Allowance sprint pivotal race for those looking for big score

ETOBICOKE Ontario – Sunday’s featured second-level allowance with a $62,500 to $60,000 claiming option is a pivotal event on the 10-race card from a horizontal wagering perspective. Carded as the seventh, it anchors the early pick four and kicks off the late pick four. It’s also the second leg of the late pick five and the third leg of the Jackpot Power Pick 6.

Perennial leading Woodbine trainer Mark Casse sends out Chuck Willis and Malibu Secret in the five-furlong Tapeta dash.

Chuck Willis has a chance to cut loose on the lead and should take some catching in his first outing since a sixth-place finish in the Grade 1 Highlander in August. A five-time winner in just 11 starts, the 6-year-old won first time out off a long layoff in 2020 and 2021, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see him prevail for owner Tracy Farmer. He’s a viable single in skinnier horizontal wagers.

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Over the past five years, Casse has a 25 percent strike rate with six-month-plus comebackers in Tapeta sprints at Woodbine, with a positive return on investment of $2.33.

The steady 8-year-old Malibu Secret is making his first start following a 5 1/2-month absence, and his first for Casse. The three-time winner has displayed hanging tendencies throughout his career and hasn’t found the mark since his second-level allowance score in October 2019.

Malibu Secret’s last race was a front-running third in an allowance sprint here Dec. 5.

Chuck Willis competes with a $62,500 claiming tag from post 1 under leading rider Kazushi Kimura. Declan Carroll, a fresh new face in the local jockey colony, will break Malibu Secret from post 3 in the eight-horse field.

Solidify is the lone winter-raced entrant with sprint form. Victorious in the Grade 3 Grey at 2, the late-running 6-year-old competed four times at Turfway over the winter, each time with a $40,000 claiming tag on the synthetic surface. His best performance was a decisive March 18 victory in a fast-paced six-furlong sprint, for which he got a career-high 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

Justin Stein, who won on Solidify here last July, has the mount for trainer Marty Drexler. Like Malibu Secret, he’s a candidate for the bottom of vertical bets.

Eskiminzin ran well in two of his four 2021 starts without finding the mark. The 7-year-old captured his 2020 season opener and is capable of putting up a 90 Beyer when he’s on his game. Emma-Jayne Wilson will ride him for the first time. Trainer Carlos Grant sent him out to breeze a half-mile in a sharp 46.80 seconds on April 18.

Completing the field are Circle of Friends, Seventyseven Stone, Celebratory, and Speedy Hans.

Post time for the first race on Sunday is 1:10 p.m.