Amalfi Coast goes for stakes hat trick in Bessarabian

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Terra Racing Stable homebred Amalfi Coast, will put her two-race win streak on the line when she faces older fillies and mares for the first time in Sunday’s Grade 2, $175,000 Bessarabian Stakes over seven furlongs on Tapeta at Woodbine.

Amalfi Coast’s last two wins have come in route races on turf against restricted company. In her most recent start, she came from off the pace to defeat Monastery Lane by a neck in the Carotene Stakes on Oct. 20. Amalfi Coast did have a couple of options in out-of-town races, but ultimately trainer Kevin Attard opted to enter her in the Bessarabian.

“She’s definitely been very versatile,” he said. “We’re asking her to cut back from a mile and an eighth to seven furlongs. It’s going to be a little bit challenging. She’s at home, and she’ll be facing older horses for the first time, and that’s another little hurdle there as well. But we’re at home, and it’s a lot easier to go from your stall to the frontside than it is to put her on a van for 10 hours.”

A full field of 12 is set to contest the Bessarabian and includes a trio of horses from trainer Josie Carroll’s barn – Gamble’s Candy, Painting, and Heavenly Hill.

Key Contenders

Amalfi Coast, by Tapizar

Last 3 Beyers: 84-84-77

◗ While her last two victories have come on turf, she did win a maiden race by 4 3/4 lengths going seven furlongs on Tapeta in August. She’s also breezed twice on the Tapeta leading up to this start, with a four-furlong work in 47.20 seconds on Nov. 8.

Gamble’s Candy, by Twirling Candy

Last 3 Beyers: 88-83-71

◗ She’s won three of her last four starts, a run that includes her first stakes victory in the Ruling Angel Stakes against 3-year-olds over 6 1/2-furlongs on Tapeta on Oct. 13.

Special Relativity, by Cowboy Cal

Last 3 Beyers: 88-83-86

◗ She’ll break from the outside in the Bessarabian.

◗ She has finished second and third in her last two starts, which came in stakes on the Woodbine Tapeta for trainer Norm McKnight. Most recently, she finished second, three-quarters of a length behind Jean Elizabeth, in the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes on Oct. 19.

Xenobia, by Falco

Last 3 Beyers: 94-93-80

◗ She’s won of four American shippers in the field and will be cutting back in distance off of a win in the Grade 3 Athenia Stakes over 1 1/16-miles on the inner turf at Belmont Park on Oct. 20. She’ll make her synthetic debut in the Bessarabian, but does have previous sprint success, having won the Group 3 Brownstown Stakes in Ireland in July 2018.

Misericordia, by Dansili

Last 3 Beyers: 84-82-80

◗ She’s one of four American shippers in the Bessarabian field. She finished third on Tapeta behind Hotshot Anna in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters Stakes on Sept. 16.

Painting, by Distorted Humor

Last 3 Beyers: 77-82-69

◗ She finished seventh in her stakes debut in the Duchess Stakes back in August, but immediately bounced back to run a narrow second to stablemate Gamble’s Candy in an allowance on Sept. 1. She followed that start with a victory in an allowance on Nov. 2 and could move forward here.