In a thrilling three-horse battle, Jim Dandy Stable’s Smokey Fire, with Jono Jones aboard, caught front-runners Jungle Wave and Fatal Bullet on the wire to win the featured $224,800 Grade 2, Play The King Stakes, Sunday at Woodbine.
The turf, seven furlong Play The King attracted an extremely well-matched group of seven older horses, including defending champion Jungle Wave, last year’s Nearctic winner Field Commission, the lukewarm 5-2 post-time favourite Signature Red, coming off a victory in the Highlander here on July 4, and of course, Smokey Fire, a two-time stakes winner who began his season with an ultra-impressive score in the Bold Venture over Woodbine’s Polytrack in mid-July.
Fatal Bullet, Canada’s Horse of the Year in 2008, who was making just his second career start on the lawn, shot from the gate to immediately take command, getting an opening quarter in 23.02 and the half in 45.88, while being stalked by Smokey Fire and Jungle Wave.
As the field turned for home, Jungle Wave collared Fatal Bullet and the two matched strides to the wire, with Smokey Fire gradually inching closer on the outside. As the trio hit the line, Smokey Fire was able to get up by a neck, with Jungle Wave edging Fatal Bullet by a similar margin for the place award. The final time was 1:20.83 after the three-quarters had been reached in 1:08.38.
For trainer Sid Attard, the result was picture perfect, as he saddled both the winner and runner-up. The only disappointment was his third entrant, Signature Red, who never entered contention, eventually finishing fifth.
“Absolutely, I was happy to see Patrick (Husbands, aboard Jungle Wave), put the pressure on Fatal Bullet or I would have had to do it,” said Jones, aboard Smokey Fire for the first time. “Sid told me to stalk with this horse so I didn’t want to disobey him. If Patrick hadn’t done it, we would have been in trouble, I think. It worked out perfect for me after that. This horse knows where the wire is. He was determined to win.”
For Ontario-bred Smokey Fire, a five-year-old gelded son of Smoke Glacken-Destroy for owner-breeder Mel Lawson (Jim Dandy Stable), it was his sixth victory in only 11 career starts, after not making the races at two and three. His only out-of- the-money finish came in his last outing, when he tried some of the top sprinters in North America on the dirt in the Grade 2, A.G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga on August 8, finishing a well-beaten seventh to Majesticperfection.
Sent postward the 3-1 second choice, Smokey Fire earned $144,000 for the win and paid $8.50, $5.10 and $3.30, combining with Jungle Wave ($4.90, $3.60) for a $50 (4-3) exactor. A 4-3-2 (Fatal Bullet, $6 to show) triactor returned $326 while a $1 superfecta [4-3-2-5 (Porter’s Gate)] was worth $1,346.30.
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