TORONTO, May 21 – Five-year-old Palladio rallied strongly to capture Monday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Eclipse Stakes at Woodbine. In the process,
the Florida-bred son of Lycius broke a 23-hour old track record, traveling 1 1/16 miles in 1:43.07, which is two-thirds of second faster than Bear Now’s time (1:43.73) in Sunday’s Selene Stakes.
Pacesetter Judiths Wild Rush, who was third in the 2005 Eclipse, finished second, and True Metropolitan was up late to finish third. Owned by Haras Santa Maria De Araras and trained by Roger Attfield, the 2 1/2-length victory put an end to a five-race losing streak. It was his
first stakes score since the 2005 Ontario Derby, an event which ultimately landed him a Sovereign Award as Canada’s top three-year-old.
“As a three-year-old, he chipped his ankle,” said Attfield. “We took the chip out and gave him the whole winter off. We brought him back as a four-year-old. He had a condylar fracture in the Ben Ali. He missed all of last year.”
Attfield said the bay horse is more talented than ever. “He’s a bigger, stronger, better horse. I was kind of upset about his last two races,” referring to a fourth-place finish in Gulfstream Park’s
Skip Away Handicap and a sixth in the Ben Ali, on April 26, at Keeneland. “I thought he could have won those. He was so far out of it and made a huge run.”
Reunited with jockey Richard Dos Ramos, who has ridden Palladio in his last four victories, including the 2005 Ohio Derby and Victoria Park Stakes, the star returned to his best in the Eclipse.
“Roger took his time. He’s 100 per cent right now,” said Dos Ramos, who won the 1984 Eclipse with Ask Muhammad.
The journeyman jockey settled Palladio into fifth behind relatively slow fractions of :48.46 and 1:12.93. The pair launched an eye-catching move heading into the second turn and weren’t challenged down the stretch.
“I just let him fall out of there. He was on the bridle and I could put him anywhere I wanted to. He has that kick. At the half-mile pole, I knew it would take a pretty good horse to get by him,” said Dos Ramos.
Billed as a race full of champions, the event’s four Sovereign Award winners occupied positions one through four at the wire.
Attfield has now won the Eclipse on five occasions, having won the event with Imperial Colony, Izvestia, Shudanz and Honolua Storm.
Palladio returned $19.70, $8.30 and $4.70, combining with Judiths Wild Rush ($9.30 and $4.70) for an exactor worth $179.70. True Metropolitan ($3.30) rounded out an $823.80 triactor.
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