Janice Attard’s Stunning Stag was full of run in the stretch to win his ninth career race, taking Saturday’s $171,000 Autumn Stakes at Woodbine.
The Grade 2 event was the third win of the season for the six-year-old son of Running Stag, who came into the race off an impressive 1 ¼-length score in the Autumn prep on October 23.
The Ontario-bred was 3 ¾-lengths in front of U.S. invader Smart Bid. Perfect Bullet, one of two Sean Smullen-trained starters (Barreling Home was the other) and three Stronach Stables-owned entrants (also Barreling
Home and Lord Justice), was third in the 1 1/16-mile event.
Stunning Stag, trained by Sid Attard, was under the wire in 1:42.75, slightly off the track mark of 1:42.22 set by True Metropolitan in this race in 2007. Under Gerry Olguin, Stunning Stag was patiently handled through early
splits of :24.13 and :48.23 set by the free-wheeling Lord Justice. The race appeared up for grabs around the final turn, but Stunning Stag and Olguin exploded with an outside burst in mid-stretch to win with ease.
“I just tried to be as patient as I can with him because I know he’s got a nice quarter-mile kick,” said Olguin, who had Stunning Stag in seventh after three-quarters in 1:12.25. “I didn’t care where I was going to be laying. I just wanted to use him the last quarter. He had tremendous acceleration. It worked out well.”
It was the first added-money score for the ultra-consistent gelding since a 2 ½-length triumph in the Mt. Sassafras Stakes last October. In 26 career starts, Stunning Stag has nine wins, eight seconds and three thirds.
Stunning Stag paid $10.30, $4.40 and $3.30, combining with Smart Bid ($4.40, $3.50) for a $42.20 exactor. Perfect Bullet ($8.50) completed a $655.90 exactor. Guipago rounded out a $1 Superfecta that returned $1,687.70.
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