Tonalist's Shape removes blinkers for Charles Town Oaks

Tonalist’s Shape will be making a notable equipment change Friday night, when she takes on Hopeful Growth and Wicked Whisper in the Grade 3, $200,000 Charles Town Oaks.

The race is one of seven stakes on a card led by the Grade 2, $600,000 Charles Town Classic. It’s the first time the West Virginia track has run two graded races on one program, according to a press release. The dates of both races had to be moved earlier this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Charles Town Oaks is a seven-furlong race that will be run around two turns. The field of 10 also includes Boerne, winner of last month’s $75,000 Azalea at Gulfstream Park.

It was at Gulfstream Park where Tonalist’s Shape established her reputation as a top filly. She won the first five races of her career in South Florida, a streak topped by the Grade 3 Forward Gal on Feb. 1 and the Grade 2 Davona Dale on Feb. 29.

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“She had a good year at Gulstream,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said.

The starts were made without blinkers, and she will be removing them after a one-race start in the equipment last out, when fourth in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks on July 18 at Saratoga.

“Last time we tried blinkers, and I think she got too keen with them,” Joseph said. “We’re just going back to basics, with how she was before.”

The record Tonalist’s Shape built this year in South Florida could have led to a start in the Kentucky Oaks or even the Eight Belles, but after considering both races the consensus among the connections was to point to the Charles Town Oaks.

“We wanted to go to the spot we had the best chance to win,” Joseph said. “Of the three, this spot gives us her best shot to win.

“The track is a bit of a concern, how she’ll handle it. If she runs her race, she’ll be very tough.”

Tonalist’s Shape will break from post 3 under Christian Hiraldo.

“I think sitting third or fourth would be the ideal spot,” Joseph said.

Hopeful Growth owns the field’s best last-race Beyer Speed Figure, a 90 for her win in the Grade 3 Monmouth Oaks on Aug. 1. She put blinkers back on for the race after racing without them in her two prior starts.

“I took the blinkers off so she could learn a little bit,” trainer Anthony Margotta Jr. told publicity at Charles Town. “I just wanted her to get more of an education. And that’s what happened. She really grew up and figured things out. But after the Delaware Oaks, I wanted her to be a little more focused. And we knew she was going to move forward anyway off of that race, but they seemed to really do the trick in the Monmouth Oaks, and that will be the plan moving forward as well.”

Arnaldo Bocachica has the mount from post 10.

Wicked Whisper will break from post 6 under Anthony Lopez. She is the lone Grade 1 winner in the field by virtue of her victory in the Frizette last year at Belmont Park. She is making her second start of the year Friday.

Overdeliver rides hot streak

Overdeliver will attempt to win his third straight race when he starts in the $100,000 Russell Road. The seven-furlong race for 3-year-olds and up will be run around two turns. The field of nine includes multiple stakes winner Bankit.

Overdeliver has won four of his last five starts, all at one-turn distances ranging from six furlongs to a mile. He comes off a win in a Gulfstream conditioned allowance that had an optional claiming price of $62,500 on July 1.

“I would think this is right up his alley,” Joseph said. “I don’t think he’s a true two-turn horse, but this is a little different, being seven-eighths. So, I think he should be okay in that aspect.

“He’s gotten better and better, and this is a chance to see how he stacks up.”

Overdeliver has been flattered since his win last out, with Squeezadios, who ran third to him, coming right back to win at the same level at Gulfstream.

Hiraldo has the mount on Overdeliver. He also will be aboard Queen Nekia for Joseph in the $150,000 Dance to Bristol. The seven-furlong race drew a competitive field of seven fillies and mares.

Queen Nekia exits a fifth-place finish in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher on July 18 at Monmouth Park.

“She’s training really forwardly coming into this race,” Joseph said.

The $100,000 Robert Hilton Memorial features 3-year-olds at seven furlongs, and the race drew stakes winners Little Menace, Ledba, Jack the Umpire, and Relentless Dancer.

The card also includes a pair of stakes for horses bred in West Virginia, the $50,000 Robert G. Leavitt and the $50,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial.