Parx: Back class of Tap for Luck, Heather stands out in sprint feature

Tap for Luck and Heather, a pair of 3-year-old fillies with two stakes placings apiece on their r é sum é s, meet for the first time in Monday’s featured eighth race at Parx, a second-level optional $25,000 claimer for fillies and mares going six furlongs.

The Todd Pletcher-trained Tap for Luck began her career in August 2010 by winning her maiden at Saratoga with a 90 Beyer Speed Figure. Two starts later, she was runner-up in the Grade 3 Tempted at Aqueduct and followed up by finishing a distant third of five in the Grade 2 Demoiselle.

But in five starts this season, Tap for Luck’s best effort came when she got up by a head in a first-level allowance in the slop at Monmouth Park. The modest 72 Beyer she received is far short of the par of 82 for Monday’s class level at Parx.

Pletcher, 0 for 8 with the horses he has shipped to suburban Philadelphia this season, is adding blinkers in the hopes it will wake up Tap for Luck, who flashed speed and weakened to third at 9-5 at this same level on Nov. 21.

The lightly raced Heather, based in Maryland with trainer Tom Iannotti, has been idle since rallying mildly to get third in the seven-furlong Wide Country at Laurel eight months ago. In her other stakes appearance, Heather finished second in the six-furlong Marshua in February.

Heather has shown the ability to run well fresh, winning her career debut against statebreds at Penn National and a first-level allowance at Parx following a break of almost two months.

The eight-horse field also includes Santorini Moon, a 4-year-old filly who has won five times this season since she was claimed for $12,500 last January by Parx’s leading trainer, Carlos Guerrero. Santorini Moon raced above her conditions last time out when she dueled and then gave way to finish second as the 4-5 favorite in a third-level optional $40,000 claimer. Her Beyer Figures, however, have not been nearly as good since she returned from a summer freshening. In five starts since Sept. 16, her best Beyer is a 72.

The best last-race Beyer, an 84, belongs to the 7-year-old mare Lady Lucinda, who steps up off a narrow win over $8,000 starter allowance company. Three starts ago, Lady Lucinda finished first at the same level as Monday’s race, but was disqualified from the purse for a positive drug test.