Hot Weekend for Lion Heart
6th July 2008
Leading US first season sire Lion Heart enjoyed a memorable weekend with a brilliant Group Three winner in Azul Leon and his eighth individual winner after Reine des Coeurs saluted on debut at Arlington.Quality colt Azul Leon (2c Lion Heart x Quick Blue, by Cure the Blues) made it two wins from as many starts when he overcame a slight stumble on jumping from the gates to zoom home and win the six furlong Group Three Hollywood Juvenile Championship by four lengths.
"Everybody was pushing and shoving on their horses early," said winning jockey Rafael Bejarano.
"I was trying to keep out of trouble and stay outside a little bit. I wanted to see everything that was happening. From the three-eighths, it was pretty clear that my horse started running and I just let him go. It was a very easy race. When you've got that much the best horse, you can do anything you want."
A homebred for the Joseph Lacombe Stable, Azul Leon is prepared by Doug O’Neill, who outlined plans aimed at some of the major races later in the year.
“A lot of credit goes to the Lacombes (Joseph and Irene) and Gayle Woods down in Florida who broke him and got him prepared,” O'Neill said.
"Basically, he came off the van and we ran him very shortly after. I think it was three or four weeks after we got him. A horse like this you just make sure he eats well and goes to the track every day and figure out a game plan with the owners.
“The Lacombes have been very patient about having an ideal game plan towards, hopefully, the big race at Santa Anita (the Group One Breeders Cup Juvenile). He might be in the Best Pal (Group Two) next, and the Del Mar Futurity (Group One) is a possibility.”
Azul Leon is from the Group Three winning Cure the Blues mare Quick Blue, whose next dam is by prolific stakes producing sire Night Shift.
Also featuring in Black Type company for Lion Heart was Lyin’ Heart (2c Lion Heart x Rumba Punch, by Green Dancer), a last start stakes-winner at Lone Star Park, who finished a good second in the Group Three Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs.
The Steve Asmussen trained colt broke slowly but charged home for second in the six furlong assignment beaten a length and a quarter by Screen Your Friend.
The David Hinsley trained Reine des Coeurs (2f Lion Heart x Queen of Millbrook, by Distinctive Pro) became winner number eight for her young sire when she surged home to win the five furlong maiden on the all weather track at Arlington by two and a half lengths.
A modest $12,000 purchase from the 2007 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Reine des Coeurs is the third foal and second winner for stakes-winning Distinctive Pro mare Queen of Millbrook.
A brilliant undefeated Group One winning juvenile himself, Lion Heart is a clear leader on the US first season sires list with eight winners including two stakes-winners.
