Chiefswood Stable’s Yorkton rebounded from a troubled start in an Arlington stakes event last month with a dominant performance back at Woodbine in the $100,000 King Corrie Stakes for three-year-old sprinters on Labour Day Monday.
Reunited with jockey Jesse Campbell, Yorkton broke well from post five to take the lead at the start and raced through fractions of :22.20 and :44.36 before opening up off the turn by four and a half lengths. He won the 6-1/2 furlong sprint on the Woodbine main in 1:15.24. Bet On Mike (Rafael Hernandez) won the race for place over Bugle Barry (David Moran) and the 1-2 favourite Circle of Friends (Eurico Rosa Da Silva), who saw his win streak halted at four. Uncle B (Emma-Jayne Wilson) completed the field.
Campbell, who rode Yorkton in his first three career starts including a maiden-breaking win last year, was back aboard for the King Corrie.
“He felt great, he broke clean,” said Campbell, who noted the windy conditions today at Woodbine are more conducive to front-end speed. “At Arlington, he stumbled badly. He worked really well the other day, a little too well. He broke clean and he was relaxed down the backside. I was hoping he wasn’t going to be a little rank, and he wasn’t. He was very well behaved and he ran huge.”
The victory marked the second stakes win this week for Campbell and trainer Stuart Simon, who also partnered up on Canadian Millions Night for a victory with Summer Sunday in the OLG/OR Muskoka Stakes, presented by Signature Red.
Simon said the victory was gratifying coming off the out-of-town, eighth-place finish in the Bruce D. Memorial Stakes.
“He had whacked his ankle a little bit, but it wasn’t serious,” explained Simon. “A couple or three days and the bruising was out of it. We were lucky that way, it could have been far worse as bad as he did stumble, but it turned out to be ok.
“It was really gratifying [to win today]. I’m just really happy for the horse. He’s such a nice horse. People are just beginning to know the real Yorkton and they’re going to see down the line what a nice horse he really is.”
Yorkton now boasts three stakes win from seven starts this year having earned Queenston and Charlie Barley stakes titles prior to the Bruce D. Memorial. The homebred Speightstown-Sunday Affair colt has banked more than $217,000 in purse earnings.
Sent postward as the 3-1 second choice in the wagering, Yorkton paid $8.20 to win and $5.70 to place. There was no show wagering.
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