Ten 3-year-old fillies line up in the Grade 3 Soaring Softly at Belmont on Saturday

By the New York Hot List // Thursday, May 13, 2021

The $100,000 Grade 3 Soaring Softly drew a field of 10 sophomore fillies to race seven-furlongs on the Widener turf course on Saturday. The Brian Lynch trained Tobys Heart was named the 5-2 morning-line favorite based on her two previous stakes victories sprinting on the grass.

The Soaring Softly is named in honor of the inaugural winner of the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in 1999.

Tobys Heart has three wins from four career starts with all of the victories coming at the 5 ½ furlong distance at three different tracks. The only loss of her career came in her first start of this year while racing a mile and a sixteenth in a Grade 3 at Gulfstream Park.

The daughter of the Jack Milton will have to stretch out in distance here after winning at Keeneland last month.

“She came back to run well at Keeneland and she acts like she wants to stretch out further, so the seven furlongs looks like it falls into the game plan,” explained Lynch. “I’m confident she’ll get the distance and it could lead her into a race like the Lake George [a two-turn Grade 3 at Saratoga].”

Manny Franco will get to ride the favorite for the first time as they break from post-position six.

Here are the Hot List picks for the Soaring Softly (G3):

The $100,000 Soaring Softly (G3), Belmont Park, Saturday, Race 10.

(9) Star Devine (A) got the top rating as a Hot List horse based on her impressive debut victory for Jorge Abreu where she broke slowly and rallied from last to win by more than a length while sprinting six-furlongs. This Irish filly is royally bred with Fastnet Rock as the sire and the dam is by Galileo. She should appreciate the added furlong. (6) Tobys Heart has three wins in four career starts for Brian Lynch. All three came at 5.5 furlongs on the grass with two of them in stakes including one in April at Keeneland while racing from off the pace. Her only loss came going two turns in a Grade 3 at Gulfstream Park. The seven-furlongs looks ideal for this daughter of Jack Milton, a son of War Front. (10) Invincible Gal will make her 2021 debut for Graham Motion. She was a winner first time out at Saratoga last summer and since then she has run second in three stakes races, all at distances longer than this spot. The cutback in distance seems like an ideal starting point for this year. (11) Bye Bye won what was her second career start in her debut on the grass in March at Gulfstream as the favorite. She won that race easily for Clement while going five-furlongs.

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