Added Edge of old may be back

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Added Edge, who had Kentucky Derby aspirations early in the year, will try to get back into the winner's circle Monday at Woodbine in the $159,900 Ontario Derby, formerly the Col. R.S. McLaughlin Handicap.

Mobil, one of four other 3-year-olds in the 1 1/8-mile race, will vault over the $1 million mark in career earnings with a victory. Also on the card is the $168,000 Carotene Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies.

Added Edge was voted the 2002 Sovereign Award as Canada's top 2-year-old, over Mobil and Wando. Trained by Mark Casse, he won all four of his outings as a 2-year-old, including the Grade 3 Nashua Stakes, but was sidelined with a knee injury after trailing the field as the favorite in the Grade 3 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream in January.

Added Edge resurfaced against older rivals July 19, running third in the Bold Venture Handicap. He was also third against older competition in his only subsequent start, an allowance on Aug. 16.

"It's tough bringing a good horse back from an injury," said Casse. "You can't come back at an easier level. You have to run against the best horses, right from the beginning."

Casse was satisfied with Added Edge's Sept. 21 workout, in which the colt went five-eighths in 1:00.40 with jockey Patrick Husbands aboard.

"When Patrick worked him, he thought for the first time in a long time, that [Added Edge] was back to [being] himself," Casse said. "Every time we breezed him before, we thought that he should have finished a little better. The other day, he finished real strong and galloped out strong. Maybe he's back."

Mobil has prospered this year for trainer Mike Keogh, albeit in the shadow of stablemate Wando, the Canadian Triple Crown winner. Mobil won the Queenston and Plate Trial Stakes in the spring, before ending up second in the Queen's Plate.

Three of Mobil's last four starts have come on the grass. He won the Toronto Cup and Halton Stakes, and was recently third against older runners in the Grade 2 Sky Classic Handicap.

"I thought he ran a very creditable race," said Keogh, referring to Mobil's Sky Classic effort. "He's very sharp at the moment. Unless he's fooling me, he's coming into this race as good as he was for all his other races."