Two-time Canadian Horse of the Year MIGHTY HEART (Dramedy – Emma’s Bullseye by City Place) is all set to make his 2022 debut as a 5-year-old Saturday, April 23 at Keeneland racecourse in Lexington. Larry Cordes’ four-time Sovereign Award winner meets seven rivals in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Handicap worth $300,000 (US).
Listed at 9-to-2 in the morning line odds, Mighty Heart will start from post position 2 for the 1 1/8 miles dirt race and James Graham, a Kentucky-based jockey, will ride.
This is the first race for Mighty Heart since he was third in the Harlan’s Holiday (G3) at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 18. The popular one-eyed horse was named the 2021 Canadian Horse of the Year at the Sovereign Awards ceremony on April 14, his second straight title. He was also named Champion Older Horse a year after being named Champion Three-Year-Old Colt.
Trained by Josie Carroll, Mighty Heart return to training in February at Palm Meadows in Florida and he has been at Keeneland since early April. He has a career record of 16-6-2-3 and earnings of $1,074,140.
The Ben Ali will not be a walk in the park for the speedy Mighty Heart as the only horse in the field coming off a layoff. Morning Line favourite WARRANT (Constitution – Whisper Number by First Samurai) is a well-travelled 4-year-old for trainer Brad Cox who was beaten only a head in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap on March 5 with a 104 Beyer Speed Figure. Warrant won the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby last season.
The fast-improving SCALDING has won three straight races from five starts including the Grade 3 Challenge Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs in his last start and PROXY, from the Godolphin Stable was second in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic in his most recent start with a 99 Beyer Figure.
The field for the Ben Ali, with riders and weights from the rail, is: Cowboy Diplomacy (Colby Hernandez, 118 pounds), Mighty Heart (Graham, 120), Proxy (Hernandez Jr., 118), Dynamic One (Irad Ortiz Jr., 118), Warrant (Prat, 118), Tartufo (Rafael Bejarano, 118), Scalding (Javier Castellano, 118) and Title Ready (John Velazquez, 118).
One race later, one of the richest Ontario-breds of all time, CHANNEL MAKER (English Channel – In Return by Horse Chestnut (SAf), a multiple champion, makes his 2022 return in the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at 1 1/2 miles on the turf. Bred by Ivan Dalos, Channel Maker was the Eclipse Award-winning Male Turf horse in 2020 with a pair of Grade 1 wins in New York. He raced six times in 2021 and was on the edges in his starts following a second-place finish in the Neom Turf Cup in Saudi Arabia. Trained by Bill Mott for Wachtel Stable, Gary Barber, R. A. Hill Stable and Reeves Thoroughbred Racing, Channel Maker has a record of 43-7-6-5 and earnings of over $3.4 million.
Channel Maker is 2-to-1 as the morning line favourite in the field of nine.
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