Ralph Nicks trained the filly Hearts of Red for two seasons for owner/breeder James Spence, and the daughter of Lion Heart posted a record of 3-1-2 in 11 starts at two and three, earning $154,867. She didn't win a stakes race, but finished second in the Dream Supreme at Belmont Park and third in the Gr. III Gulfstream Park Oaks. 

    Following her retirement, Hearts of Red wound up in the hands of Nicks and Barry Berkelhammer, owner of AbraCadabra Farm in Ocala. They bred her to Wildcat Heir at Journeyman Stud and in 2015, she foaled a filly now named Wild in Red. For whatever their reasons, maybe because Nicks liked her dam, they never offered Wild in Red at auction.

    The filly showed up for the first time at Gulfstream West today in a $20,000 claimer at five furlongs with Jose Valdivia aboard. Her two listed works were nothing to brag about, and Wild in Red went off at 6-1. She broke well, and when the two leaders bolted to the outside on the turn, Valdivia shot his filly through on the inside and she exploded to the wire, galloping home by nearly eight lengths, clocked in :58.38. 

    The winner's share of the purse comes to $13,200, and there's a breeders' award of more than $2,500. However, surely to the dismay of Nicks and Berkelhammer, Wild in Red was claimed by the Drawing Away Stable for the $20,000 tag. So the owners collected more than $35,000 in one shot, but they lost the filly they no doubt tried to sneak by in her debut. 

    What made the new owners take her? Maybe they saw her work, or liked her dam, or loved Wildcat Heir, who has been Florida's leading sire for five or six years, even after his premature death in 2015. He's way out in front this year, with his final crop at the races. Wild in Red is from that crop, and should help him keep his title for at least another year.  

     

    

    

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