All eyes again on Embur's Song

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Embur’s Song, the beaten favorite in the Woodbine Oaks, will take center stage Sunday at Woodbine in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Tiara, the $250,000 Bison City Stakes.

Embur’s Song, who is based at Saratoga with trainer Todd Pletcher, won her first two starts in front-running style, earning a Beyer Speed Figure in the high 90s on each occasion. She notched her debut over seven furlongs by 13 lengths at Keeneland in April, and then defeated older opposition in a 1 1/16-mile allowance here May 22.

Embur’s Song was bet down to 2-5 June 13 in the nine-furlong Oaks, in which she cut out fast fractions before tiring late to finish 1 1/2 lengths behind Roan Inish and Moment of Majesty in third.

Pletcher said after the Oaks that Embur’s Song was too keen in the early stages under Garret Gomez.

“It took Garrett about a quarter-mile, three-eighths of a mile, to get her to settle,” Pletcher explained. “As soon as he got her to relax, she got some pressure on the backside. I thought she might be able to shake it off, but she just got a little tired the last sixteenth of a mile, from being too eager early on. If we could have gotten her to relax just a touch, it could have been the difference.”

Ernfold should be the second choice in the 1 1/16-mile test for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies, which drew a field of five.

Ernfold won her season opener in a turf allowance at Keeneland, and subsequently ran second in the La Lorgnette Stakes here on the Polytrack. She had a tough trip in the $501,200 Oaks, in which she broke five lengths behind the field, before running five-wide most of the way en route to a distant fifth-place finish.

Trainer Roger Attfield said he wasn’t pleased with the wide trip and the premature move that Ernfold made heading into the far turn in the Oaks.

“It wasn’t the greatest ride in the world,” said Attfield. “I wasn’t very happy about it.”

Ernfold has recorded two quick works since the Oaks, including a five-furlong breeze in 1:00, which was the fastest of 33 moves at the distance on the Polytrack June 30.

“She seems in good shape,” said Attfield. “Everything seems fine. She was actually going to have a little breeze [Wednesday], but it was too hot.”