On a sunny and mild November afternoon, Kentucky-bred 2-year-olds BLUEBIRDS OVER and RENEGADE REBEL used their speed to win the Grade 3 Grey and Mazarine Stakes, respectively, at Woodbine.
The November 26 card of racing was held on a glorious day and speed horses had the run of the races. The Grey and Mazarine were the last pair of major juvenile stakes for the meeting, which has just 8 cards remaining in 2022.
Florida invader Bluebirds Over, a homebred for Ed Seltzer and Beverly Anderson, who have raced more than their share of horses in Ontario, was shipped north by trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr. following a lopsided 8-length win in a maiden allowance at Gulfstream on Nov. 5. The bright bay colt by English Channel – Giant Review by Giant’s Causeway had just four rivals to take on in the 1 1/16 mile Grey after trainer Mark Casse scratched two of his three filly-starters, Renegade Rebel and Ryder Ryder Ryder. That pair stayed in the Mazarine field and would finish one-two (see more below).
Under jockey Edgar Zayas, who came north to ride the colt, Bluebirds Over was eager early but Zayas was able to get him to settle off One Bay Hemingway, who darted clear down the backstretch. It wasn’t long before Bluebirds Over got closer to the leader, however, and into the stretch, got neck and neck with Howard Walton’s Ontario-sired and bred son of Danger Bay before going on to a 1 1/2 length win.
“He was way, way more relaxed,” said Zayas. “It helped, I think, that we didn’t take him away from the pony. The first time, we took him away from the pony and he ran off with me before the race too. He was green the first time. He broke out of there last time and he broke straight to go to the lead, and I was trying to take a hold of him to sit second. It took me a little bit to relax him. But today, he broke out of there sharp, and he relaxed from the get-go. He’s really impressive.”
The big filly Forever Dixie was along for third running against the tough speed bias. Odds-on favourite Hal, winner of the Display Stakes on Nov. 5 was not a factor and wound up an eased-up fifth.
Bluebirds Over, bred in Kentucky, won in a time of 1:45.32, a shade slower than what the fillies would go in the Mazarine.
Bluebirds Over is the second foal of Giant Review, who was unplaced in one start but herself a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Sparkling Review. Bluebirds Over’s 3rd dam Pleasant Review is the dam of Grade 1 winner Another Review.
Later in the day, the 1 1/16 Mazarine went to front-running Renegade Rebel, a $700,000 Ocala Spring 2-year-old sale purchase by D.J. Stable earlier this year. A grey daughter of Nyquist – Hasilah by Hard Spun, Renegade Rebel needed four races to win her maiden but did so when she stretched out to 1 1/16 miles, winning by seven lengths on Oct. 29 under Rafael Hernandez.
Hernandez likely sensed the speed bias on Saturday and sent his filly right to the lead early in the Mazarine. She sped away to a two-length lead and held off closers Ryder Ryder Ryder, a $600,000 yearling purchase owned by Live Oak Plantation and another Joseph invader, Honor D Lady.
“First of all, I thought she was getting tired,” said Hernandez. “When the other ones were coming, she kept going. It looked like she was kind of waiting. After the wire, I could not pull her up. I had to go up to the outrider to get me pulled over.”
Renegade Rebel went a bit faster than Bluebirds Over, stopping the clock in 1:44.80 in her neck victory.
Renegade Rebel, bred in Kentucky by Shadwell Stables, has a strong French pedigree. Her dam, Hasilah, is a daughter of Group 1 winner Sierra Mare (Fr), winner of the Prix Vermeille. Sierra Madre is the dam of Group 1 winner Aljabr.
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Also on Saturday there were some impressive front-running winners on the speed-conducive surface. TEC racing’s VANBRUGH won a 1 1/16 mile race for $25,000 claiming by more than 8 lengths for his first win of the season. A Juddmonte Farms-bred 7-year-old trained by Martin Drexler, who won two races on the day, Vanbrugh ran the distance in 1:43.35 for his 5th career win in 25 races.
COLTONS DREAM, a Giant Gizmo colt, won an optional claiming race on the pace for his third win in his last 4 races for Bruno Schickedanz, who not only won 4 races of the 11 Saturday, but claimed a litany of runners also.
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