Maker's 46 Mile is a wide-open affair

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Friday the 13th might represent a jinx elsewhere, but not in the insular world that is Keeneland. One of the deepest renewals in the near 30-year history of the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile will be run here Friday amid warm spring weather, and it’s all enough to render superstitions null and void.

Heart to Heart will be favored among a field of 10 older horses in the $300,000 Maker’s 46, the ninth of 10 races on a card that will start under sunny skies at 1:05 p.m. Eastern. His connections were thinking the 7-year-old horse might have been hexed until Heart to Heart finally notched his first Grade 1 victory in his last start, the Feb. 10 Gulfstream Turf.

Now, he isn’t just good, but lucky, too.

“He’s just a horse that, with racing and time and maturity, seems to have gotten better and better,” said Brian Lynch, who trains Heart to Heart for Terry Hamilton. “We space his races and he tells us when he’s ready and when he’s not. He’s been a lovely, sound horse throughout his career, so we’ve been blessed with that.”

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Heart to Heart, the leading earner in the field with $1,737,290, surely will be part of an honest-to-fast pace in the Maker’s 46 when he breaks from post 6 with Julien Leparoux back aboard. The speedy Ontario-bred has been prominent throughout the last two Grade 1 turf miles in the older-horse division at Keeneland – the Maker’s 46 last spring and the Shadwell Mile last fall – before settling for second in both.

If Heart to Heart doesn’t follow through the way he did in his Gulfstream triumph, this race could blow wide-open. Om and Next Shares, both in from Southern California, are among the top challengers, although virtually anything else in this contentious lineup is capable on his best day.

Om (post 9, Flavien Prat), perhaps best known as the horse who won the Aug. 9, 2014, maiden race at Del Mar that marked the career debut of eventual Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, has developed into a high-level performer for trainer Dan Hendricks, amassing more than $1 million from 24 starts.

Next Shares (post 8, Corey Nakatani) most recently was second in the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita and is on a definite improve. His trainer, Richard Baltas, teamed with Nakatani here last weekend to win the Grade 3 Beaumont with Gas Station Sushi.

Among the other contenders are Hogy (post 10, Jose Ortiz) and the uncoupled Bill Mott duo of Ballagh Rocks (post 2, Luis Saez) and Forge (post 3, Joel Rosario). Conspicuously missing from the lineup is the reigning divisional champion, World Approval, who was deliberately withheld by trainer Mark Casse and could make his next start in the Dixie on the May 19 Preakness undercard at Pimlico.

Besides the Maker’s 46, which is part of a late pick four sequence (races 7-10) with a $200,000 pool guarantee, four allowances (races 1, 4, 6, 8) also are carded for Friday.

First run in 1989, the Maker’s 46 has been won by such standouts as Opening Verse (1991), Artie Schiller (2005), Kip Deville (2007-08), and Wise Dan (2013-14). The 2017 winner was American Patriot, who was along late to nail Heart to Heart by a neck.

KEY CONTENDERS

Heart to Heart, by English Channel
Last 3 Beyers: 102-78-101

◗ His handiness and class always make him a threat under the right circumstances, and Leparoux once again will be tasked with doling out his speed in precise increments.

Om, by Munnings
Last 3 Beyers: 92-99-91

◗ After finishing second by a nose in the 2016 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, he mostly has raced around two turns, usually making his presence felt.

Next Shares, by Archarcharch
Last 3 Beyers: 102-98-96

◗ Although he has yet to win a stakes, his three races since being sent out west to Baltas have all come in stakes company and yielded encouraging results.

Hogy, by Offlee Wild
Last 3 Beyers: 101-97-93

◗ This highly popular 9-year-old gelding with 19 wins from 50 career starts comes off a 3 3/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream.

Ballagh Rocks, by Stormy Atlantic
Last 3 Beyers: 101-104-102

◗ This hard-knocking 5-year-old makes his first start since the BC Mile and “runs well fresh and gives us a lot of confidence,” said Mott’s son and assistant, Riley.

Forge, by Dubawi
Last 3 Beyers: 84-105-83

◗ His two-back runner-up finish behind World Approval at Tampa Bay Downs speaks to his considerable potential.

Frostmourne, by Speightstown
Last 3 Beyers: 96-95-95

◗ Up-and-coming 4-year-old already is a three-time stakes winner from eight starts and had a useful tightener last month at Gulfstream.

Mr. Misunderstood, by Archarcharch
Last 3 Beyers: 95-95-91

◗ His last two starts were just okay after he began his turf career by winning a remarkable eight in a row.