LNJ Foxwoods and Gainesway Stable’s LOYALTY (Hard Spun) picked up her first graded stakes win on July 22 at Woodbine with a rail run in the Hendrie Stakes (G3), a 6 1/2 furlong sprint on Tapeta for three-year-olds and upward, fillies and mares.
Under jockey KAZUSHI KIMURA, who came back from concussion protocol two days earlier, Loyalty perfectly tracked the pair of invaders Clitheroe (GB) and Hard Edge and when the former moved off the rail into the stretch, Loyalty charged through.
At the wire, Loyalty was a 2 ½-length winner in 1:15.61. Clitheroe (GB) was second and Ontario-bred longshot Talk to Ya Later rallied to best Miss Speedy by a head for third.
Josie Carroll, trainer of Loyalty, led the filly and Kimura into the winner’s circle.
“I would say that she was the best in the field,” praised Kimura. “She’s quite easy to ride. She was able to stay close and also if there’s space, she’s able to go in the lead. There were so many options for me. She was feeling comfortable, so comfortable behind the frontrunner. She was able to take a step outside and find a hole and just showed me an amazing race. It was perfect.”
Bred in Florida by Best A Luck Farm LLC and Godolphin LLC, the dark bay is now 6-0-1 from eight starts with over $318,000 in earnings. Her victories include the Lady Erie Stakes at Presque Isle last August, and the Duchess Stakes last October at Woodbine.
Loyalty has followed the hoofprints of a previous top sprinting filly for Jamie Roth and family’s LNJ Foxwoods, Boardroom.
Loyalty was bought for $270,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September yearling sale. Her dam Slew’s Quality was unraced but she has already produced some nice runners. Her 2015 foal, the filly Shamrock Rose, won the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) for trainer Mark Casse and Conrad Farm.
Meanwhile, it was another dominating day for Kimura, who won 4 of the 10 races on a warm and sunny afternoon. He worked hard to lift Agile Dancer, owned by the partnership of Kumud and Rakesh Sikand, to a maiden win on the grass in race 2. Trained by Steve Attard, Agile Dancer, an Ontario-bred by the late We Miss Artie, had only tried grass twice previously and was second the last time he was on the surface.
Kimura and Carroll also won earlier on the day with Veri Gizmo, from the first crop of Amis Gizmo, for Ivan Dalos. In race 9, ‘KK’ guided the good sprinter SOUPER WATSON, by Ghostzapper, to his third win in four races this year for TEC Racing and trainer Martin Drexler.
***
Trailblazing MOHAWK TRAIL likes the Woodbine Taylor turf course a lot. She snuck up on heavily favoured QUEEN PICASSO (GB), previously unbeaten in two races for trainer Christophe Cement, and won the Ontario Colleen Stakes (G3) at one mile on the turf.
Sent off at 11-1, the dark bay, trained by Kelsey Danner for NBS Stable of John Ballantyne, Art Neuhedel and Daryl Shaw, was seventh through slow opening splits of :24.68 and :47.87, as Queen Picasso (GB) looked in control traveling over the ground listed as good.
Rounding the turn for home, 6-5 choice Queen Picasso (GB) dashed away from her eight rivals, but Adam Beschizza, aboard Mohawk Trail, began to cut into the lead of the frontrunner mid-way down the lane and eventually struck front in the late going to notch a 1 ½-length win. Queen Picasso (GB) was second, a head in front of Love to Shop. Ryder Ryder Ryder finished fourth.
The final time was 1:34.68.
Beschizza, who was aboard for the win in the 6 ½-furlong Alywow Stakes on June 25, felt confident the filly could handle the longer distance at tougher competition.
“I had a discussion with Kelsey, and she said, ‘Do we stay where we are or do we stretch her out a little bit?’ And the discussion was to go, obviously, a mile. She’s starting to mature a lot more. She has a great will to win which stacks up in her favour, so that’s half the battle with these horses.
“When she had a target in front of her there the last eighth of a mile, she dug deep. Like I said, she is definitely maturing in the right direction. Good on Kelsey. She’s done a great job with her and congrats to NBS as well.”
With the victory, Mohawk Trail, bred in Florida by Westbury Stables LLC, is now 4-1-1 from nine starts. She broke her maiden last December over one mile on the Gulfstream turf.
Mohawk Trail paid $25.60 for the win.
***
Ontario-bred 2-year-old filly AIROSA , a daughter of Uncle Mo – Mrs. Hudson by Street Cry (Ire) was an impressive maiden winner in her second career race on Saturday. Making her first start on turf and her second start following a 4th place finish as favourite on June 17, Airosa was long gone from the start under Rafael Hernandez and scored an “effortless” victory according to the Equibase chartcaller. She raced the distance in 1:16.27.
A $400,000 yearling purchase from Anderson Farms at the 2022 Keeneland September yearling sale, Airose is owned by StarLadies Racing and X-Men Racing.
More from Canadian Thoroughbred:
