John C. Oxley’s Spring in the Air closed with great energy down the lane to capture Saturday’s Grade 3 $177,000 Hendrie Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Mark Casse and ridden by Patrick Husbands, Spring in the Air arrived at the Hendrie off a 3 1/2-length loss to rival Purely Hot in the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes, a six furlong ‘Poly’ sprint.
With an extra half furlong to work with in the Hendrie, Husbands was content to race from well off the pace and had just two of eight fillies behind her at the top of the lane.
Unhedged, who marked a half in :45.32 with Purely Hot and Kitty Wine pressing throughout, stayed on bravely down the stretch but there would be no denying Spring in the Air who circled five wide down the centre of the track to score a one-length win.
Mekong Delta, who followed Spring in the Air’s late rally, landed second at odds of 25-1 with another longshot, Aunt Els, making up the triactor at odds of 50-1. Spring in the Air covered 6 1/2-furlongs in 1:16.79.
Avoiding traffic trouble in the stretch run was paramount for Husbands.
“Today she ran a decent race,” said Husbands. “When I reached the five-eighths pole, I saw four horses going head and head so the most important thing I was interested in was not to get caught behind them when they start to stop. I took her out at the five-eighths pole and watched them and she just ran them down.”
Spring in the Air, named Canada’s champion two-year-old filly of 2012 on the back of a win in the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades, put on a show before, during and after the race with her own take on 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta’s famous front-stepping routine while on post parade and again heading back to the barn after the race.
“It’s her little personality quirk. She thinks she’s pretty special and she is,” said assistant trainer Kathryn Sullivan of the classy bay who has captured graded races both sprinting and routing. “She’s shown she’s very versatile and I just think she’s a racehorse. She’ll go in there and try every time, no matter where you put her.”
Spring in the Air, a four-year-old daughter of Spring At Last-Unbridled Run, bred in Ontario by WinStar Farm, banked $90,000 in victory improving her record to 4-6-1 from 14 starts.
She returned $7.10, $3.70 and $2.90, pairing with Mekong Delta ($14.80, $8.10) for a $113.80 (4-1) exactor. A 4-1-7 (Aunt Els, $11.90 to show) triactor was worth $1452.60. Part the Seas completed a $1 Superfecta (4-1-7-5) worth $3060.50.
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