Amalfi Coast going for Royal North repeat after being sold

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse sends out the top two finishers in last year’s Royal North Stakes, Amalfi Coast and Jeanie B, in this year’s edition of the Grade 2 turf sprint on Saturday at Woodbine. Six other fillies and mares were entered in the $175,000 event, which has been lengthened to 6 1/2 furlongs from its traditional distance of six furlongs.

Amalfi Coast was trained by Kevin Attard when she won the 2021 Royal North by a nose over Jeanie B. She was subsequently sold for $475,000 to Tracy Farmer at the Keeneland November sale and was voted the Sovereign Award for Canadian champion female sprinter at year’s end.

Now 6, Amalfi Coast is starting for the first time since the Keeneland sale after wintering at Casse’s Ocala, Fla., training center.

“With all the racing and going through the sale last year, it took a little while to get her back,” Casse said. “She’s training really well now. She’s happy. I think she’s pretty close to being ready.”

Jeanie B wound up fifth in her March 10 seasonal bow in a conditioned allowance at Gulfstream Park before losing the opening day Long Branch Stakes here by a neck to Dreaming of Drew.

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“I’ve thought all along that she’s trained better this year than she did last year,” Casse said.

Casse also entered Souper Sensational and the supplement La Libertee.

Souper Sensational is making her turf debut following a seven-month layoff. The 4-year-old won the Glorious Song Stakes here at 2 and took the Grade 3 Victory Ride last year at Belmont Park before ending up second in the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga.

“She’s an extremely talented filly,” Casse said. “If she ‘turfs’ they’ll all have to beat her, but I just don’t know. We’re just trying to get her started. We have some big races down the road for her, hopefully at Saratoga.”

La Libertee, a daughter of Constitution, is back on Lasix for her first start since ending up fourth in a March 12 stakes on the Tapeta at Gulfstream.

“I entered her in an allowance race the other day and it didn’t go,” Casse said. “She has a huge pedigree, and if she could pick up some more black type, it would be a big plus for her down the road as a broodmare.”

Trainer Josie Carroll entered Boardroom, Lady War Machine, and Gidgetta.

Boardroom is experimenting on the grass following a troubled second in the Grade 3 Whimsical here May 8, her first race in 8 1/2 months.

Lady War Machine won the 2021 Alywow Stakes for 3-year-old fillies over this course and distance.

Gidgetta, owned by Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing, is a turf specialist who was fifth in her last start on the Tapeta in the Grade 2 Bessarabian here in November.

Completing the field is shipper In Good Spirits, who was a flat fourth in her May 5 season opener in the 5 1/2-furlong Unbridled Sidney Stakes at her Churchill Downs base.