The Lake Superior and Thunder Bay Stakes will share the spotlight on Friday’s eight-race card at Woodbine. The stakes are races 1 and 3 with first race post time at 4:45 p.m.
Both stakes are scheduled for the E.P. Taylor turf course, but races were taken off the turf Thursday and there was plenty of rain on Thursday evening, so the two events could well be moved to the main track Tapeta surface.
The seven-furlong tilts are part of the Ontario Sire Heritage Series, an eight-leg stakes series that are contested at Woodbine and Fort Erie racetracks.
(Read more on the Ontario Heritage Series here.)
Ontario Racing and its Thoroughbred Improvement Program (TIP) Committee unveiled the series in March. With a total purse structure of $750,000, the Heritage Series features a total of four races – three opening legs and one final – for both three-year-old colts and three-year-old fillies that are sustained to the Ontario Sires Stakes program.
On August 7, Forest Survivor won the $80,000 Lake Huron Stakes, a five-furlong Inner Turf race for colts & geldings, while Artful Ballerina, trained by Darwin Banach, took top prize in the companion $80,000 Georgian Bay for fillies, contested at the same distance and over the same surface.
Five weeks later at Fort Erie, Red River Rebel won the six-furlong $80,000 Lake Erie Stakes for colts & geldings, and Red Equinox bested her filly rivals in the six-furlong $80,000 Rondeau Bay Stakes.
Forest Survivor and Red River Rebel are currently 1-2 in the point standings in the colt division.
The $80,000 Lake Superior, which goes as race three, has attracted 11 colts and geldings, including Banach pupil I’m Dashing. Bred and owned by Martin and Victoria Earle, the son of Society’s Chairman has compiled a record of 2-0-1 from five career starts.
The bay arrives at the Lake Superior off a smart score on September 26 at Woodbine. Under Antonio Gallardo, who gets the call again on Friday, I’m Dashing broke outwardly in the 7 ½-furlong Inner Turf race, but quickly recovered and then rallied to notch a one-length victory in 1:31.75 over firm ground.
I’m Dashing has only tried the Tapeta surface twice and finished fourth in his most recent attempt.
“We were excited about that effort,” said Banach. “I spoke with the owners, and we had this spot in the back of our minds, if he could step up and win that race. And he did it quite impressively I thought. It set up everything for the Lake Superior, so now, this is where we’re aiming.”
After a ninth-place result in his career bow last October, I’m Dashing finished fourth in his next start, his three-year-old debut, this June at Woodbine.
He broke his maiden via a three-quarter-of-a-length victory on August 1 in a seven-furlong race over the E.P. Taylor Turf Course, following that effort with a third-place finish in another seven-panel grass engagement on September 4.
Banach, enjoying a strong season at the Toronto oval, is looking for another top showing from his sophomore.
“He’s been doing well, developing and maturing. He’s very easy to work with, just a very cool dude to be around. He wants to go out there and please you. He was very laid back and now he’s a little more playful coming home. He’s talking to us, telling us he’s feeling pretty good.”
The Thunder Bay, slated as the first race, has drawn eight but one has been scratched, Imaginary Sky, who is re-entered on Saturday in a maiden race.
Two-time stakes winner LORENA figures to be well bet to win the Thunder Bay as the Souper Speedy filly is moving out of the open Duchess Stakes in which she had a tough trip and finished a closing fifth. Lorena is owned by Brent and Russ McLellan, Stuart Simon and Gerry Olguin and trained by Simon. The filly won the Fury and Algoma Stakes this year on Tapeta. She has never raced on turf should the race stay on the grass.
Points leader Sunsprite, coming off a troubled run in the Rondeau Bay Stakes at Fort Erie, is a contender for Denny Andrews and Niall Brennan and new to the series, Cleomenes, adds blinkers and is an improving filly for Laconian Racing.
CURRENT POINTS LEADERS
Three-Year-Old Fillies
Sunsprite – 12
Artful Ballerina – 10
Red Equinox – 10
Benny’s Button – 8
Three-Year-Old Males
Forest Survivor – 12
Red River Rebel – 10
Galvaston – 7
Blind Trust – 7
FIELD FOR THE $80,00 LAKE SUPERIOR
POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER
1 – Forest Survivor – Shaun Bridgmohan – Norman McKnight
2 – Speed Way (S) – Simon Husbands – Sid Attard
3 – Master Spy – Patrick Husbands – Mark Casse
4 – Perfect Crime – Eswan Flores – Patrick Dixon
5 – Maakwa – Gary Boulanger – Shana Lopez
6 – I’m Dashing – Antonio Gallardo – Darwin Banach
7 – All Canadian – Emma-Jayne Wilson – Gail Cox
8 – Kosmonavt – Luis Contreras – Norman McKnight
9 – Dragon’s Brew – Kazushi Kimura – Robert Tiller
10 – Secret Reserve – Rafael Hernandez – Mike Mattine
11 – Red River Rebel – Justin Stein – Kevin Attard
FIELD FOR THE $80,000 THUNDER BAY
POST – HORSE – JOCKEY – TRAINER
1 – Red Equinox – Christopher Husbands – Jamie Attard
2 – Imaginary Sky (S) – Daisuke Fukumoto – Suzanne Drake
3 – Meet the Soprano – Rafael Hernandez – Mark Casse
4 – Cleomenes – Patrick Husbands – Josie Carroll
5 – Jilli Marie – Steven Bahen – Katerina Vassilieva
6 – Lorena – Gary Boulanger – Stuart Simon
7 – Sunsprite – Justin Stein – Kevin Attard
8 – Dejas Too – Luis Contreras – Josie Carroll
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