Be Vewy Vewy Quiet was among the best in his division at Woodbine as a two-year-old, winning a pair of sprint stakes and earning a Sovereign Award nomination. On Sunday, seven weeks out from a disappointing sophomore bow, Be Vewy Vewy Quiet will try turf for the first time in the $100,000 Bold Ruckus, a six-furlong race for Ontario-sired three-year-olds.
Bob Tiller, who also sent out Be Vewy Vewy Quiet to finish second in one stake and third in two others last season, had hoped to have his charge ready for the seven-furlong Queenston Stakes here April 22.
But the Queenston came up too quickly and the homebred instead resurfaced in the six-furlong Woodstock, an open six-furlong race on May 5.
“He ran horrible,” said Tiller, who had watched Be Vewy Vewy Quiet falter to finish last of five in the Woodstock field when equipped with blinkers for the first time. “So I freshened him up, and now I’m trying to run him on turf. He’s doing well.”
Tiller noted that Be Vewy Vewy Quiet’s only exposure to grass thus far has come in the grazing category as the trainer generally does not believe that working on the training turf course will necessarily be predictive of performance on the E.P. Taylor course.
“It’s totally different,” said Tiller, who trains Be Vewy Vewy Quiet for Frank DiGiulio, Anthony Donofrio and John Peri. “They’re either going to like it, or they won’t.”
The blinkers come off for the Bold Ruckus and Eurico Rosa da Silva will ride Be Vewy Vewy Quiet, who will begin from post six as the 121-pound highweight.
One Bold Ruckus contestant who will be making his turf debut but has turf training experience is Ellas My Love, who has run into some tougher-than-expected competition while winning one of his four starts this season.
“He’s doing well,” said trainer Bill Tharrenos, who sent out Ellas My Love to breeze four furlongs in :47.80 on the turf training course here June 15.
“It seemed like he liked it. His rider, Rafael Hernandez, said he did.”
Stakes-placed here at age two, Ellas My Love wintered at Gulfstream Park with his lone start a third-place finish under first-level allowance terms there March 2. National Flag, the winner, returned to become at Grade 3 stakes winner in the Bay Shore at Aqueduct.
Back at Woodbine, Ellas My Love contested the Queenston and finished a closing fourth, beaten two lengths.
“He had a little troubled trip there; he was buried down on the inside,” said Tharrenos, who trains Ellas My Love for owner Andreas Pitsadiotis. “He came with a little run.”
In two subsequent starts, both here at 6 1/2 furlongs, Ellas My Love knocked out his first allowance condition but then ran into a sharp newcomer in Elusive Mischief and had to settle for second money.
Hernandez retains the mount on Ellas My Love, who drew post three.
Eskiminzin won the Simcoe, a 6 1/2 furlong yearling sales stakes here last August but has been a fringe performer at best in three starts this year. The Jecara Farm homebred did display improvement last time when debuting on turf and facing older horses in a one-mile optional claiming/allowance race and will be racing with blinkers for the first time under returning rider Luis Contreras.
Rounding out the field will be Lauderdale, Yallhaveaniceday, Where’s Anthony, and Mizuchi.
Lauderdale tried the local turf course for the first time in his most recent appearance, finishing sixth behind Queen’s Plate-bound Silent Poet in an allowance/optional claimer for three-year-olds and upward.
Mizuchi, who will be making his first career start for trainer Angus Buntain, sports some promising turf drills and is a half-sister to both the speedy Ratface Macdougall and to Nupogodi, a two-time winner under allowance terms at this meeting.
The Bold Ruckus is scheduled as race eight on Sunday’s 1 p.m. program.
$100,000 Bold Ruckus Stakes
PP/Horse/Jockey/Trainer
1/Mizuchi/Jeffrey Alderson/Angus Buntain
2/Lauderdale/David Moran/Danny Vella
3/Ellas My Love/Rafael Hernandez/Bill Tharrenos
4/Yallhaveaniceday/Gary Boulanger/John Ross
5/Eskiminzin/Luis Contreras/Carlos Grant
6/Be Vewy Vewy Quiet/Eurico Rosa da Silva/Bob Tiller
7/Where’s Anthony/Omar Moreno/Scott Fairlie
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