Adam Coglianese
Head Heart Hoof wired a small but select field of older sprinters, including multiple stakes winners Royal Currier and Be Bullish, to record his first stakes victory for owners Michael Dubb, Stuart Grant and Gary Aisquith in the swiftly-run $75,000 True and Blue Stakes at Aqueduct on Wednesday. The win was the 7-year-old gelding’s 17th trip to the winner’s circle.
Claimed for $35,000 out of a runner-up effort on January 22, 2012, the Indidab gelding knocked on the door in both forays into stakes competition last year – finishing second last February in the Holly Hughes Stakes for trainer Tony Dutrow and, after a barn change in September, running third in the open Valley Forge in the mud at Parx on December 18 for current trainer Rudy Rodriguez.
Out of the gate like a shot under Cornelio Velasquez in the True and Blue, Head Heart Hoof (4-1 third choice) quickly opened up on the field, chased a length behind by 3-5 favorite Royal Currier.
After a quarter mile in 22.98, Royal Currier pressed a little harder on the turn and closed the gap to a half length, but Head Heart Hoof opened up again at the top of the lane and never faced another serious challenge before crossing the finish line with a 2 1/4-length advantage. After a half-mile in 45.75, Head Heart Hoof completed the six furlongs over the fast going in a salty 1:09.10, earning a Beyer Speed Figure of 95. VIDEO.
A juvenile maiden-breaker at Belmont at second asking, but well-beaten in two stakes tries that year for Masie Stable and trainer Seth Benzel, Head Heart Hoof, went on compile a very solid record in the allowance and claiming ranks from 2009-2012 at Finger Lakes and on the NYRA circuit, changing hands multiple times via the claim box and rising in the claiming ranks from $4,000 to the $35,000 level. During this period he enjoyed particular success – including 12 victories – in the barn of Chris Englehart by whom he was claimed twice on behalf of My Purple Haze Stables – for $4,000 in June 2009 and for $7,500 in July 2010.
While competing at the level of $25,000 or above, Head Heart Hoof won once and finished second three times in six starts for Jay Em Ess Stable and Rick Dutrow, and finished second once in a single start for Bruce Brown and La Marca Stable. The durable gelding, who has had no significant layoffs in five years, has compiled a record of 17-7-3 in 49 starts and earned $380,176.
Bred by Rhapsody Farm and Alan and Dora Alcon, and foaled at Rhapsody Farm, Head Heart Hoof is out of Trustees Gray, a Kentucky-bred five-time winner out of Flying Chevron ($103,269). Trustees Gray is also the dam of Myrtle’s Gray ($155,755), a stakes-placed winner out of Oratory also bred by Rhapsody and the Alcons. Her last reported foal, a 4-year-old filly by Roaring Fever bred by Frank and Peggy Ariosta, has placed multiple times.
