The winner of Saturday’s $250,000 Coronation Futurity could well be in the running for Canada’s Champion Two-year-old male, but predicting who that may be is a difficult task. There are 11 young fellows in the 1 1/8 mile Coronation, race 9 at Woodbine on November 30.
The three major races for two-year-olds up to this weekend, the Summer (G1), Grey (G3), and Cup & Saucer, were all won by different horses and none are in the Coronation. European colt New Century won the Summer, Kentucky-bred He’s Not Joking won the Grey and Scorching, placed first in the Cup & Saucer, is on the farm getting ready for 2025.
There is just one stakes winner in the field, DEWOLF (Silent Name (Jpn)), a handsome dark bay owned by the X-Men Racing IV Stable and Canuck Racing Club. He won the Bull Page Stakes at 7 furlongs on the turf in September, was placed second in the Cup & Saucer and finished second in the Grey.
The 1 1/8 mile distance of the Coronation may be a question for Dewolf, who is trained by Kevin Attard and will be ridden by Rafael Hernandez.
Speaking of the Cup & Saucer, the unofficial winner that day, ASHLEY’S ARCHER, a colt by Karakontie (Jpn), won that turf race by a nose, but he was judged guilty of causing interference late in the race and was disqualified and place fifth. Since then, Gary Barber and Archer Racing’s colt went to Kentucky, but did not draw into a race. This will be his second race on Tapeta. Sahin Civaci is named on Ashley’s Archer.
Recent route winners KEKOA (Reload) and YLIVOIMAINEN (More Than Ready) are worth a look and Al and Bill Ulwelling’s FABER might go better after an awkward run in the Grey. Faber is by first-year sire Improbable and from two-time winner Disobedient, who was a promising filly by Into Mischief.
Incidentally, it has been 50 years since the Coronation winner has come back and won the King’s Plate.
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