Archer's Dreamer hitting best stride

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Archer's Dreamer might be poised for a peak effort in Wednesday's Woodbine headliner, a 6 1/2-furlong grass allowance for fillies and mares.

Trained by Roger Attfield, Archer's Dreamer capped her 2005 campaign with a victory in Ontario-sired allowance company. She made her season debut in a first-level allowance and finished third behind See the Wind, who subsequently won a minor stakes at Fort Erie.

In her last start, the allowance prep for the Royal North Stakes on July 16, Archer's Dreamer assumed her customary stalking position under Richard Dos Ramos and hung in the final furlong. But she still finished third, beating stakes winner Velvet Snow and stakes-placed La Trillium.

Archer's Dreamer has recorded two bullet works since the Royal North: a five-furlong work over the training track in 1:01.20 on July 30 and a half-mile work over the turf training course in 47.20 on Aug. 8.

Leading trainer Reade Baker entered Gold Quest and Alaya in the feature.

Gold Quest ran the race of her life three starts ago, when she was a late-closing second in the 6 1/2-furlong Alywow Stakes. The winner, Arravale, returned to finish third in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Hollywood. Gold Quest made her next start in the Ontario Damsel, where she was rank on the backstretch and finished ninth. Most recently, Gold Quest finished third in a five-furlong allowance on the inner dirt track July 30.

Gold Quest will have blinkers off Wednesday and will be ridden by jockey Corey Fraser.

Alaya captured a restricted allowance on the main track in her 2005 finale, but she struggled on the dirt in her first two starts this spring. Alaya returned to the grass in a six-furlong allowance July 2, and finished second against Ontario-sired opposition. Alaya has worked five furlongs three times leading up to Wednesday's race, in which Jim McAleney retains the mount.

Kyoquot Sound finished a half-length in front of Gold Quest when second in the July 30 allowance. In her only grass start, Kyoquot Sound was second by a half-length in a maiden special weight sprint in September.

Air Wild and Wager's Treasure are both trying the grass for the first time. Air Wild, by Wild Zone, is bred to be a turf sprinter on the sire's side, but there's little turf breeding on the bottom of her pedigree. Wager's Treasure is the first foal of a turf stakes winner. Her sire's offspring have been scoring at a 15-percent clip first time on the grass.