Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) winner and Eclipse Award-winning two-year-old filly of 2022 WONDER WHEEL (Into Mischief – Wonder Gal by Tiz Wonderful) has been at Woodbine since mid-May for owner D J Stable, LLC and trainer Mark Casse and will make her first local start July 1 in the Grade 3 Selene Stakes.
Casse has made the Selene Stakes his personal stakes race, as he trained the last five winners of the race and a record seven overall.
Wonder Wheel has not raced since she was ninth in the prestigious Kentucky Oaks (G1) in which she was hard held, steadied, and checked numerous times to the point she was out of the race. Previously Wonder Wheel began her three-year-old campaign with a second-place finish by a neck in the Suncoast Stakes and a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland on April 7.
Trainer Mark Casse said not long after the disastrous Oaks outing that the filly was headed to “his favorite place to regroup” his horses, Woodbine.
Wonder Wheel, who will be racing on Lasix for the first time in the Selene, has drawn post position 6 with jockey Patrick Husbands in the 10-horse Selene, a 1 1/16 mile race on Tapeta.
The Selene is one of five graded stakes races on the Canada Day card at Woodbine and is race 7.
Wonder Wheel was brilliant as a two-year-old as she won the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs in July after a big debut win. She missed winning the Spinaway (G1) by a nose at Saratoga before winning the Alcibiades (G1) at Keeneland. That gate-to-wire score was then parlayed into an off-the-pace run on her way to winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies race. She has earned over $1.5 million.
Wonder Wheel has had four workouts at Woodbine and is easily the class of the Selene field.
Half the Selene field is made up of Ontario-breds who could go to the July 23 Woodbine Oaks for Canadian-breds with a good showing this weekend. The improving FORTYFIVESEVENTY (Perfect Timber) has post 1 with Ryan Munger for owner and trainer Barbara Minshall and Zilli Racing’s TITO’S CALLING (Society’s Chairman) are two Oaks hopefuls.
Wonder Wheel meets a trio from Florida trainer Safie Joseph, Jr. including HONOR D LADY (Honor Code), recent winner of the Honey Ryder Stakes at Gulfstream and third in the Martha Washington Stakes. Honor D Lady came to Woodbine last November and was third in the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes.
Below is the NBC replay of the Kentucky Oaks:
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