Brooklynsway, ridden by Emma-Jayne Wilson, outnodded Galina Point in the last strides to spring a 7-1 upset in the $250,000 Bison City Stakes, Sunday at Woodbine.
The mile and one-sixteenth Bison City, the second leg of the Triple Tiara for Canadian-foaled three-year-old fillies, was missing Academic, the shocking winner of the Woodbine Oaks last month, who had elected instead to contest the Queen’s Plate on July 5.
London Tower, who finished a troubled second in the Oaks as the 4-5 choice, was trying to redeem herself in the Bison City and went postward the overwhelming 1-2 favourite. Once again, she left the gate tardily, trailed the field for most of the race, turned on the jets while wide around the far turn and into the stretch, but was left with too much to do yet finished an excellent third, just a nose and a neck behind.
Meanwhile, Brooklynsway, fourth for much of the journey, as Green Doctor clocked fractions of :23.86, :48.14 and 1:12.71, moved with Galina Point in early stretch while now chasing a new leader, Moon Rainbow, who had briefly taken over from the pacesetter turning for home.
Galina Point and jockey Patrick Husbands edged to the front in mid-stretch but Brooklynsway fought back on the inside to snatch the victory by a nose in the closing jumps. The final time over the Polytrack was 1:44.06.
Brooklynsway and Galina Point had also contested the Woodbine Oaks on June 14, finishing a length apart in sixth and fifth respectively.
For owner-trainer John Ross, it was his second Bison City win, after taking the 2003 edition with Jam-Jar Racing Stable’s Brattothecore, who dead-heated with Seeking The Ring that year when the stake was contested at Fort Erie.
“She’s a funny filly. John and the crew, you have no idea how hard they’ve worked on this filly just trying to get inside of her head and understand her,” said Wilson, who has ridden Brooklynsway in all 10 career starts, while also winning the Muskoka and rich Princess Elizabeth Stakes last year. She also won the 2010 Bison City aboard Free Fee Lady.
“She can be a little challenging some days. As soon as we broke, I could tell it was ‘Brooklyn’. She was in the game, she was in the race. That last couple of races just weren’t her ‘A’ game. We came back with a big effort today. She just travelled along real nice on the outside. Galina Point loomed up and even got by us. She just dug in. That’s the game and ferocious filly we know and love. She fought on, came back on and won. Really impressive. I’m really happy she gave us a good effort today.”
“This filly can be really quirky,” said Ross. “She’s not an easy filly to handle in the mornings. We’ve had to do a lot of adjustments. Looks like a lot of this tweaking paid off today. Emma-Jayne gave her a great ride. She looked comfortable on the outside. When this filly’s happy, she’ll do her thing. But when she’s not happy, you’ll know it.”
The third and final leg in the series is the $250,000 Wonder Where Stakes, at one mile and one-quarter on the turf, on August 9. While the top three finishers from the Bison City have never raced on grass, it’s possible they’ll meet once again.
Brooklynsway earned $150,000 for the win, her third overall, and now boasts a career bankroll of $553,250. She returned $17.30, $10.10 and $3.10, combining with Galina Point ($9.10, $3.40) for a $106.20 (3-5) exactor. A 3-5-6 (London Tower, $2.10) triactor paid $125.60 while a $1 Superfecta [3-5-6-7 (Moon Rainbow)] was worth $208.
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