Don MacRae trainee Cruden Bay notched his first stakes score, taking Saturday’s $175,000 bet365 Connaught Cup (G2T) at Woodbine.
A pair of Mark Casse trainees, First Empire and Capture the Lion (supplemented to the race) were one-two in the early going, while Sofia Vives, aboard Cruden Bay, had the bay settled into last of eight through an opening quarter in :23.61 in the seven-furlong event for 3-year-olds and up contested over a E.P. Taylor turf listed as good.
The Casse duo continued to set the tone through a half in :45.97, followed by Saratoga Flash and War Bomber (IRE), with Cruden Bay still running along in eighth.
When the field turned for home, it was anyone’s game.
War Bomber burst through to take the lead mid-way down the lane, but Cruden Bay had also found an opening and began to gather momentum in the late going.
At the wire, Cruden Bay, whose only other stakes appearance was a fourth in Steady Growth Stakes last December, got up to post a neck win in a time of 1:21.27. War Bomber finished 3 ¾ lengths ahead of third-place finisher Ironstone. Capture the Lion was fourth.
Vives, who rode the son of Big Screen-Executive Affair for the first time on June 1 (a win at seven furlongs on the E.P. Taylor), heaped praise on the gelding.
“Down the lane, you just got to give him one clear run and not get him stopped up,” said Vives, the 2023 Sovereign winner as Canada’s champion apprentice. “Today, I got the rail trip. It was a perfect trip. It played out great. There were three horses in front of us and two next to us, and they split just perfectly. They parted perfectly. He’s one that you have to tell him what to do, and he listens, and he did just that today.”
MacRae was equally elated with the stirring score courtesy of the $33,822 purchase at the 2019 CTHS Canadian-bred Yearling Sale.
“I was I was jumping up and down. I mean, the thing about him is he needs the whole stretch to get there. If you look for him, he knows how to win by a nose, and he tries all the way. And when she punched out, I knew he was coming.”
With the victory, Cruden Bay, owned by Michael Lay, and bred in Ontario by Spring Farm, is now 7-9-1 from 22 lifetime starts.
“I would just like to say I am really happy for Michael Lay and my team,” said MacRae. “He’s had this horse since he was a baby, and he deserves this.”
Cruden Bay paid $10.50 for the win.
In other Saturday stakes action at Woodbine, Solo Album took the early lead and held on gamely to hit the top of the chart in the $135,000 Trillium Stakes Presented by Don Julio (G3).
Ridden by Sahin Civaci, who one race earlier teamed with Mark Casse trainee My Boy Prince to win the Plate Trial Stakes, the 4-year-old daughter of Curlin-Summer Solo grabbed a slim lead over U.S. invader Ocean Club into the first turn of the 1 1/16-mile main track event for fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up.
Solo Album was a head clear of Ocean Club through a quarter in :24.65, followed by Batucada and Ro Town.
The chestnut filly maintained her head advantage on Ocean Club after a half in :49.20, while the trio of Batucada, Ro Town and Fashionably Fab kept close tabs on the pacesetters.
Solo Album rounded the turn with pressure to the outside from Fashionably Fab, who had burst through a seam a few strides before the field straightened for home, and a game Ocean Club.
A length on top at the stretch call, Solo Album fended off a late charge from fellow Casse trainee Forever Dixie, who was supplemented to the race, by a head. Multiple stakes winner Fashionably Fab, a winner of five straight heading into the Trillium, was a neck back in third. Ocean Club was fourth. Five Towns (GB) was scratched.
The final time was 1:43.90.
“I know she could come off the pace and looking at it, no one was really going, and the pace was quite easy, and the rail was open, so I went,” said Civaci. “I felt them coming so I was riding hard, and she held on.”
Owned by Gary Barber, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Steven Rocco, Solo Album, bred in Kentucky by Payson Stud Inc., is now 3-5-1 from 14 starts.
She was a $535,000 purchase at the 2021 Keeneland Association September Yearling Sale.
Solo Album, who took last year’s Grade 3 Selene Stakes, paid $6.60 for the win.
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