Joe Labozzetta Photo

Heart to Heart goes gate-to-wire to take G3 Knickerbocker

by Brian Bohl

Heart to Heart was unfazed by a stretch-out in distance, going gate-to-wire to win Monday's Grade 3, $200,000 Knickerbocker at 1 1/8 miles on the inner turf at Belmont Park.

The Terry Hamilton-owned 5-year-old won for the fourth time in six starts and picked up his third graded stakes victory of the year, adding to the Grade 3 Canadian Turf and the Grade 2 Ft. Lauderdale for trainer Brian Lynch.

Heart to Heart, off at 3-1, broke well and set fractions of 25.68 seconds, 51.47 and 1:16.33 on the yielding turf with March in close pursuit. Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. positioned Heart to Heart near the rail coming out of the far turn and outkicked a charging Jay Gatsby to win by a half-length, hitting the wire in 1:50.62.  

"He's got tactical speed; he sent me to the lead and I tried to slow down," Ortiz said. "It was soft ground, so I tried to hold it together as long as I could. They brought him ready to run a mile and an eighth today."

Making his 13th consecutive graded stakes start, Heart to Heart improved to 10-3-2 in 23 career races and finished in the money for the sixth time in his last eight starts. The win was also Heart to Heart's first at 1 1/8 miles since the Grade 3 River City Handicap on November 26 at Churchill Downs.

"Definitely, the question mark was the mile and an eighth distance, but some of his best races are when he's fresh," Lynch said. "When you handicap the race, there wasn't a lot of speed in it and if they left him alone, he would be able to dictate his terms. He seems to do his best running late if he gets to dictate the terms. He's not a real big horse, he doesn't take a lot of work to get ready. It's nice when a plan comes together."

Heart to Heart paid $8.90 on a $2 win wager and increased his career earnings to $930,030.

"We were worried a little bit about the ground," Ortiz said. "He's been running at Gulfstream, on firm ground at a mile flat, so I tried to conserve [and] do everything perfect for him, and everything worked out good. [Lynch] wanted me to get out of there and get to the rail and don't move from there until they caught us, so that's what I tried to do."

Jay Gatsby, trained by Jimmy Jerkens and ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, finished as a runner-up in a stakes start for the third straight time after placing in the Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap and the Fasig-Tipton Lure.

Blacktype, for trainer Christophe Clement, rallied from fifth at three-quarters of a mile to finish third.

Mr Maybe, March, Takeover Target and War Dancer completed the order of finish.

Can'thelpbelieving and Tale of Fancy were scratched.