Artie, Kimura return to action on Thursday card

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Artie and Woodbine’s leading rider, Kazushi Kimura, are both returning from a layoff Thursday, and they will team up in the featured conditioned allowance with a $50,000 claiming option, scheduled for 6 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

Artie turned heads in his dazzling debut on the grass last September. Sent off at 7-2 in the 6 1/2-furlong maiden special, he missed the break before going up the inside and then ran away from his rivals in the stretch to score by 9 1/2 lengths with an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

Artie proved his debut wasn’t a fluke a month later on Oct. 3, when he won a six-furlong allowance on the Tapeta by four lengths with a 92 Beyer.

Artie went on to finish third behind Clayton and Lenny K while competing on short rest Oct. 17. He hasn’t raced since ending up second to a peaking Lapochka in another conditioned allowance with a claiming option Dec. 5.

Kimura rode Artie in all four of his races. He injured his back in a one-horse spill on the turf July 22 and is named on two horses Thursday, his first day back race-riding since then.

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Kimura has won on 14 of 54 mounts at the meet for Artie’s trainer, Marty Dexler. Going back five years, Drexler had an 18 percent strike rate with six-month-plus layoff runners, with a return on investment of $1.67.

Drexler also is sending out Vanbrugh, who won his first start for the barn in a $40,000 claimer here in October.

Vanbrugh got the winter off after ending up seventh behind War Bomber in a conditioned allowance on Nov. 14. When coming off an eight-month absence on July 23, the 7-year-old finished a decent sixth after a stalking trip in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup.

Sahin Civaci retains the mount on Vanbrugh, who was ridden by Kimura last fall.

Trainer Mark Casse sends out Masseto and My Silencer in the headliner, along with main-track-only entrant Swot Analysis.

After notching his debut, Masseto was competitive in Group 2 stakes last year in Ireland. The 3-year-old wound up fifth in his first start for Casse in a lucrative Kentucky Downs stakes in September and was victorious in a first-level allowance when returning from another layoff here June 5.

My Silencer, who’s exiting a one-year layoff, went shareless in three turf races. He started just twice in 2021, in a pair of Tapeta races in the summer. He wired a seven-horse field before a flat fifth in another conditioned allowance with a claiming option.

Hicksy, victorious in the Display Stakes last year at 2, is competing on the grass for the first time. He is by Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf victor Hootenanny, who has sired two turf winners from 13 starters. Hicksy is the first foal from a modest turf winner.

Post time for the eight-race card is 4:50 p.m.