Highway Harmony ready for challenge in $175K Floral Park

Lucky Hat Racing, Fugget About It Racing Stables and Sportsmen Stable’s New York-bred Highway Harmony will try open stakes company in Saturday’s $175,000 Floral Park, a six-furlong Widener turf sprint for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont Park. 

Trained by Amelia Green, the 6-year-old Mo Town bay was the final stakes winner at Aqueduct Racetrack, wiring the six-furlong John Hettinger by 2 1/2 lengths over fellow state-breds on June 28. Impressively, Highway Harmony’s winning time of 1:06.44 broke the track record to cement further history at the Big A. 

Highway Harmony exited to finish a three-length second to dual Grade 2-placed Shoot It True in a 5 1/2-furlong open optional claimer on August 13 at Saratoga Race Course. 

“She’s always trained well. She’ll throw in your typical 49 second breeze every week, and despite being pretty tough galloping, she’s an easy mare to train,” Green said. “We’re hopeful she’ll run a good race. I’m excited to get her back to six furlongs.”

After winning the last stakes at the Big A, Highway Harmony will now contest the first turf stakes at the new Belmont Park.

“Very excited to be at Belmont,” said Green, who went out on her own in late 2024 after an about seven-year stint working for Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher. “I hadn’t set up training by the time we stopped racing at Belmont and went over to Aqueduct, so I’m excited to have our first runners here. Racing out of our own stalls at our home base is pretty exciting, too.” 

On the lead in the Hettinger, Highway Harmony earned a career and field-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure. That was her fourth consecutive win, all with returning rider Edgard Zayas up. The other victories in that stretch were for conditioner Jorge Abreu ahead of a $50,000 purchase by Amanda Gillman at the Fasig-Tipton May Digital Sale. 

“I think she’s better at six furlongs than five and a half, even though she still ran a great race that day at Saratoga,” Green said. “We were still very proud of her last effort. She gave it her all and I don’t think that was necessarily her ideal distance.”

Highway Harmony [post 11, Edgard Zayas], bred by Twin Farms, made her first and only stakes start in the Hettinger. She made seven of her first eight outings in dirt sprints, then her next nine at one mile and beyond on turf and synthetic, among a 21-6-3-1 record with $298,968 in earnings. 

Juddmonte’s British homebred Tabiti [post 9, Samuel Marin, blinkers ON] will make her seasonal debut off an 11-month layoff dating to a fifth in the one-mile Grade 2 Valley View in October at Keeneland. There, the 4-year-old Kingman bay was making her first start for dual Eclipse Award-winner Brad Cox after five outings for trainer Ralph Beckett in her native Britain and a third in her stateside debut last September at Kentucky Downs. 

During her time for Beckett, Tabiti won the Group 3 Dick Poole Fillies going a straight six furlongs as a juvenile at Salisbury, as well as last year’s seven-furlong Group 3 Oak Tree in a dead-heat at Goodwood. Her last start for Beckett was a third to last year’s Champion Female Sprinter Shisospicy in the 6 1/2-furlong Grade 2 Music City last September at Kentucky Downs. 

“We figured watching her one run in America that she could go a little further, but it didn't work out so we're back to sprinting,” said Blake Cox, son of and assistant to Brad, regarding the Valley View try. “We gave her the winter off and brought her back in training. Her works have been good, and we've had the opportunity to keep her on the turf for the most part. The works have been solid."

Tabiti, out of the First Defence mare Lilyfire, is a half-sister to Group 2-placed Chaleur. Her second dam is Grade 2-winner Didina.

Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Capturing [post 3, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] posted a career-best 87 Beyer when prevailing by a nose over returning rival Quiet Confidence in a 5 1/2-furlong optional claimer on July 10 at Saratoga. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old More Than Ready bay has made her last five starts with off-the-pace tactics in turf sprints.

“She’s been making good, steady progress and it seems like she’s found what she wants to do in turf sprints,” Pletcher said. “She’s a very honest filly. It seems like five and a half to six furlongs is what she was looking for.”

Capturing, an $85,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the winning Curlin mare Capture and her second dam is multiple graded stakes-winning Wild Gams.

Penta Racing’s Delightful Flame [post 7, Katie Davis] enters from a 1 3/4-length second in the 5 1/2-furlong Listed Smart and Fancy over yielding turf on August 14 at Saratoga Race Course. Trained by David Duggan, the 4-year-old Flameaway chestnut rallied to the inside of fellow closer Zeitlos, who took command in the final sixteenth. 

Delightful Flame, a $75,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland November Horses of Racing Age Sale, is out of 2010 Sovereign Award Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Delightful Mary, a Grade 3-winner by Limehouse.

A stacked field includes graded winners Movin' On Up [post 8, Kendrick Carmouche] for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., and Love Cervere [post 1, Joel Rosario] for conditioner Miguel Clement; as well as Leslie’s Humor [post 10, Dylan Davis] for five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, Sweet Brown Sugar [post 12, Junior Alvarado] for trainer Rob Atras, Obstreperous [post 6, Vincent Cheminaud] for trainer Michael Simone, Lovely Emma [post 2, Antonio Fresu] for conditioner Peter Eurton, Flamingo Way [post 5, Eliseo Ruiz] for trainer Philip Aristone, and Quiet Confidence [post 4, Jose Lezcano] for trainer Jim Ryerson.  

The Floral Park is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 10-race card. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

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