Accomplished Girl tops Joseph's pair for Whimsical

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. sends out Tapeta experts Accomplished Girl and Blind Spot in Saturday’s Grade 3, $135,000 Whimsical at Woodbine.

Accomplished Girl was unbeaten in two synthetic-track starts last year. She won a first-level allowance/optional claimer at Gulfstream in July and led throughout the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters in September.

Accomplished Girl finished a lapped-on second with a 92 Beyer Speed Figure when exiting a layoff in the Grade 3 Suwanee River on Dec. 30 at Gulfstream. She made two more starts on the Gulfstream grass in the interim, ending up eighth in the Grade 2 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf and fifth when cutting back to five-eighths in the Captiva Island Stakes.

“She’s 2 for 2 on Tapeta, and that’s one of the reasons why we’re getting her back on it,” Joseph said. “She’s been [at Woodbine] since last weekend. She seems ready to go.”

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Blind Spot endured a heartbreaking loss here last spring in the Star Shoot Stakes for 3-year-old fillies when she was disqualified from first to second for interference in deep stretch. She has gone winless in four subsequent outings, finishing fourth when exiting a layoff March 31 in a five-furlong allowance/optional-claiming turf sprint at Gulfstream.

“She tailed off towards the end of last year,” Joseph recalled. “She needed a break. She came back in that Gulfstream race, and it was a really good run. She ran a career-best Beyer [86]. It was a prep for the Whimsical on the Tapeta at Woodbine, which she seems to excel on. She’s going to run as good as she can.”

The six-furlong Whimsical attracted 15 fillies and mares, including also-eligible The Arcadian Way. All are competing with Lasix.

Sunday Shoes could vie for favoritism with Accomplished Girl. Based at Keeneland with trainer Wesley Ward, the $500,000 yearling purchase is unbeaten in three Tapeta starts at Turfway, including the Serena’s Song Stakes and her Feb. 24 season opener in allowance company.

Peacock Lass ships in from Keeneland off a third in a second-level allowance on the grass. She won a first-level allowance/optional claimer from off the pace at Turfway in late December for trainer Rodolphe Brisset.

Honey Pants won her penultimate race in the Grade 3 Las Cienegas over the hillside turf course at Santa Anita. In her first start for trainer Jonathan Thomas on March 16 at Turfway, she dead-heated for second while beaten a head in the six-furlong Queen Stakes.

Trading Bay benefited from an inside bias in a speedy score in a Dec. 2 allowance with a $50,000 claiming option in her 2023 season finale, for which she earned a career-high 89 Beyer. She has worked weekly in advance of her season debut for trainer Darren Glennon.

Leading trainer Mark Casse runs turf-sprint specialist Play the Music, who took the five-furlong Lightning City Stakes two back at Tampa before ending up sixth in the Grade 3 Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland.

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