‘You Always Dream Of Having These Kinds Of Horses’: Simon Readying Summer Sunday For Her Swansong

Summer Sunday has one last journey to take before heading to greener pastures.

Less than a week from now, the striking six-year-old mare will depart the barn of trainer Stuart Simon and head over to the Woodbine paddock for the La Prevoyante Stakes.

The 1 1/16-mile Tapeta race for Ontario-sired fillies and mares, three-year-olds and upwards, will be the swan song for Summer Sunday, the multiple stakes-winning daughter of Silent Name (JPN).

Should she win the $100,000 race, the veteran campaigner would eclipse the $1million mark (CDN) in lifetime earnings for owners Anne and William Scott.

Soon after the race, Summer Sunday will be on her way to Ireland to begin a new life.

“She's going to be a broodmare, and she's going to have a forever home with Mr. Scott's relative in Ireland,” noted Simon. “It's very nice to know that she's going to a place where she'll be well looked after for the rest of her days.”

The reality of the La Prevoyante being her final start has already hit Simon.

“It's going to be emotional…” said the longtime conditioner, his voice trailing off. “We didn't raise her, but we bought her as a yearling, and we tried to keep her safe and looked after her whole life. It's going to be very emotional. She's so special. You always dream of having these kind of horses.”

Her most recent start, the Eternal Search on October 29 at Woodbine, was the ninth career stakes score for Summer Sunday, who sports a record of 11-3-1 from 21-lifetime starts.

Summer Sunday launched her career with a win on July 15, 2017, going on to net the natural hat trick to complete her rookie season with a perfect three-for-three mark, which included victories in the Nandi and Muskoka Stakes.

In 2019, she was named Canada's champion female sprinter.

Simon, who has 838 career wins, continues to marvel at the mare's versatile ways.

“She has won stakes races from five furlongs up to a mile-and-a-sixteenth on all three surfaces at Woodbine. She's won a five-furlong race on the Inner Turf, she's won multiple graded stakes on the main track, and she's won a graded stakes race on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, as well as a two-turn Open stakes race on the synthetic. Not many of the past champions and good horses here have that kind of diversity. Not taking anything away from all of the great horses that have been here, but most of them are really good at one thing, probably, whether it's running short or running long, turf or synthetic.”

Regular rider Rafael Hernandez is equally effusive in his praise of Summer Sunday's ample abilities.

His highest compliment is divided between the conditioner and the dark bay.

“I liked her from the first time I got on her,” said the veteran jockey, who has over 2,800 career wins. “She used to be a filly that was all speed. Every time the gate opened, it was 'go, go, go.' Like every horse, when they grow up, they start to figure it out. They don't have to be on the engine the whole way. They can settle down. She's been doing that for the last couple of years. She can settle off the pace and be able to finish. We can do anything we want with her.”

One race, in particular, stands out for Hernandez.

“I remember – if you speak with Stuart, I think he would agree with me – it was the stakes race (2019 running of the Grade 2 Royal North) when she had never been on the grass before. It was six furlongs on the E.P. Taylor. Stuart told me there weren't races coming up for her, so we had to give it a shot. And it was the most impressive race she had. The E.P. Taylor is very hard to win on. With speed horses, that long stretch, it can really be hard on them. It was an impressive race from her. Stuart is an unbelievable trainer, and he has done a great job with her. On the track, she is so calm and so professional. Stuart has worked hard over the years to get her to settle down, and she has in every way.”

Simon also easily recalled the Royal North performance.

“She was bred for the turf, and she trained like she would like the grass. Just the way it fit into the schedule, we decided to run her in that race. And she came up with such a great effort.”

On a crisp autumn Saturday – the forecast is currently calling for light snow, and a high of 0 degrees Celsius – Summer Sunday will go postward for the 22nd and final time in her career, in search of her 12th win and the $1 million mark in earnings.

The horseman who has campaigned the versatile Ontario-bred hopes she goes out a winner, perhaps channelling the luck of the Irish ahead of her new post-racing life.

If she doesn't happen to cross the wire first, Simon won't hang his head.

He has no reason to.

“I expect her to run well. She's as honest as they come. The mile and a sixteenth doesn't bother me. She's acting more and more as she's gotten older that she wants to run further. I've run her once going two turns, and she won that race. She defeated an open field of horses, including the filly (Souper Escape) that won the Sovereign for top older mare in 2020. She's no one-trick pony, that's for sure.”

Hernandez is hopeful she lives to her name this weekend. Well, sort of.

“The last few times we've been racing in the stakes on Saturdays when most of the stakes she wins are on Sunday, just like her name. But it doesn't matter. Whenever she races, she gives everything she has.”

It's one of many things Simon will miss about Summer Sunday, who was bred by Trinity West Stables Ltd.

That said, he's content to see one of his top stars begin a new chapter in her life.

“It's starting to hit home more and more that this is going to be it. And it's time. I'm glad, and I'm happy for her and very comfortable with the decision to stop on her. She's good right now, but you don't want to push the envelope. You want her to have a good life because she deserves it.”

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‘Very Special’ Summer Sunday Headlines Friday’s Eternal Search At Woodbine

Summer Sunday, a six-year-old daughter of Silent Name (JPN), chases her ninth career stakes score in the $100,000 Eternal Search Presented by HBPA Ontario, Friday at Woodbine.

Trained by Stuart Simon for owners Anne and William Scott, Summer Sunday arrives at the 7 ½-furlong Inner Turf event for Ontario-sired fillies and mares, three-year-olds and up, in solid form, having gone 1-2-0 in her past three starts.

After a runner-up effort in July in the Ballade Stakes to kick off her current campaign, the bay, bred by Trinity West Stables Ltd., won the Zadracarta Stakes on September 10.

She returned $10 for the win.

Canada's champion female sprinter in 2019 heads into the Eternal Search off a second-place performance in the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes on October 3.

“She's doing really well,” offered Simon. “She just continues to be a very special horse for us.”

The conditioner shared the game plan for Summer Sunday, who sports a 10-3-1 mark from 20 starts.

“She's a little over $900,000 Canadian in earnings. She's going to run this time and one more time after that, if all goes well, and if she wins one and runs second in the other, she would break the million-dollar mark or be right on it. That would be nice to do that with her.”

After those races, Summer Sunday will stamp her passport and head to Ireland.

“She's going to be a broodmare and she's going to have a forever home with Mr. Scott's relative in Ireland. So, all being well with her, knock on wood, she'll race on Friday and again on December 4 (La Prevoyante Stakes), then she'll be retired. It's very nice to know that she's going to a place where she'll be well looked after for the rest of her days.”

Summer Sunday launched her career with a win on July 15, 2017, going on to net the natural hat trick to complete her rookie season with a perfect three-for-three mark, which included victories in the Nandi and Muskoka Stakes.

Simon, who has 835 career wins, continues to marvel at the mare's versatile ways.

“I didn't raise her, but I did buy her as a yearling, and I've had her for her whole career. Not taking anything away from all of the great horses that have been here, but most of them are really good at one thing, probably, whether it's running short or running long, turf or synthetic.

“She has won stakes races from five furlongs up to a mile-and-a-sixteenth on all three surfaces at Woodbine. She's won a five-furlong race on the Inner Turf, she's won multiple graded stakes on the main track, and she's won a graded stakes race on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, as well as a two-turn Open stakes race on the synthetic. Not many of the past champions and good horses here have that kind of diversity.”

The Eternal Search is slated as race seven. First race post time is 4:45 p.m. Fans can also watch and wager on all the action via HPIbet.com or the Dark Horse Bets app.

$100,000 ETERNAL SEARCH STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – November Fog – Shaun Bridgmohan – Sarah Ritchie

2 – Royal Wedding – Daisuke Fukumoto – Nathan Squires

3 – She's a Dream – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

4 – Summer Sunday – Rafael Hernandez – Stuart Simon

5 – Hello Friends – David Moran – John LeBlanc Jr.

6 – Golden Vision – Omar Moreno – Tino Attard

7 – Preferred Guest – Antonio Gallardo – Mark Casse

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Summer Sunday To Defend Her Title In Woodbine’s Royal North Stakes

Summer Sunday, one of two Stuart Simon trainees in the field, seeks to defend her crown in Saturday's co-featured Grade 2 $175,000 Royal North Stakes, at Woodbine.

Bred in Ontario by Trinity West Stables and owned by Anne and William Scott, five-year-old Summer Sunday will look to make a return to the winner's circle for the first time since her victory in the Royal North last July.

Her stablemate, multiple stakes champion Sister Peacock, will also go postward in the six-furlong turf event, part of a card that also includes the $125,000 Trillium Stakes (Grade 3, 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta) for fillies & mares, three-year-olds and up.

A daughter of Silent Name (JPN) out of the Millennium Allstar mare Dancing Allstar, Summer Sunday heads into the Royal North off a third-place effort in the six-furlong main track Whimsical (Grade 3) on June 21 at Woodbine.

Simon is hoping the bay mare, named Canada's champion female sprinter in 2019, builds off that first start of her campaign.

“I think she was pretty ready the first time,” said Simon. “She hooked a really tough horse [sprint star Jean Elizabeth]. The way the race unfolded, with nobody else going with that filly, I thought she ran a pretty adequate race for her first time this year.”

Debuting in July 2017, Summer Sunday wowed in winning a 5 1/2-furlong Tapeta race by five lengths. She then stepped up to the stakes ranks, notching victories in the Nandi and Muskoka, finishing her campaign a perfect three-for-three.

After a ninth-place finish in the Beaumont (Grade 3) at Keeneland in April 2018 to begin her three-year-old season, Summer Sunday rhymed off wins in four of her next five starts, from April 2018-July 2019.

Summer Sunday, 7-1-1 in 12 starts, closed the curtain on her 2019 season with a runner-up finish in the Seaway Stakes (Grade 3) and a fourth in the Ontario Fashion (Grade 3).

“She's coming into this race in really good shape,” noted Simon. “She seems to be herself. She didn't run badly the first time. I think she'll run that much better this time. With her turf form – she's run once and won this race last year – she should run well on Saturday. I always thought she'd like the turf, I just never had the chance to fit a race in until last year, and after the Royal North, I never had a chance to run her on it again until now.”

A four-year-old daughter of Real Solution, Sister Peacock, co-owned by Simon (along with Brent and Russell McLellan) comes into the Royal North off a sharp score on June 13 at the Toronto oval. The Kentucky-bred took a seven-furlong main track race by three-quarters-of-a-length.

The win was the fifth in 11 starts for the bay filly, who won last year's editions of the Star Shoot Stakes and William D. Graham Memorial.

Bred by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, Sister Peacock sports a record of 1-2-2 in five turf tries.

“I think she'll run well, too,” said Simon. “She's really strong on the turf and won on it here last year. She just got beat on the turf at Saratoga [third, a neck back of winner Eyeinthesky, in the Galway Stakes] last year. She's going into the race in really good shape as well.”

Expect Summer Sunday and Sister Peacock to be prominent early.

“Both of the horses don't need the lead, but they're usually both up close. They have similar running styles that way, but they are both good, honest fillies.”

Other entrants include Gary Barber's four-year-old Eyeinthesky, and Barbara Minshall trainee Another Time (cross-entered in the Trillium), who finished second, a neck back of Elizabeth Way, in the Nassau (Grade 2) on June 27.

The Trillium Stakes has attracted eight starters, including 2019 multiple Sovereign Award finalist Amalfi Coast, graded stakes-placed Painting, who rallied impressively to finish second to Jean Elizabeth in the Whimsical (Grade 3), and Live Oak Plantation's multiple stakes winner Souper Escape.

The Royal North is scheduled as the ninth race on Saturday's 10-race program. The Trillium goes as race eight. First post is 1 p.m. Fans can watch and wager on all the action via HPIBet.com.

$175,000 ROYAL NORTH STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Foxxy Belle – Justin Stein – Norm McKnight

2 – Bohemian Bourbon – Leo Salles – Ian Wilkes

3 – Summer Sunday – Rafael Hernandez – Stuart Simon

4 – Another Time – Jerome Lermyte – Barbara Minshall

5 – Sister Peacock – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Stuart Simon

6 – Eyeinthesky – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse

7 – Gamble's Candy – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll

8 – Lady Grace – Kazushi Kimura – Mark Casse

9 – Charmaine's Mia – Steven Bahen – Michael McDonald

$125,000 TRILLIUM STAKES

Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer

1 – Souper Escape – Luis Contreras – Michael McDonald

2 – Amalfi Coast – Justin Stein – Kevin Attard

3 – Art of Almost – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Roger Attfield

4 – Theodora B. – Patrick Husbands – Michael Dickinson

5 – Nantucket Red – Steve Bahen – Ashlee Brnjas

6 – Painting – Kazushi Kimura – Josie Carroll

7 – Another Time – Jerome Lermyte – Barbara Minshall

8 – Wings of Dawn – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse

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‘She’s A Rocket’: Jean Elizabeth Wires Field In Woodbine’s Whimsical Stakes

Jean Elizabeth earned her eighth consecutive stakes victory as she dominated her rivals in the $125,000 Whimsical Stakes (Grade 3) on the first summer Sunday of the Woodbine meet in Ontario, Canada. 

The popular shipper returned to the scene of her Sweet Briar Too and Grade 3 Ontario Fashion wins that launched her current streak last fall for trainer Larry Rivelli and co-owners Richard Ravin and Patricia's Hope LLC.

Leaving from inside of her nine foes in the six-furlong sprint for older fillies and mares, Jean Elizabeth darted out for a quick three-length lead and set fractions of :22.36 and :44.78 en route to a one-length victory in 1:09.86. Summer Sunday, Canada's reigning Champion Female Sprinter, chased the winner most of the way and finished third as Painting closed late to steal the runner-up honours.

“She's a rocket,” said winning jockey David Moran. “I wasn't expecting her to be that quick with her ears pricked down the back.”

 Moran noted the speedy mare was just toying with her rivals.

 “She just pricks her ears and I think she just waits for a bit of company to go on again.”

Jean Elizabeth, who set a stakes record last time out in February's Lightning City at Tampa Bay Downs and is targeting the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, paid $3.40 to win. The five-year-old homebred daughter of Adios Charlie and Rooney Doodle now boasts a career record reading 15-4-2 from 21 starts and more than $680,000 in purse earnings.

Moran, who is a father of nine children with his wife Maria expecting in the coming weeks, took a moment after winning the first graded stakes of the meet to thank his kids for their Father's Day cards and gifts and give a shout out to his own dad back home in Ireland.

He also went on to dedicate the race to a special horseman.

“I want to give a special mention today to Frank Forde – the backbone of horse racing here at Woodbine, one of the grooms – who passed away suddenly last week,” said Moran. “I'd like to dedicate this race to him.”

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