All systems go for Rondure as he shortens up in second start off layoff
?q=100)
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 3 stakes winner Rondure seems ideally spotted in Sunday’s sixth race at Woodbine, a conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option over seven furlongs.
Trained by Katerina Vassilieva, Rondure blossomed here last spring when earning his diploma going seven furlongs in a romp before a narrow loss in another seven-furlong sprint, the Queenston Stakes.
On July 2, Rondure earned a big 95 Beyer Speed Figure for a 5 1/2-length score in the Grade 3 Marine going 1 1/16 miles, after which he wound up sixth in the 1 1/4-mile Queen’s Plate.
Rondure has been campaigned sporadically since the Aug. 21 Plate, finishing seventh in an allowance here in December and a wide second in a March 30 allowance/optional claimer at Turfway.
Vassilieva was thrilled with the latter performance at 1 1/16 miles, which came after a winter break at Palm Meadows.
“I was really pleased with his comeback race,” Vassilieva said. “I wasn’t sure if I had him fit enough to run at Turfway because he had a bunch of time off, but he surprised me and stepped up and ran back to the quality of race that I had seen from him last spring.”
Over the past five years, Vassilieva has posted a 23 percent strike rate going route to sprint, with a return on investment of $3.67, numbers that Rondure could pad.
“I think he’ll do really well shortening up,” Vassilieva predicted. “He broke his maiden at seven. The way that he’s been training, I think his best races will be seven-eighths to a mile.”
Rafael Hernandez will ride Rondure again for Borders Racing Stable.
In a nine-horse field without much speed, Bohemian Boy could secure a comfortable lead. The Mark Casse-trained 5-year-old has been idle since a wide fifth-place finish Jan. 1 at Turfway, where his stablemate and current rival, On Thin Ice, cleared the first allowance condition traveling a mile March 25.
In the other conditioned allowance/optional claimer on the eight-race card, champion Frosted Over will meet Canadian classic winner Duke of Love over 1 1/16 miles in the seventh. Both are starting for the first time since the fall.
Casse sends out Frosted Over, Canada’s champion male 3-year-old in 2021. He tailed off last year after taking the Grade 3 Dominion Day in July and was gelded during the offseason. Leading rider Kazushi Kimura has the mount on the son of Frosted.
Duke of Love finished second in Rondure’s Marine Stakes triumph before ending up fourth in the Plate Trial Stakes and then eighth in the Queen’s Plate. He wore down front-running Ironstone in the drive to capture the second leg of the 2022 Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie.
Duke of Love has been working bullets for trainer Josie Carroll, who will give jockey Justin Stein a leg up.
Conglomerate had a productive winter stint on the Tapeta at Gulfstream Park and possesses a fitness edge on his rivals.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.