Integration Looks to Stay Perfect in Hill Prince

West Point Thoroughbreds and Woodford Racing's Integration (Quality Road), a fast-closing upset winner of the GIII Virginia Derby at second asking Sept. 9, will put his perfect record on the line in Saturday's GII Hill Prince S. at Aqueduct.

The $700,000 FTSAUG yearling graduate earned a 96 Beyer Speed Figure while defeating GI Saratoga Derby Invitational winner Program Trading (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) in the Colonial Downs centerpiece.

“I thought he ran really good [last time],” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “I didn't know what to expect. It's not my style to run a maiden winner back in a stake, but it looked like the time to take a chance and it worked out.”

The Hill Prince field of nine also includes a trio from the Chad Brown barn. Equitize (GB) (Kingman {GB}) returns from the bench following a debut win on the Tampa grass back in March; the streaking Faraday (Ghostzapper), who enters off a narrow Kentucky Downs allowance score Sept. 10; and last year's GII Pilgrim S. runner-up 'TDN Rising Star' I'm Very Busy (Cloud Computing), who ended a five-race losing streak with an allowance win at the Big A Oct. 4.

Saturday's graded stakes action also includes the GIII Chilukki S. at Churchill Downs and the GII Kennedy Road S. at Woodbine.

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Canadian Star Pink Lloyd to be Retired After Kennedy Road

In the all-good-things-must-come-to-an-end department, the venerable 9-year-old Ontario-bred Pink Lloyd (Old Forester) will make his final career start in Saturday's GII Kennedy Road S. at Woodbine, trainer Bob Tiller has announced.

“He's getting old, like me,” Tiller said. “What does he have to prove? I just don't want to put him out there against the very best anymore. He deserves to be retired. He was never going to go out there and run in $20,000 claimers. The decision has been made and we will stick to it. It's been a great run.”

Win or lose Saturday, Pink Lloyd has put together one of the more remarkable careers in the history of Canadian racing. He goes into the Kennedy Road, a race he won in 2017 and 2019, with 28 career victories from 37 starts and 25 stakes wins. All of his races have been at Woodbine. When converted to U.S. dollars, his career earnings stand at $1,786,083.

“He's the angel from heaven,” Tiller said. “He's the Muhammad Ali of all the horses I've trained over the years and I've been doing this for 48 years here at Woodbine. He's the man. He's the king. Anytime you find another horse who has won 25 stakes and 28 times you let me know about it.”

Pink Lloyd was purchased for $30,000 at the 2013 Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society yearling sale by owner Frank Di Giulio, Jr. He didn't make his first start until his 4-year-old year. He went three-for-five that year, but the best was yet to come. At five, he went eight-for-eight in 2017 and was named Canadian Horse of the Year.

Tiller campaigned him carefully. He never ran on the turf, outside of Canada or in any races longer than seven furlongs. The reward was more than five years of sustained excellence. He was named the champion male sprinter in Canada every year from 2017 through 2020. He was also named champion older horse in 2017 and champion older dirt male in 2019.

“I'll tell you what makes him so great–heart and desire and liking what he's doing and wanting to win,” Tiller said. “He goes after horses and he did that from day one. On day one, we put a horse three-four lengths in front of him and he'd blow by them by the time he hit the turns. He always wanted to do it.”

Following his last race, Pink Lloyd will be sent to the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society in nearby Hillsburgh, Ontario.

“I have so much respect for this animal” Tiller said. “I say that truthfully. I have tremendous respect and love for this animal and we don't want to do anything that would make him look bad.”

Pink Lloyd is being retired at a point where he is still competing at a high level. He's two-for-four on the year and is coming off back-to-back wins in the GIII Bold Venture S. and the Ontario Jockey Club S. But he may not have been at his best in the Ontario Jockey Club, where he had to fight to win by a neck as the odds-on favorite.

Since the Kennedy Road is for open company, it figures to be a tough race for the 9-year-old. While Tiller would like to see him go out with a win, he said there are more important things than one more victory.

“I'm looking forward to this race, but it's not a matter of life and death,” he said. “He's been beaten before for different reasons. Every great horse gets beat. At end of the day, it's more important for him to come back from the race safe and sound.”

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Canadian HOTY Title Likely To Be Decided Saturday at Woodbine

While the U.S. Horse of the Year race was all but decided when Authentic (Into Mischief) won the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 7, the race for the Canadian title remains wide open entering a Saturday card at Woodbine that will feature the four top contenders for the year-end honor.

The sentimental favorite is the 8-year-old Pink Lloyd (Old Forester), but he will face one of the toughest tests in his career when he goes in the GII Kennedy Road S. A loss could open the door for 3-year-olds Belichick (Lemon Drop Kid) and Mighty Heart (Dramedy), who, combined, swept the Canadian Triple Crown races for trainer Josie Carroll.

Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind), who beat males in the GI Woodbine Mile, may be the best horse who was based at Woodbine this year, but she is not eligible for the Sovereign Awards because she hasn’t met the minimum requirement of having three starts in Canada this year.

The Kennedy Road will be the last start this year for Pink Lloyd, who, at age 8, hasn’t slowed down. He is 4-for-4 on the year and remains one of the most popular horses in recent years in Canada.

“At his age, 99% of the horses take a step back,” said trainer Bob Tiller. “There are horses running in $8,000 claimers that he ran against as a 4-year-old. That he’s still at that level at this age is unbelievable. He’s from outer space. He loves running and is just a very happy horse.”

Pink Lloyd is 26 for 31 lifetime and has not lost a race since 2018, but rarely has he faced the type of field that will line up against him in the six-furlong Kennedy Road. The biggest threat may come from Ride a Comet (Candy Ride {Arg}). Trained by Mark Casse and the winner of the 2018 GII Del Mar Derby, he returned after a 25-month layoff to win a Woodbine allowance Oct. 16.

“Ride a Comet is an extremely, extremely talented horse,” Casse said. “I was very impressed with his first race in over two years. I thought it was a tremendous race. He won with ease. This race is a little shorter than he prefers, but we’ve got to give him a shot. He’s had a couple of injuries along the way, but he’s very healthy now. If he can stay healthy, he will be a horse to be reckoned with throughout North America, not just Woodbine, in 2021.”

Silent Poet (Silent Name {Jpn}) is another Kennedy Road starter who could easily spring the upset. He is 4-for-5 on the year and has won the GII Nearctic S. and the GII Connaught Cup, but has little experience on a synthetic surface. Should he win the Kennedy Road, he may also be in the mix for Horse of the Year.

“This is certainly one of the toughest fields our horse has ever faced,” Tiller said. “There have been two or three other times where it looked like he might be in trouble and he got it done. But this is a tough race, a salty race. There’s no question about that. There are two very good horse in there that he has to beat. (Silent Poet) is a very, very good horse. He’s done all his winning on the turf, but ran respectfully on (Tapeta) when he tried it and I think he’s a better horse now than he was then. I totally respect him. The race for (Ride a Comet) the other day was awesome. I very much respect him.”

Pink Lloyd will carry 128 pounds, two more than Silent Poet and seven more than Ride a Comet.

Mighty Heart, a one-eyed horse, won the first two legs of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Queens Plate S. and the Prince of Wales S. only to come up well short in the final leg, the Breeders’ S. on the grass. He finished seventh that day, beaten 20 1/4 lengths after getting hooked up in an early pace battle with a 101-1 shot. Carroll has since replaced jockey Daisuke Fukumoto with Woodbine’s second leading rider, Rafael Hernandez. That may help and so, too, could the return to the Tapeta surface. Mighty Heart has run poorly in his two career tries on the grass.

But the Breeders’ S. was not a lost race for Carroll, who won it with the rapidly improving Belichick. Still a maiden entering the 12-furlong race, he won by four lengths. The main question for him Saturday will be the turn back in distance to a mile-and-an eighth for the GIII Ontario Derby.

Both Mighty Heart and Belichick will be facing open company after going through the Canadian Triple Crown races, which are restricted to Canadian-breds.

“It’s a pretty tough race,” Carroll said. “It’s not just the two of them. There are some pretty nice horses in there and it’s a solid race. Both of my horses came out of their last race in really good order so there was no reason not to go on with them.”

The main threats include Field Pass (Lemon Drop Kid), a Mike Maker-trained horse who won the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. in his lone try on a synthetic surface and has since won the GIII Transylvania S. Casse will be represented by Lucky Curlin (Curlin), who is coming off a second-place finish in the Toronto Cup S.

“When it comes to Horse of the Year, there are some deserving horses,” Carroll said. “If Mighty Heart were to win this race after winning the two Triple Crown races, I think he’d be a pretty legitimate contender. If Belichick wins, I am not sure the voters would think he had accomplished enough. We’ll see.”

Pink Lloyd was named Canadian Horse of the Year in 2017. Last year, despite going 6-for-6, he was nosed out by Starship Jubilee.

No horse older than six has ever been named Horse of the Year in Canada and if it’s going to happen this year Pink Lloyd will have to turn in one of the best races of his career on Saturday.

“It’s always a tough vote,” Tiller said. “They are all good horses. What happens here this week will decide a lot. Our horse is undefeated as an 8-year-old and is an unbelievably special horse. But I always feel that you have to respect any horse that does great things. Mighty Heart is a very good horse. He certainly deserves to win it. We have to go out there on Saturday and do it. I am very confident that he will run a huge race.”

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