Aretha steps into stakes company in Ontario Colleen off debut win
:quality(75))
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Aretha makes her much-anticipated stakes debut in Saturday’s $175,000 Ontario Colleen, the first of three Grade 3 stakes on the Woodbine card, along with the $175,000 Hendrie and the $175,000 Trillium.
Aretha had worked impressively prior to debuting in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special on the Tapeta on June 13. Sent off at 9-2, the daughter of Tiz the Law came inside from third with Pietro Moran aboard to post an easy 3 1/2-length score over favored Cool Times.
Trainer Kevin Attard said Aretha “absolutely” ran to his expectations first time out.
“She looked like she was a nice filly, she trained like she was a good horse,” Attard recalled. “I thought she would run like that. It was nice to see.”
From a productive Sam-Son Farm family, Aretha is a half-sister to Grade 1-winning turf star and Canadian champion Up With the Birds. Attard said the jump up to stakes company in the one-mile Colleen on the inner turf is a no-brainer.
“It’s a graded race, in your own backyard,” Attard pointed out. “With her being a filly and with her pedigree, if we could get some graded back type on her, it’s obviously good for her residual value. We took her to the [turf training course] after she broke her maiden, and she seemed to really take a liking to it.”
The Colleen lured eight other 3-year-old fillies, including Penn Oaks winner Bandiagara, Flowerhead, Happy Destination, and Smexy.
Hendrie
Attard sends out American Women in the Hendrie, a 6 1/2-furlong Tapeta sprint. She attended a fast pace before fading to fifth two back in the Grade 3 Whimsical and is coming off a charging second in a conditioned allowance behind next-out stakes winner Shifty.
“She got cooked up in a little speed duel in the Whimsical,” Attard said. “The winner came from last. Sometimes, she can be a tough horse to rate. She can get headstrong. She had a good, strong work last week. She’s been working well. We’ve been pointing her to this race.”
Reagan’s Flame won the six-furlong Whimsical with a powerful late kick for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. She didn’t have smoothest of trips most recently when fifth behind Shifty in the Grade 3 Royal North on the inner turf.
Shippers Creed’s Gold, She’s All Charm, and Time to Dazzle are among the other fillies and mares in the nine-horse Hendrie lineup.
Trillium
The Trillium, a 1 1/8-mile Tapeta route, attracted nine fillies and mares, headed by Grade 1-placed Rashmi.
Rashmi wintered with trainer Jonathan Thomas at Santa Anita, where she won the Grade 3 Wilshire in late March. She has been idle since a leading second May 25 behind favored Thought Process in the Grade 1 Gamely.
Rashmi, who has competed exclusively on turf, has been working regularly over Turfway’s Tapeta. The daughter of superb 16 percent synthetic-route sire Oscar Performance is getting back on Lasix, which she hasn’t used since her allowance score in the fall of 2024 at Del Mar. Pietro Moran has the mount.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.