Elizabeth Way got up in the final strides to steal the spotlight in the $175,000 Nassau Stakes (Grade 2) featured on Saturday's program at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson worked out the winning trip in the one-mile fillies and mares turf event for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield and owner John McCormack.
Elizabeth Way was led along by pacesetter Another Time through a quarter in :24.41, half-mile in :46.92 and three-quarters in 1:09.61 before digging in down the stretch and getting up to collar the front-runner at the wire in 1:33.26.
Sent postward as the 5-1 fourth choice, Elizabeth Way returned $13.30 to her backers. Favorite Malakeh followed the winner's cover and rallied home for third-place while Amalfi Coast closed from the backfield to finish fourth. Nantucket Red and Eyeinthesky completed the field. Lunar Garden was scratched.
A 4-year-old Godolphin-bred daughter of Frankel out of the Giant's Causeway mare Maids Causeway, Elizabeth Way started her career in Ireland and ventured to Woodbine after making four starts in the U.S. earlier this year under Attfield's care. Following a maiden-breaking score when trying 1 1/16 miles on the turf at Gulfstream Park, she won the Grade 3 Very One Stakes next time out in late-February over 1 3/16 miles. Saturday's victory was her third in 10 career starts and boosted her bankroll well over the $200,000 mark.
A confident Wilson, who studied replays and spoke with the chestnut filly's trainer to determine the winning strategy, said she knew Elizabeth Way had a chance to catch the front-runner and was happy to have another horse lead her along throughout the race.
“Her form is all over the place – one minute she's on the lead, one minute she's at the back of the bus. Watching the replays gave me a real understanding as to what she needed to do,” said Wilson. “It was really about getting her into a good rhythm and that's what Roger and I talked about as well. I got her out of the gate… and just got her happy into a rhythm and, you could see, she just galloped them down and she just kept on. She's a stayer.”
The Nassau is the first leg of Woodbine's Ladies of the Lawn Series, which offers $75,000 in bonuses to the top performers based on points accumulated in the designated graded turf routes for fillies and mares (10 points for 1st, seven points for 2nd, five points for 3rd, three points for 4th, two points for 5th, one point for 6th through last).
The second leg of the series is the $175,000 Dance Smartly Stakes (Grade 2) on August 15 followed by the $250,000 Canadian Stakes (Grade 2) on September 12 and the $600,000 E.P. Taylor Stakes (Grade 1) on October 18.
Wilson doubled up on the 10-race card as did Rafael Hernandez. Both jockeys are tied for the top spot in the 2020 standings with 15 wins through the first 12 race days.
Live Thoroughbred racing continues, without spectators, on Sunday afternoon. Post time for the 10-race program is 1 p.m.
The post Elizabeth Way Collars Another Time At The Wire In Woodbine’s Nassau appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Tom’s d’Etat made his case for one of the top older horses of 2020 with a blowout performance in Churchill’s GII Stephen Foster S. coming on the heels of three straight wins, including in last November’s GI Clark H. under the Twin Spires. Allowing longshot Pirate’s Punch (Shanghai Bobby) to dictate terms through initial fractions of :23.89 and :48.13, the 7-year-old loomed menacingly just to his outside before overtaking the pacesetter on the far turn following six furlongs in 1:11.67. Two lengths in front turning for home, the 6-5 choice continued to draw clear late. With rider Miguel Mena throwing a few crosses down the lane before standing up a few strides before the wire, Tom’s d’Etat was absolutely dominant, never leaving the outcome in doubt while crossing the wire 4 1/4 lengths ahead of By My Standards. The final time of 1:47.30 was the second-fastest time for the Stephen Foster, which is a Breeders’ Cup ‘Win and You’re in’ for the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“We knew coming into this race he was a fresh horse but [he] ran so well fresh in the past,” said trainer Al Stall, Jr. “This will set him up to be in good shape for the rest of the year. I think he’ll benefit a lot from this race but we’ve sort of been waiting for this horse to get into form with the breaks in his races but he’s finally got there. That was a very impressive performance today.”
Now riding a four-race win streak, Tom’s d’Etat is lightly raced for his age. He first made it to the races as a 3-year-old and, beset by various minor setbacks, didn’t attempt his first black-type event until December of his 5-year-old season when he won the Tenacious S. at Fair Grounds. He had his most productive and prolific season last year as a 6-year-old when he captured the aforementioned GI Clark, as well as Keeneland’s GII Hagyard Fayette S. and Saratoga’s Alydar S. He was also placed in both the GII Alysheba S. and that year’s edition of the Stephen Foster. The bay made his 7-year-old debut with a win in the Apr. 11 Oaklawn Mile S., getting his seventh consecutive triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure.
Pedigree Notes:
One of 135 stakes winners (69 graded) for the late Smart Strike, Tom’s d’Etat is out of the black-type winning and graded-placed Giant’s Causeway mare Julia Tuttle. Her dam is a full-sister to Argentinean champion and U.S. leading sire Candy Ride (Arg) (Ride the Rails). Julia Tuttle’s last two foals have been a filly by Connect and a colt by Nyquist, respectively. Tom’s d’Etat is one of five stakes performers by Smart Strike out of Giant’s Causeway mares. The others include MGSW Family Tree and GSW Liam the Charmer.
Saturday, Churchill Downs
STEPHEN FOSTER S.-GII, $500,000, Churchill Downs, 6-27, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:47.30, ft.
1–TOM’S D’ETAT, 124, h, 7, by Smart Strike
1st Dam: Julia Tuttle (SW & GSP, $188,051), by Giant’s Causeway
2nd Dam: Candy Cane (Arg), by Ride the Rails
3rd Dam: Candy Girl (Arg), by Candy Stripes
($330,000 Ylg ’14 KEESEP). O-G M B Racing; B-SF Bloodstock
LLC (KY); T-Albert M. Stall, Jr.; J-Miguel Mena. $300,700.
Lifetime Record: GISW, 18-11-2-1, $1,627,272. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–By My Standards, 122, c, 4, Goldencents–A Jealous Woman,
by Muqtarib. ($150,000 2yo ’18 OBSAPR). O-Allied Racing
Stable, LLC; B-Don Ladd (KY); T-W. Bret Calhoun. $97,000.
3–Silver Dust, 120, g, 6, Tapit–Filare l’Oro, by Hard Spun.
($270,000 Ylg ’15 KEESEP; $510,000 2yo ’16 OBSMAR). O-Tom
R. Durant; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-W. Bret Calhoun.
$48,500.
Margins: 4 1/4, 2 3/4, 1. Odds: 1.30, 1.90, 27.80.
Also Ran: Multiplier, Owendale, Fearless, Pirate’s Punch, Alkhaatam.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
The post Easy Win for Tom’s d’Etat in the GII Stephen Foster appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Dean Martini proved to be a shrewd claim for trainer Tom Amoss after upsetting the $500,000 GIII Ohio Derby Saturday at Thistledown, which offered 50 points towards the Sept. 5 GI Kentucky Derby. Away alertly from his rail draw, the 14-1 shot contested the pace heading into the first turn and was a close-up third as the first quarter went in :22.80. Shuffled back a bit on the fence as the half went in :47.22, the bay reasserted on the backstretch, heading pacesetter Lebda (Raison d’Etat). Dean Martini continued strongly into the stretch, rolling clear of his competition, and held off a late charge from South Bend to score. Champion Storm the Court rounded out the trifecta.
Starting his career in California with Peter Miller and owners Rockingham Ranch and David Bernsen, Dean Martini hit the board in three of his four starts, and was transferred to Brad Cox last fall. In the money in his first three races for that barn, he romped by 6 3/4 lengths in a $50,000 maiden claimer at Churchill May 17, where he was claimed by Amoss and Raise the BAR Racing LLC. He finished second in his next start for them in a nine-panel optional claimer in Louisville June 12.
Pedigree Notes:
Dean Martini is the fourth graded winner and eighth black-type winner for his sire Cairo Prince. His dual stakes-winning dam Soundwave is a half-sister to GSW Letgomyecho (Menifee), who is the dam of Grade III-winning ‘TDN Rising Star’ J Boys Echo (Mineshaft), GISP Echo Town (Speightstown) and GSP Unbridled Outlaw (Unbridled’s Song). Soundwave is also responsible for the unraced juvenile filly Sauvecito (Cairo Prince), a yearling filly by Creative Cause and a colt by that stallion born Mar. 12 of this year.
The post Cairo Prince Colt Upsets Ohio Derby appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
