Winds of Love must show he can go long

MIAMI - Only one of the 11 3-year-olds entered in Saturday's $60,000 Simply Majestic Stakes has advanced beyond a preliminary allowance victory, but someone in the lineup is guaranteed to become a stakes winner. The Calder feature has an evenly matched field to go 1 1/16 miles on the turf in a race that offers $20,000 in bonus purse money for Florida breds.

Winds of Love is the lone three-time winner in the field, having posted his third career victory by upsetting the speedy Liberty Township going 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf at Hialeah on May 21. He has yet to prove his ability to stay a route of ground, however, and in his lone stakes try bolted and was pulled up in Tampa Bay Downs' Budweiser Challenger Stakes on Feb. 10.

Creek's Shore finished second in the Bud Challenger and has displayed a fondness for the local course, turning in a pair of impressive come-from-behind tallies here last fall.

T V Sports Director carries perhaps the best recent turf form into the Simply Majestic, coming off a third-place finish in Hialeah's Angelo Testa Stakes on May 12. Claimed by trainer Reed Combest for owner Ann-Marie Lagrose for $25,000 in early March, T V Sports Director had won his previous two starts, including an entry-level allowance race on the grass.

Sea Air has also never been better, finishing third after opening a long early lead in the Citation Stakes on April 22 and running second, beaten just a half-length by Altered Birdie, in the Angelo Testa in his Hialeah finale.

Tour of the Cat is the richest member of the lineup, having earned the majority of that money with his second-place finish behind Thunder Blitz in the Grade 3 Flamingo Stakes. A gelded son of Tour d'or, he is a versatile sort who has shown promise on grass, finishing just 1 3/4 lengths behind Winds of Love when the pair met under allowance conditions 12 days ago.