Windhaven Farms’ Tiz Breathtaking lived up to her name with a beautiful stretch run in the $125,000 Shady Well Stakes for Ontario-bred two-year-old fillies on Saturday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.
Tiz Breathtaking broke well for jockey Eurico Rosa Da Silva and was settled back next-to-last in the early going before fanning out five-wide and blowing by her competition in the stretch to score in 1:05 flat over 5-1/2 furlongs on the main track.
“She’s very, very professional,” said Da Silva after the race. “She’s a very calm filly and I chose to be relaxed and just wait for the stretch. She just ran relaxed and when I asked her she kicked from there.”
Sav stalked the pace three-wide and struck the front at the top of the stretch but had to settle for the runner-up honours 1-3/4 lengths behind the late-closing winner. Appella came through along the rail to finish third ahead of front-runner Sailing By, who had set the early fractions of :22.79 and :46.25.
Owned by breeder William D. Graham’s Windhaven Farms, Tiz Breathtaking also won her career debut on June 10 then inherited second-place in the My Dear Stakes last time out on July 7 after suffering interference in the stretch.
“She’s just a beautiful filly. Bill named her and it’s a pretty nice name now,” said trainer Michael Doyle. “She maybe could have won her last start. She got in a little bit of trouble and, unfortunately, she wound up being third and was moved up to second, but she’s done everything right from day one. Luckily, Mr. Graham bought her back as a yearling instead of selling her – lucky for me anyway and all the people around her.”
Doyle noted the Tiznow-I’m Breathtaking filly has displayed boundless potential just three starts into her career.
“She’s just getting bigger and stronger,” he said. “She’s so laid back and nice, she’s like an older horse. There’s not one bad habit that she has. She’s just all nice stuff.”
Doyle has trained successive Shady Well winners following Glamanation’s victory last year and has now won a total of five editions of this stakes race in his career.
Sent postward as the 4-5 favourite, Tiz Breathtaking paid $3.90, $2.30 and $2.10. She combined with Sav ($3.90, $3.30) for a 5-6 exacta worth $11.70. A $1 trifecta of 5-6-3 (Appella, $4.40) paid $58.35 and a $1 superfecta of 5-6-3-1 (Sailing By) returned $175.45.
Moksgmol, Syllable and Maritime Breeze completed the order of finish.
Live Thoroughbred racing continues at Woodbine on Sunday afternoon, featuring the $125,000 Clarendon Stakes and $100,000 Eternal Search Stakes. The $50,000 second leg of the Turf Endurance Series will cap off the 10-race program, which begins at 1 p.m.