Alnilah upsets Summer Sunday in Seaway Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – A remarkable performance by Alnilah ended the heavily-favored Summer Sunday’s three-race win streak in stakes in Sunday’s Grade 3 Seaway at Woodbine.

With Patrick Husbands barely aboard, Alnilah missed the break by about three lengths and trailed the seven-horse field on the backstretch in the seven-furlong sprint. She saved ground on the turn before angling wide for the drive, and caught Summer Sunday inside the eighth pole before drawing away for a 4 1/2-length win in a slow time of of 1:24.39. She paid $15.30 to win.

Summer Sunday finished a clear second, after getting pressed by Katie Baby on the lead through moderate fractions. Katie Baby weakened to third, and was followed by Double Medal, Now Play Nice, Mystic Nile, and Devine Mischief.

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It was the first time Husbands rode Alnilah. She was making her first start for the British Columbia-based Terry Jordan, who was on hiatus from training for a while before returning to action here recently. Jordan trained her dam, 2009 Canadian champion female sprinter Tribal Belle, whose first stakes win in her championship season came in the Seaway.

“I followed her career her whole life,” Husbands. “She always gives you 120 percent. I always believed in her. My agent and I always talked about her. Terry called him and said he was coming to Woodbine with a few horses. My agent told Terry that I believed in the horse.”

A 5-year-old daughter of Smart Strike, Alnilah earned $90,000 of the $145,000 purse in her first stakes victory for owner-breeder Canvasback Farms.