Toronto, ON – Favorite Smart Surprise was no surprise in Sunday’s $158,600 Hendrie Stakes at Woodbine.

The Grade 3 event was the five-year-old mare’s third stakes score in her past five starts. More importantly, for such a well-bred filly, the contest was her first graded stakes tally. Smart Surprise is trained by Josie Carroll and is owned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings.

The daughter of Smart Strike rallied from off a very strong pace and fought off a bold late rally from American invader Proud Heiress for the neck score, under leading rider Patrick Husbands. Authenicat, who is also trained by Carroll, finished third. Smart Surprise traveled 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16.01.

“My filly had an outside draw so I didn’t really have to worry about anybody. There was a lot of speed in the race. It unfolded the way we wanted it to unfold,” said Husbands.

Bear Lahaina and Verdana Bold dueled early, carving out fractions of :22.77 and :44.53. Smart Surprise relaxed in sixth about four lengths off the battle. Conversely, in last month’s Whimsical, the pace was very slow and Smart Surprise raced in third, as close as 1 1/2 lengths from the leader during the opening quarter. The mare finished well, but couldn’t run down the front-runner Dancing Allstar.

Carroll said she takes the blame for the mare’s runner-up finish in the Whimsical. “I made a little bit of an error,” offered Carroll. “I didn’t have her quite sharp enough, shortening up from a route to a sprint. You do have to think about it a little bit when you change distances. She’s a very honest filly. You ask her to run and she shows up.”

Smart Surprise, who captured her first stakes title in last year’s Bessarabian, is now 5-for-17 with earnings of $394,080. The dam of Smart Surprise is Weekend Storm, who is a half-sister to A.P. Indy and a full sister to Summer Squall. Smart Surprise is a three-quarter sister to Hollywood Derby winner Court Vision.

Smart Surprise returned $6.30, $3.40 and $2.70, combining with Proud Heiress ($7.10 and $5.10) for a $44.70 exactor. Authenicat ($5.90) rounded out a triactor worth $396.10. Dancing Allstar completed a $1 superfecta worth $522.40.

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