Chiefswood Stable’s homebred Tiz a Slam lasted on the lead in the $175,000 Nijinsky Stakes (Grade 2) to score his second straight graded stakes win on Sunday afternoon at Woodbine Racetrack.
Overlooked at odds of 10-1, Tiz a Slam followed up his Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes victory over 1-1/4 miles on the Tapeta with another front-end effort in the Nijinsky, leading for 1-1/2 miles on the turf in 2:29.06.
With jockey Steven Bahen aboard, the Roger Attfield trainee set fractions of :25.85, :51.97, 1:17.19, 1:42.23 and 2:05.83 along the way while turning back challenger Bangkok.
The season-debuting European Group 1 stakes winner Mekhtaal rallied late to snag the runner-up role just ahead of Johnny Bear, who won last year’s Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf Stakes. The winner’s stablemate, Final Copy, finished fourth.
“He’s a big horse, he’s taken a long time to mature,” said Attfield. “He’s still maturing, he’s learning. The last two races, he trained up to both of these races better than he’s trained up to any race in his career so far so it doesn’t surprise me. We looked after him as well as we could as a two-year-old and he’s just getting bigger and stronger and maybe he just keeps getting better also.”
Bred in Ontario by the 2017 Sovereign Award-winning owner Chiefswood Stable, the four-year-old Tiznow-Flaming Rose colt boasts wins in one-third of his 18 career starts and more than $800,000 in earnings. He also won the Cup and Saucer Stakes at age two and the Grade 3 Ontario Derby last year.
Tiz a Slam paid $22.70, $10.60 and $7.50. He combined with second choice Mekhtaal ($6.60, $4.60) for a 6-4 exacta worth $119.90. Johnny Bear ($4.60) completed the 6-4-2 trifecta, which paid $292.80 for a $1 ticket. With Final Copy finishing fourth, a $1 superfecta of 6-4-2-1 returned $1,041.90.
Seeking Albert, Bangkok, Pumpkin Rumble and 8-5 favourite Vettori Kin completed the order of finish.
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