Either in races for Canadian-breds or in open company, Ontario-breds are in the stakes spotlight Aug. 1 at Woodbine.
Besides those running in the restricted CA$500,000 Woodbine Oaks Presented by Budweiser and in the CA$150,000 Plate Trial, two other Ontario-foaled runners, Pink Lloyd and Amalfi Coast, compete in open stakes. The former is among a field of six older male sprinters in the CA$150,000 Vigil Stakes (G3) over six furlongs on the main track, and the latter goes in the $175,000 Royal North Stakes (G2T) against seven other older fillies and mares on turf over the same distance.
Owned by Entourage Stable and trained by Robert Tiller, Pink Lloyd is a seven-time Sovereign Award winner and 2017 Canadian Horse of the Year. All 34 of his career starts have come at Woodbine on its synthetic main track, resulting in 26 victories.
Four of those scores came previously in the Vigil, a race Pink Lloyd took consecutively from 2017-20.
However, the 9-year-old Old Forester gelding has lost two straight, running third in his final race of the 2020 season in the Kennedy Road Stakes (G2) last fall and second in the June 20 Jacques Cartier Stakes (G3).
Rafael Hernandez returns in the irons.
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Live Oak Plantation's Souper Stonehenge, trained by Mark Casse and ridden Sunday by Patrick Husbands, defeated him by four lengths in the Jacques Cartier. He also finished in front of Pink Lloyd when second in the Kennedy Road.
Souper Stonehenge is the Vigil's even-money morning-line favorite, just ahead of Pink Lloyd at 7-5.
Casse also runs Heste Sport's Not So Quiet, the 5-1 third choice in the race.
Terra Racing Stable's Amalfi Coast is, like Pink Lloyd, coming off two straight defeats, though she remains in good form. An 8-1 shot in the Royal North, she was a rallying third-place finish in the Whimsical Stakes (G3) June 19, which followed a fourth in the Bessarabian Stakes (G2) Nov. 21.
Justin Stein is again aboard the Kevin Attard trainee, a 5-year-old daughter of Tapizar.
Perry Harrison's Change of Control is the 9-5 Royal North favorite, having won the Intercontinental Stakes (G3T) June 3 at Belmont Park. The 5-year-old Fed Biz mare has hit the board in all six of her races this year and captured the Giant's Causeway Stakes at Keeneland in her other 2021 victory.
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The Michelle Lovell-trained sprinter ships to Canada after compiling a 7-for-27 record in the United States. Husbands rides.
Also traveling across the border is Jim and Susan Hill's dual stakes winner Lead Guitar, who makes her seasonal debut after winning her final four races of 2020 in the U.S. Trainer George Weaver has put the 5-year-old Maclean's Music mare through a series of workouts at Saratoga Race Course leading up to her return.
The New York-bred is the 2-1 second choice on the morning line under Hernandez.
The Vigil is the seventh race Sunday, followed by the Woodbine Oaks and Royal North. The Plate Trial is the day's third race with a field of only four.
Woodbine, Sunday, August 1, 2021, Race 7Entries: Vigil S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Cash Dividend (KY) Kazushi Kimura 120 Denyse McClachrie 20/1 2 2Souper Stonehenge (FL) Patrick Husbands 122 Mark E. Casse 1/1 3 3Pink Lloyd (ON) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 126 Robert P. Tiller 7/5 4 4Green Light Go (KY) David Moran 120 Michael J. Doyle 15/1 5 5Not So Quiet (ON) Luis Contreras 124 Mark E. Casse 5/1 6 6Embolden (VA) Justin Stein 120 Michael P. De Paulo 12/1
Woodbine, Sunday, August 1, 2021, Race 9Entries: Royal North S. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Amalfi Coast (ON) Justin Stein 120 Kevin Attard 8/1 2 2Jeanie B (GB) Antonio A. Gallardo 118 Mark E. Casse 4/1 3 3Lady Grace (FL) Kazushi Kimura 124 Mark E. Casse 12/1 4 4Change of Control (KY) Patrick Husbands 122 Michelle Lovell 9/5 5 5Fairywren (KY) Emma-Jayne Wilson 118 Josie Carroll 20/1 6 6Sister Peacock (KY) Gary Boulanger 118 Stuart C. Simon 15/1 7 7Lead Guitar (NY) Rafael Manuel Hernandez 120 George Weaver 2/1 8 8Jeannie's Beepbeep (KY) Luis Contreras 118 Norman McKnight 10/1
