then blossomed in the fall, when she cleared all of the local preliminary allowance conditions using her patented closing style on the Polytrack.
Hot Kiss’s roll began in an Ontario-sired event for non-winners of two, and she doubled up in a non-winners-of-three. She received her second straight 80 Beyer Speed Figure in her last outing, an open, first-level allowance Nov. 27.
Trainer Mike De Paulo, who had a contingent at Gulfstream, said Hot Kiss wintered in Ontario.
“She’s been training pretty good,” De Paulo said. “I’m hoping she’s tight enough. She kind of trains herself. Hopefully, she’s ready to go. She could turn into a nice horse for us this year.”
A mixed bag of six fillies and mares will line up against Hot Kiss in the eighth race, a 1 1/16-mile test worth $62,300.
KEY CONTENDERS
Hot Kiss, by Philanthropist
Last 3 Beyers: 80-80-76
◗ De Paulo said Hot Kiss was quite temperamental during her formative years.
“Mentally, she wasn’t the best,” De Paulo said. “She’s a Philanthropist, so she’s a little high-strung. She just got her act together.”
Spring Spirit, by Spring At Last
Last 3 Beyers: 82-83-76
◗ She could be favored following a layoff that began after a third-place finish in a restricted stakes at Gulfstream on Feb. 15. She won an optional claimer and a $30,000 conditioned claimer there in January.
◗ She graduated over $32,000 maidens going short here on the old Polytrack surface in November and has been working on the Tapeta since shipping in from Palm Meadows.
Whimsicality, by Arch
Last 3 Beyers: 77-76-82
◗ She has been idle since last May, when she captured an allowance on the grass at Pimlico. Trainer Malcolm Pierce has solid numbers with long-term layoff runners, and she showed that she can run well fresh in her victorious debut in the fall of 2014 at Laurel.
Thalias Fire, by Philanthropist
Last 3 Beyers: 68-66-61
◗ She is overmatched on Beyers, but her trainer lit up the tote board here last weekend with several shippers who, like her, wintered in Ocala, Fla.
Shesanaturalblonde, by Wando
Last 3 Beyers: 70-79-71
◗ Following a winter break, she is seeking her third straight score at 1 1/16 miles and has worked extensively.