Mighty Heart could meet stablemate Belichick in Breeders' Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Could Mighty Heart’s own stablemate, Belichick, be his main competition when the one-eyed wonder tries to sweep the Canadian Triple Crown in the $400,000 Breeders’ Stakes? We shall see.

Trainer Josie Carroll said Queen’s Plate winner Mighty Heart exited his Sept. 29 Prince of Wales Stakes score on the Fort Erie dirt in good order and is on target for the Breeders’, a 1 1/2-mile turf event at Woodbine on Oct. 24.

“He was tired off that race,” Carroll said. “It was to be expected, but he’s been back to the track. I was thrilled with the way he ran. He was very professional.”

According to Carroll, Mighty Heart’s first two poor performances at the Fair Grounds were write-offs, including his only turf start in a one-mile maiden special on March 21 when he blew the first turn.

“He was green and just figuring it all out,” Carroll explained. “You can’t even look at those two races, really.”

Carroll said Belichick, a talented maiden who ran against a speed bias when second in the Sept. 12 Plate, is possible for the Breeders’. She skipped the Prince of Wales to space his races out sufficiently.

“He ran so hard in the Plate,” Carroll recalled. “He needed that time in between. He’s a nice horse.”

By Belmont winner Lemon Drop Kid, Belichick is a half-brother to Wonder Where Stakes winner Season Ticket. Carroll said his stamina-laden pedigree is almost reason enough to try him in the Breeders’.

“That’s why we’d be putting him in there,” she said.

Carroll said Queen’s Plate favorite Curlin’s Voyage, who finished a wide fifth, will make her first start on turf going 1 1/4 miles in the $250,000 Wonder Where for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies here Oct. 25. The daughter of Curlin is out of a Stormy Atlantic mare and is bred for the grass on the dam’s side.

“She’s doing great,” Carroll said.

Carroll said she could never have predicted at the beginning of the year that she would win two-thirds of the Triple Crown with the obscurely bred Mighty Heart, but she did believe the flashy colt had potential.

“I had a bunch of nice horses heading in this direction,” Carroll recalled. “I did think he was a nice horse. He just needed to figure it all out.”

*** Mike Keogh trained the last Canadian Triple Crown winner, Wando, who turned the trick in 2003. He has a great deal of admiration for Mighty Heart, who’s a homebred owned by Canadian Larry Cordes.

“He’s certainly a horse you have to root for,” Keogh said. “It’s a great story. He’s a nice little horse. He just kept improving. It’s nice to see a small breeder get a good horse.”