Attard goes to his bench for Nassau Stakes with Amalfi Coast

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard bypassed Saturday’s $175,000 Nassau with 2019 Canadian Horse of the Year Starship Jubilee, but he could still win the Grade 2 stakes with the late bloomer Amalfi Coast.

Amalfi Coast won three stakes in a row last fall, the Ontario Damsel and Carotene on turf and the Grade 2 Bessarabian on Tapeta. The 4-year-old is coming off a troubled sixth in her June 6 season opener in an allowance on the inner turf.

“Things didn’t go her way,” Attard said. “She broke bad and got squeezed leaving the gate. She got bumped into the first turn and was checked into the second turn.”

The aforementioned allowance with no conditions was won by Another Time, who should be among the favorites in the one-mile Nassau.

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Another Time lowered the 7 1/2-furlong course record on the inner turf while running down pacesetter Souper Escape. She had struggled in her previous race, the Sand Springs Stakes at Gulfstream, 17 days after prevailing in her March 11 season opener in a second-level optional claimer at Tampa.

“She had an injury a year ago in the spring, so she was off for nearly a year,” trainer Barb Minshall said. “She was in South Carolina, and then I brought her to Ocala when she was getting pretty close. She ran super good at Tampa. She didn’t run any good at Gulfstream, but came out of the race with a bruised foot. We gave her a little time. She had trained well, and I expected a big race. She came out of it really well.”

Malakeh is based in Maryland with trainer Graham Motion, who won last year’s Nassau with Secret Message.

A minor stakes winner in Germany in 2018, Malakeh won a one-mile third-level optional claimer following an extended layoff in her last race at Churchill May 22.

“I think we’ve decided that this is what she likes to do distance-wise,” Motion said. “I don’t see why [the course] wouldn’t suit her. I’m sure it’s in great shape.”

Irish import Elizabeth Way, the 120-pound highweight, won her first two starts on this side of the pond, most notably the Grade 3 The Very One at Gulfstream on Feb 29. She subsequently ran third there in the Grade 3 Orchid, and is exiting a dull 13th-place finish in the Grade 3 Mint Julep at Churchill.

Trainer Roger Attfield said a mile is a bit short for Elizabeth Way, and that shipping her out of town for a longer event wasn’t an easy option due to the pandemic.

Eyeinthesky was supplemented by trainer Mark Casse, who won back-to-back runnings of the Nassau with Sky Treasure and Lexie Lou in 2015-16.