Avie’s Flatter heads into the 115th running of $225,000 Coronation Futurity, set for Sunday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack, in top form for owner/breeder Ivan Dalos.
A son of Flatter, Avie’s Flatter will look to deliver his connections the biggest win of his career in a significant race on the Woodbine Thoroughbred calendar for Canadian-foaled two-year-olds.
The bay colt arrives at the important event (1 1/8-miles over the Tapeta) on the road to next year’s Queen’s Plate off a sparkling effort in the Cup and Saucer Stakes on October 7.
With Woodbine’s leading rider Eurico Rosa da Silva in the irons, the Josie Carroll trainee romped to an emphatic 5 1/4-length score as the mutuel favourite in the 1 1/16-mile turf feature.
“I was very surprised to see him go to the lead, but then he got up there and he was so relaxed,” said Carroll, who has 788 career training wins, including 26 triumphs this year. “His ears were pricked and I thought, obviously, Eurico knows what he’s got under him and hopefully there’s enough horse to go on with.
“He seemed to handle the soft turf. You know, he had a tough trip in the race before and I think he got a lot of conditioning out of that, which made me a little more confident.”
Three weeks earlier, Avie’s Flatter contested the Grade 1 Summer Stakes, raced at one mile over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course. Bumped and pinched back at the start, the Ontario-bred recovered to finish fourth to Fog of War.
Now a lifetime earner of $149,153, Avie’s Flatter broke his maiden in style this August when he notched a 2 1/2-length win at five furlongs in his career bow.
With a date in the Plate certainly on the radar, Carroll, a two-time winner (Edenwold, 2006 and Inglorious, 2011) of Canada’s most historic horse race, appears to have another bona fide star in her barn.
She’ll be seeking her second Coronation Futurity title after winning in 2014 with Decision Day.
Last year, Aheadbyacentury won the race by 2 1/2-lengths, going on to finish second to Wonder Gadot in this June’s ‘Gallop for the Guineas.’
The last horse to achieve the Coronation Futurity-Queen’s Plate double was Norcliffe in 1975-76.
There will be a special #FacebookLive presentation of the Coronation Futurity Stakes at 4:15 p.m. Follow Facebook.com/WoodbineTB for updates.
The field is listed below for the Coronation Futurity, scheduled as Race 8 (4:43 p.m. post) on Sunday’s 11-race program. First post is 1 p.m.
$225,000 Coronation Futurity
Post – Horse – Jockey – Trainer
1. Moon Swings – Gary Boulanger – Michael De Paulo
2. Tripwire – John Velazquez – Michael Maker
3. Avie’s Flatter – Eurico Rosa da Silva – Josie Carroll
4. Jammin Still – Alan Garcia – Kevin Attard
5. D Magician – Rafael Hernandez – Santino Di Paola
6. Samurai Queen (S) – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Barb Minshall
7. Federal Law – David Cohen – Mark Casse
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
