Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson put it perfectly when she was interviewed in the winner's circle following Lady Speightspeare's dead-heat victory with Graham Motion-trained Crystal Cliffs in Saturday's Grade 2, $175,000 Nassau Stakes at Woodbine in Toronto, Ontario.
The win was No. 2,000 in trainer Roger Attfield distinguished career, one that includes eight Sovereign Awards as outstanding trainer in Canada, eight triumphs in Canada's biggest race, the Queen's Plate, and 14 victories in the Canadian Triple Crown's other two legs, the Prince of Wales Stakes and the Breeders' Stakes. Three of his runners swept Canada's Triple Crown. He is a member of the Canadian and U.S. Halls of Fame.
“Leave it to Mr. Roger Attfield, a dual Hall of Famer, to have his 2,000th victory have an epic story behind it,” Wilson said. “Roger is legendary.”
Canadian champion 2-year-old filly of 2020 for her owner and breeder, Charles Fipke, Lady Speightspeare came into the Nassau on a five-race losing streak dating back to last December.
Wilson put the daughter of Speightstown on the lead in the opening stages of the Nassau, but she never got much of a breather, pressured first by Dreaming of Drew through opening fractions of :23.26 and :45.85. Our Flash Drive and Patrick Husbands were next to challenge Lady Speightspeare, taking a narrow advantage after six furlongs in a quick 1:08.46. But Lady Speightspeare fought her off, too, and appeared to have the Nassau won until a late surge from Crystal Cliffs, ridden by Rafael Hernandez. The two hit the wire together and could not be separated by the photo finish camera.
Final time for the one mile on firm turf was 1:32.40. Our Flash Drive finished one length behind the top pair and two lengths ahead of Plum Ali in fourth. They were followed by Peace Seeker, La Libertee, Dreaming of Drew, Broadway Lady, Lady War Machine Perseverancia, and Saratoga Vision.
Lady Speightspeare, sent away the 5-2 favorite, paid $3.80, Crystal Cliffs, off at 3-1, paid $4.20 to win.
“This filly is pretty special,” Wilson said. “She tried her guts out all winter and to come back home, when I saw her walk into the walking ring under the willows of Woodbine, I said to Roger, 'She looks happy to be home,' and he said, 'Yes, she does.' She ran a gangbuster of a race.
“She fought tooth and nail when Patrick went by us on the outside, fought tooth and nail to get back in front of him and fought off a challenger to the best of her ability and still secured a win,” Wilson said.
Hernandez relished almost playing the role of spoiler. “I had to make it harder,” he said of Attfield's milestone win.
“I never really thought too much about (the 2,000-win milestone) until just recently when there's been so much written about it,” said Attfield, an 82-year-old native of Newbury, England, who came to Canada in 1970 following time as a steeplechase rider and international show jumper. “I'm very proud of it.”
Attfield turned his attention to Lady Speightspeare, who was coming off a fourth-place finish in the G2 Distaff Turf Mile over the new Churchill Downs turf course May 7.
“She's an interesting filly to train,” he said. “She was unlucky this winter, having a lot of different things happen that people really didn't know about, and then Churchill was a disaster with that turf course. It's funny, really, because the jockey that rode her (Luis Saez) came back and said she wasn't handling the turf course, that it was too loose. It turned out it wasn't really ready to run on I guess.” Churchill stopped racing over the course last month and is letting it rest for the remainder of its meet.
“I'm very proud of her and she trained well into this race,” said Attfield.
Lady Speightspeare was winning for the fifth time in 10 career races. Crystal Cliffs, a French-bred daughter of Canford Cliffs recorded her first graded/group stakes win and fourth overall from nine starts. The 5-year-old mare, coming off a second to Technical Analysis in the Galorette at Pimlico May 21, races for Michael Dubb, Madaket Stables LLC and Wonder Stables.
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