At Attention, Infinite Patience give Heads, Reyes stakes double

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – It was a big day for trainer Barbara Heads and jockey Antonio Reyes who teamed up to win the Grade 3, $100,000 British Columbia Premier's Handicap with At Attention and $100,000 Ballerina with Infinite Patience on Saturday at Hastings.

The Premier's was a thriller, with At Attention edging his stablemate Arollercoasterride by a nose in the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up. He paid $6.50.

Usually a deep closer, At Attention was sharp early after breaking alertly from the rail and was in tight going into the second of three turns. He settled into a stalking position from along the rail coming out of the turn and moved outside of Arollercoasterride to make his bid approaching the quarter pole. After engaging the leader on the middle of the stretch turn, the pair battled to the finish with At Attention getting the nod at the wire.

Arollercoasterride was game in defeat after setting a quick half-mile time of 46.49 seconds under pressure from Regal Riot. Stay Fantastic was never a threat while rallying to finishing third.

The final time was 1:49.42.

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"It was a great horse race," Heads said. "They both ran well. Arollercoasterride held on well after setting a fast pace, and I was surprised to see At Attention up so close."

A 5-year-old British Columbia-bred gelding by Shanghai Bobby, At Attention races for Bryan and Carol Anderson. He was bred by Peter Redekop who owns Arollercoasterrride.

As expected, Infinite Patience easily won the $100,000 Ballerina. She paid $2.10 for her 8 3/4-length romp over her stablemate Solarity in the 1 1/8-mile race for fillies and mares. Kloepatra finished third in the three-horse field.

Infinite Patience broke sharply, was well in hand while posting a half-mile time of 47.78, and was never threatened at any point in the race.

Despite not being urged at all, she posted a quick final time of 1:49.34.

It was the ninth straight stakes win for the British Columbia-bred daughter of Sungold who is trained by Heads and races for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and her breeder, William DeCoursey.

The $70,000 winner's share of the purse brought her lifetime earnings to $584,100.

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