Red Cabernet, who has been in the pink of late, will be looking to run her winning streak to three when she takes on males in Monday’s Bunty Lawless Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack.
The $100,000 Bunty Lawless, for Ontario-sired three-year-olds and upward, attracted a field of 10 and will go as the seventh of eight races on the Thanksgiving Day program.
Red Cabernet, a four-year-old owned by Piano Bar Racing and trained by Ian Black, was 2-for-12 in her career when she won out her second condition over one mile of turf here June 6.
In her three subsequent starts, all on the E.P. Taylor course, Red Cabernet finished a closing fifth in the restricted seven-furlong Zadracarta, became a stakes winner in the restricted 1 1/16 mile Victoriana, and then annexed her final condition in a one-mile race which included some hard-knocking fillies and mares.
“Turf, and the ability to relax early in the race,” said Black, in explanation of Red Cabernet’s newfound winning ways. “She comes running.”
Black will be sending out the Signature Red filly to face males for the first time but feels the circumstances are ripe.
“She doesn’t have any more conditions, and we wouldn’t want to run her in the E.P. Taylor,” said the trainer, with reference to the Grade 1 feature for fillies and mares which is the co-feature here on Pattison Canadian International Day (October 13).
Emma-Jayne Wilson, aboard for Red Cabernet’s recent double, retains the mount.
Kingsport, who put together a stakes double on the Tapeta by capturing the 6 ½ furlong Shepperton and the 1 1/16 mile OLG Elgin this summer, will be making his first turf start in over one year in the Bunty Lawless.
Owned by Goldmart Farm and Royal Laser Racing, Kingsport was cutting back to 6 ½ furlongs off the Elgin and facing open company when sixth in the Grade 3 Bold Venture last time out.
“That was a mistake,” said trainer Sid Attard. “You can’t run a mile and a sixteenth and then shorten them up like that against those horses.”
Kingsport will be making his second appearance in the Bunty Lawless after finishing second, beaten a nose, in the 2015 renewal.
“He was bumped there,” said Attard, remembering that a claim of foul against the winner had been denied. “He would have won that race, if he hadn’t been bumped.”
Patrick Husbands retains the mount on Kingsport, who is the leading money-winner in the Bunty Lawless lineup.
Both Where’s the Widget and Nipigon will be contesting the Bunty Lawless Stakes for the third time.
Where’s the Widget was a front-running winner in 2016, leaving Nipigon just a neck back in second place. But, neither could threaten the formidable Mr Havercamp last year as Nipigon finished fourth, a half-length before fifth-place Where’s the Widget.
Nipigon, still seeking his first stakes win at age six, won back-to-back over the Tapeta surface at Presque Isle Downs this summer but then finished 10th when breaking from post 10 in the Presque Isle Mile.
“The post killed us,” said Rachel Halden, who conditions Nipigon for Chiefswood Stable. “He beat the second-place finisher, Ghost Hunter, in his two races before that.
“He’s just a hard-knocking Ontario-sired horse. I’d love to see him win a stakes race.”
Rounding out the field will be Be Vewy Vewy Quiet, Boreal Spirit, Eskiminzin, Ethical Funds, Sweet Grass Creek and Thor’s Rocket.
Eskiminzin won the restricted Bold Ruckus over six furlongs of turf here this summer but was sixth last time out in the Vice Regent over the Bunty Lawless course and distance.
Be Vewy Vewy Vewy Quiet, a two-time stakes winner at two, finished second in the Bold Ruckus and fourth in the Vice Regent.
Boreal Spirit is the speed of the party and has been keeping tougher company but is a question mark at the distance.
Ethical Funds upset some stakes-calibre opponents in an optional $62,000 claimer at 1 ¼ miles on the turf last time out.
First race post time is set for 1 p.m. on Monday’s program at Woodbine.
$100,000 Bunty Lawless Stakes
Post/Horse/Jockey/Trainer
1/Kingsport/Patrick Husbands/Sid Attard
2/Be Vewy Vewy Quiet/Eurico Rosa da Silva/Bob Tiller
3/Sweet Grass Creek/David Moran/Mike Keogh
4/Boreal Spirit/Gary Boulanger/Jennifer Shafer
5/Thor’s Rocket/Alan Garcia/Paul Buttigieg
6/Ethical Funds/Luis Contreras/George Billers
7/Eskiminzin/Rafael Hernandez/Carlos Grant
8/Red Cabernet/Emma-Jayne Wilson/Ian Black
9/Nipigon/Steven Bahen/Rachel Halden
10/Where’s the Widget/Kazushi Kimura/Robert Neumann
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