Jolie Olimpica Takes Nassau Over Firm Turf At Woodbine

Fox Hill Farm's Jolie Olimpica bested a field of a dozen distaffers to take the $175,000 Nassau, a one-mile Grade 2 stakes for fillies and mares four years old and up, featured on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario.

Making her Woodbine debut on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, Jolie Olimpica stalked the pacesetter Honey Cake while racing outside of 2020 Nassau runner-up Another Time through fractions of :23.94, :47.63, and 1:10.69. The Brazilian-bred daughter of Drosselmeyer rallied three-wide on the turn and pulled ahead down the lane en route to victory in 1:34.83 over the 'firm' course.

Jolie Olimpica paid $5.30 to win as the 8-5 favorite as she finished three-quarters of a length ahead of 7-2 second choice Abscond, who closed strongly from the backfield to place. Our Secret Agent rounded out the top three finish order, 2 ½ lengths behind.

“She was so nice and great the whole way,” said winning jockey Luis Contreras. “I was confident every single step of the way and turning for home, it felt like she was just breaking from the gate again.”

Bred by Stud T N T, the classy chestnut mare has finished no worse than third in 10 lifetime starts. A Group 1 winner in Brazil, Jolie Olimpica has earned more than $450,000 in purses and six career victories, including last year's Grade 2 Monrovia Stakes and Grade 3 Las Cienegas at Santa Anita.

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The multiple graded stakes-winning 5-year-old was previously trained by Richard Mandella stateside before joining the stable of Canadian Hall of Famer Josie Carroll this season at Woodbine.

Carroll noted the mare has been ready to run for a long time with the delayed season and opted for the Nassau's one-turn mile to allow her to relax better in the race and make an easier lead.

“What an honour to have these silks,” said Carroll in reference to the white and red colours representing Fox Hill and its late founder Rick Porter. “It was wonderful that Mr. Porter sent this horse here and that his family left her with me with his passing. I'm delighted that she won in his honour in one of the big choices that he made. He's made such great choices and had such great horses over the years that I hope we can carry on his tradition.”

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Another Time Gives It Another Try In Saturday’s Nassau Stakes

Another Time, a 5-year-old daughter of Munnings, looks to go one better in Saturday's Grade 2 $175,000 Nassau Stakes, at Woodbine.

Bred by Machmer Hall, owned by Hoolie Racing and trained by Barb Minshall, Another Time just missed taking last year's running of the one-mile E.P. Taylor Turf Course event, finishing a neck behind Elizabeth Way for all the spoils.

The dark bay arrives at the Nassau off a strong two-length score at 7 ½-furlongs over the Toronto oval's Inner Turf on June 12. Sent off as the 9-5 choice, Another Time was settled into second spot by jockey David Moran, before the duo assumed command at the stretch call and then easily held off their rivals.

The performance was even more impressive, offered Minshall, considering the Kentucky-bred had a rough beginning to her journey.

“She's always been a nice filly,” said Minshall, who won back-to-back editions (1995-96) of the Nassau with Bold Ruritana. “I was expecting her to run well. She had been ready to run for quite a while before that. She was definitely ready to run. She gets over the turf very well and she does everything right. She actually stumbled a little bit coming out of the gate, so it was a really nice recovery and effort.”

Another Time launched her career on October 21, 2018, at Woodbine, finishing third in a six-furlong main track race as the 7-5 choice. She broke her maiden one race later, doubling up in December to close out her rookie season.

In 2019, Another Time posted a third (in the Gasparilla Stakes, at Tampa Bay Downs) in three starts.

She returned to action with a winning effort at Tampa Bay in March 2020, and went on to contest four consecutive graded events – Grade 2 Nassau, Grade 3 Trillium, Grade 3 Seaway, and Grade 2 Canadian – ending her year with a 2-1-1 mark from seven appearances.

Sporting a lifetime mark of 5-1-3 from 14 starts, Another Time's connections are looking to add a stakes victory to her stat sheet.

“She runs well off the layoff,” said Minshall. “She got injured in the last race [Canadian] before the layoff and was off quite a while. I don't think it was the [1 1/8-mile] distance of the race – she just wasn't right after that race. I think she's more than capable up to that distance and she's really good right now, knock on wood. She doesn't need to be on the lead. She can be close. If someone wants the lead, she can sit off it. She's also the type of horse that's more than willing to carry on in front. She gives the rider a lot of options on where to be and I think that makes her dangerous in that regard.”

Dangerous enough, hopes Minshall, to see her go one better than she did in last year's Nassau.

“She almost had that race. I'm hoping she can get that graded stakes win on her résumé. It would be nice for the long-term plan for her.”

Eight horses have won the Nassau twice, including Eternal Search (1982-83). Augustin Stable took a division of the 1985 edition with Annie Edge, who won the Grade 2 New York Handicap one year earlier.

The Nassau is Race 6 on Saturday's 10-race card. First post time is 1:10 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.

$175,000 Nassau Stakes (Grade 2)

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Abby Hatcher – Kazushi Kimura – Anne Meah

2 – Another Time – David Moran – Barb Minshall

3 – Tappitty Tappitty – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

4 – Saratoga Vision – Jeffery Alderson – Alexander Patykewich

5 – Abscond – Justin Stein – Eddie Kenneally

6 – Our Secret Agent – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Mark Casse

7 – Crystal Glacier – Shaun Bridgmohan – Mark Casse

8 – Sunset Kiss – Gary Boulanger – J. Kent Sweezey

9 – Honey Cake – Antonio Gallardo – Jonathan Thomas

10 – Jolie Olimpica – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

11 – Royal Wedding – Simon Husbands – Nathan Squires

12 – Merveilleux – Rafael Hernandez – Kevin Attard

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Nine starters, including veteran campaigner Woodbridge, will travel 'about' 1 1/8 miles over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in Sunday's $100,000 Niagara Stakes, at Woodbine.

The running of the Niagara, for four-year-olds & upwards, includes Mike Keogh trainee Woodbridge, a gelded son of Langfuhr bred by the late Gus Schickedanz.

The bay, owned by The Estate of Gus Schickedanz and Donald Howard, will be making his first appearance since contesting a pair of graded stakes events in 2020, both of them at Woodbine.

Woodbridge finished fifth – two lengths behind Count Again – in the Grade 3 Singspiel in September and followed it up with another fifth, this time in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf in mid-October.

“It's really the only spot I've got to run because he's not eligible for 'two other than' yet,” noted Keogh. “He won last year in late August, so I don't want to run him for a tag. So, this is the spot to start. The distance is okay, but I think further down the road he's better going a mile and a quarter, and a mile and a half, maybe. He ran some big races going long last year, in the Singspiel and Northern Dancer.”

Prior to those engagements, the Ontario-bred lit up the toteboard on August 29 in a 1 ¼-mile turf race at the Toronto oval.

Sent off at 50-1, Woodbridge took the lead an eighth of a mile from home and dug in gamely to secure a neck score in a time of 2:02.65 over firm going.

Keogh, inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame last April, would relish a duplicate of that performance.

“That would be great, wouldn't it?” said Keogh. “He runs well fresh, and I've had some stiff works into him, a few seven-eighths and a mile.”

Woodbridge started his career with four straight top-three placings, including a maiden-breaking score in his fourth start on October 2, 2016.

The multiple stakes placed gelding has compiled a record of 3-2-7 from 28 career starts.

“He's lovely to be around. He's a happy, little horse. When you're setting his feed, he hollers like crazy, which I love to hear horses do. They don't all do that, but he does.”

Also contesting the Nassau is six-year-old Admiralty Pier.

Owned by Hoolie Racing Stable and Bruce Lunsford, the graded stakes winning son of English Channel heads into Sunday's added-money affair off a winning effort at Woodbine on July 4.

Trained by Barb Minshall, the chestnut gelding, bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, has assembled a 6-4-3 mark from 26 lifetime starts.

“He's doing great and he's a very solid horse,” noted Minshall. “I expect him to run very well. He's all class. He's a two-year-old Sovereign [Award] champion still going at six. That in itself says a lot.”

The Niagara is Race 7 on Sunday's 11-race card. First post time is 1:10 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com.

$100,000 Niagara Stakes

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Mnemba Island (S) – Shaun Bridgmohan – Julia Carey

2 – Current – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Jamie Begg

3 – Woodbridge – David Moran – Mike Keogh

4 – Belichick – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

5 – March to the Arch – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

6 – Admiralty Pier – Steven Bahen – Barbara Minshall

7 – Sir Sahib – Daisuke Fukumoto – Michael Doyle

8 – Primo Tough – Sunny Singh – Harold Ladouceur

9 – Theregoesjojo – Rafael Hernandez – Michael De Paulo

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Elizabeth Way Collars Another Time At The Wire In Woodbine’s Nassau

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.

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