Amalfi Coast looks to continue momentum in Seaway Stakes
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Amalfi Coast got back on track in her last start on the grass in the Grade 2 Royal North at Woodbine. It won’t be easy, but she could continue her winning ways in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Seaway going seven furlongs on the Tapeta.
After finishing third behind Boardroom and Our Secret Agent in her season opener in the Grade 3 Whimsical, Amalfi Coast rallied inside to nose out Jeanie B for the victory in the six-furlong Royal North, much to the delight of jockey Justin Stein.
“She’s push-button to ride,” Stein said. “She knows what she’s doing. I’ve watched her run and got to be fortunate enough to ride her and steer her around a few times. When I pull the trigger, she gives me everything she’s got. She’s a really nice horse.”
Trainer Kevin Attard said Amalfi Coast has been rejuvenated after a subpar 2020, which followed her super sophomore season in 2019, when she was a finalist in three Sovereign Award categories without winning one.
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“Last year, she ran into some issues,” Attard said. “I kind of mismanaged her maybe a little bit wrong, so this year we came in with a different game plan. She’s really appreciated that. This race is a little quick back, but the way the schedule is, you don’t have too many options. She’s doing good.”
Attard also entered Toffen, who won two straight allowances for trainer Brian Lynch during the winter at Gulfstream Park. The front-running miler was turned over to Attard after fading to seventh in a third-level allowance on May 14 at Churchill Downs.
“She came up here not that long ago,” Attard said. “I gave her a breeze on the synthetic last week, and I thought she breezed really well. It’s tough to say if seven furlongs is the right trip for her, but she’s a quick filly who likes to control business on the front end.”
Attard pointed to Boardroom as the one to beat, in part because she’s coming into the Seaway fresh with nine weeks off since the Whimsical. The closer won that six-furlong sprint with the addition of Lasix in her first outing of the year, mowing down all the participants involved in a three-way pace battle.
“Everything worked perfect,” said Luis Contreras, who has ridden Boardroom in all six of her races. “She’s so amazing. She’s been improving.”
Boardroom, trained by Josie Carroll, was among the leading female sprinters on the grounds last year at 3, during which she took the seven-furlong Duchess Stakes in October before a heartbreaking loss to Artie’s Princess in the Grade 2 Bessarabian in November. She got a big 96 Beyer Speed Figure in the seven-furlong Bessarabian, and her excellent form over the Seaway distance should make her especially dangerous.
Our Secret Agent finished third in a driving rainstorm when stretching out to a mile last time in her first turf start in the Grade 2 Nassau. She was beaten just a neck by Boardroom in the Whimsical.
Singspiel Stakes
Saturday’s card includes three other stakes, most notably the Grade 3, $150,000 Singspiel over 1 1/4 miles on the main turf, in which Belichick should be among the favorites.
Belichick graduated in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, in October. This year, the powerful bay narrowly lost his season debut at Churchill before clearing the first allowance condition here on the Tapeta. He was a troubled second most recently over about nine furlongs on the main course in the Niagara Stakes behind favored March to the Arch, who subsequently ran third in the Grade 2 King Edward.
Contreras will ride Belichick again for Carroll.
Corelli and Eons are the two American shippers in the Singspiel.
Corelli wound up sixth after a wide trip most recently in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple at Saratoga. He won the Henry Clark Stakes on April 24 at Pimlico for trainer Jonathan Thomas.
Eons, the fourth-place finisher in the 1 1/16-mile Henry Clark, won the 1 1/8-mile Buckland Stakes in his last appearance at Colonial Downs. His biggest of five wins for trainer Arnaud Delacour came in the Grade 3 Kent at Delaware in 2019.
Pair of juvenile stakes
The $125,000 Soaring Free Stakes for 2-year-olds is a prep for the Grade 1 Summer, and the $125,000 Catch a Glimpse Stakes for 2-year-old fillies is a prep for the Grade 1 Natalma. Both are 6 1/2-furlong turf sprints.
Leading trainer Mark Casse sends out Diabolic, Mrs. Barbara, and Lois Len in the Catch a Glimpse. He has Twenty Four Mamba and First Empire for the Soaring Free.
Diabolic is coming off a victory in the My Dear Stakes on July 31, in which favored Lois Len finished a troubled fourth.
Twenty Four Mamba rallied for second behind heavily favored One Timer in the Victoria Stakes on July 31.