Youcan’tcatchme made every pole a winning one to capture Sunday’s $100,600 Etobicoke Stakes, at Woodbine.
Trained by Sam DiPasquale for owner Murray Stroud, the dark bay daughter of The Daddy arrived at the six furlong ‘Poly’ event off a six-month layoff but showed no signs of rust with a sparkling front-running effort.
Justin Stein, aboard Youcan’tcatchme for the first time, urged the 2-1 mutuel favourite out of the starting gate and set splits of :22.48 and :45.36 with Dance to the Moon and Eastern Atlantic tracking her early foot.
Youcan’tcatchme led the field through the turn as Acting Naughty, who missed the break, was roused into contention, but there was no catching the aptly named winner who scored a 2 1/4-length victory in a final running time of 1:09.28. Strike the Moon closed for place over Acting Naughty.
Stein followed DiPasquale’s instructions perfectly to pocket the inaugural running of the Etobicoke Stakes.
“She’s a beautiful looking filly. Sam said to put her in the race, and that’s exactly what I did,” said Stein.
DiPasquale was well rewarded for his patience in bringing Youcan’tcatchme back to the track.
“Unfortunately she had an injury back in November,” said DiPasquale. “She recovered well, we brought her into the race on her peak and I can’t argue with the results.”
Youcan’tcatchme banked $60,000 in victory, while improving her record to 4-2-0 from 10 career starts.
She returned $6.90, $4.30 and $2.60, pairing with Strike the Moon ($4.80, $2.90) for a $27.30 (7-2) exactor. A 7-2-4 (Acting Naughty, $2.50 to show) triactor was worth $69.80. Eastern Atlantic completed a $1 Superfecta (7-2-4-6) worth $149.65.
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