Artie's Princess holds off Boardroom in Bessarabian Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Kazushi Kimura probably thought that he could have a good day at Woodbine on Saturday when he was cleared to ride after his COVID-19 test came back negative. Sure enough, he won two stakes on the card, the Grade 3 Ontario Derby on Field Pass and the Grade 2 Bessarabian on Artie’s Princess.

Artie’s Princess needed the ideal stalking trip that she got to hold off a fast-closing Boardroom and win the $197,750 Bessarabian by a head. Our Secret Agent completed a sweep of the top three positions by 3-year-old fillies when she finished another 3 1/2 lengths back in third. Amalfi Coast, Painting, Jakarta, and Souper Escape rounded out the order of finish in the seven-furlong sprint.

The final time of 1:20.90 wasn’t all that far off Hollywood Hit’s 10-year-old synthetic track record of 1:20.07.

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Trained by Wesley Ward, Artie’s Princess returned $7 as the lukewarm favorite and earned $126,000 for owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

“Basically, if I can go to the front, I wanted to go to the front,” Kimura said. “But two (other) horses wanted to go to the front, and it looked a little bit fast. I was just patient. She was so comfortable. She wasn’t too much tired (in deep stretch). She kept going.”

Kimura, the Eclipse and Sovereign Award-winning apprentice in 2019, ranks third in the Woodbine jockey standings with 80 wins.