Attard has plans for Special Forces, Munnyfor Ro

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard said Special Forces is being pointed toward the $175,000 Autumn Stakes here Nov. 14 following his 6-1 score in the Grade 3 Durham Cup.

Special Forces captured the Grade 2 Autumn with a career-high 99 Beyer Speed Figure in 2019, after which he missed all of 2020 with a setback. Last Sunday’s Durham Cup was his third start on the comeback trail, for which he got a 97 Beyer after beating a small but select field that included 2019 Belmont Stakes winner Sir Winston and reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart.

“He’s back to where he was,” said Attard, who claimed the 6-year-old Candy Ride gelding with partner Soli Mehta from trainer Mark Casse for $40,000 in September 2018.

Attard said taking Special Forces to Gulfstream for the winter is a possibility, depending how the stakes schedule looks there on the new Tapeta surface. He ruled out the closing-day feature here, the Grade 3 Valedictory going 1 1/2 miles on Dec. 5.

“I don’t think he wants to go that far,” Attard said.

Attard is aiming probable Canadian champion 3-year-old filly Munnyfor Ro toward the $125,000 Ontario Damsel Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile route for 3-year-old fillies here Oct. 31.

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Munnyfor Ro won two-thirds of the Canadian Triple Tiara, the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks on the Tapeta and her last race in the Wonder Where Stakes on the grass, over which she was proven. In between those outings, she finished a very respectable fourth against the boys in the $1 million Queen’s Plate.

Attard said he wasn’t surprised to see Munnyfor Ro win the 1 1/4-mile Wonder Where by daylight after a very wide trip.

“Turf wasn’t going to be an issue for her, and she ran good going 1 1/4 miles in the Plate,” Attard said.

Attard said two of his refugees from the Canadian Triple Crown, Prince of Wales winner Haddassah and Wales runner-up Harlan Estate, are done for the year. Haddassah finished a well-beaten 11th traveling 1 1/2 miles on yielding turf in the Oct. 3 Breeders’ Stakes, in which Harlan Estate wound up fourth.

“I sent Haddassah to the farm after his last race,” Attard said. “Harlan Estate is heading to Ocala for some R and R as well.”

Attard said H C Holiday, the troubled third-place finisher in the Queen’s Plate, remains at Woodbine and could run against maidens before the meet ends. He had a maiden win in June taken away from him after the fact due to an issue regarding his Lasix status.

◗ Attard sends out Hard Street and Ride the Wind in Friday’s seventh race, a nonwinners-of-two hybrid sprint for Ontario-sired allowance types and $40,000 claimers.

Post time for the first of eight races is 4:45 p.m.