Are You Kidding Me to defend title in Eclipse Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Last year’s Canadian champion older male, Are You Kidding Me, is on track for a start in the Grade 2, $200,000 Eclipse Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta on May 28, a race he won last season.

Trainer Roger Attfield said Are You Kidding Me has been training forwardly over the past few weeks at Woodbine since his last start in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland on April 15. The 6-year-old son of Run Away and Hide recorded a bullet breeze last Saturday on the Tapeta, covering five furlongs in 1:00.20.

“He’s doing exceptionally well,” Attfield said. “I got messed up on his schedule, too, so I’m going to sit and wait until the Eclipse.”

Attfield said he had originally intended to run Are You Kidding Me in the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes on April 16 on dirt at Keeneland. Instead, Are You Kidding Me was entered in the Maker’s 46 Mile on turf, where he ran eighth behind Miss Temple City.

“It’s a shame I nominated him for both races,” Attfield said. “I had set my mind on the Ben Ali for him all the way along. He had trained exceptionally well on the dirt all winter and at Keeneland. I went and nominated him to the Maker’s [46] just to have a look at it, and then we talked ourselves into running in that race.”

Attfield said he hopes to get Are You Kidding Me on a set schedule after the Eclipse that could include starts on both turf and the synthetic. The horse won graded stakes on both surfaces last year.