Autumn Stakes, Kennedy Road, Jackpot Hi 5 mandatory payout close out card

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It will be take two on Saturday for the Grade 2, $175,000 Autumn, which was canceled last Saturday at Woodbine over concerns with the safety of the track. During the betting leading up to last weekend’s race, it looked like Paramount Prince and Dresden Row would vie for favoritism by post time in the 1 1/8-mile route.

Paramount Prince has won two graded stakes this year and is the divisional leader for champion older male on the main track. He was pressed through fast middle fractions along the inside over an outside-biased track before fading to fifth in the Sept. 28 Durham Cup. Last year’s King’s Plate winner and Canadian champion male 3-year-old has breezed three times leading up to the Autumn.

“He’s training well into this race,” said Casse, who’s also running the versatile Irish import Tosen Wish.

Dresden Row notched his first stakes in the Grade 3 Durham Cup before doubling up in the Grade 3 Ontario Derby. He should be a Sovereign Award finalist for champion male 3-year-old.

Heading into the race last Saturday, trainer Lorne Richards said more time between starts would have been ideal for the Dresden Row. He got his wish when the race was delayed.

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“He was kind of a nervous horse and is just maturing now,” Richards said. “He’s only run four times this year. We haven’t pushed him hard. There’s still something left in the tank. I think he’s maybe eligible to improve a little bit more than some of the others.”

Trainer Kevin Attard entered Ontario Derby runner-up Bail Us Out and turf expert Never Surprised, who’s experimenting on the Tapeta after working a bullet half-mile in 46.60 seconds on Oct. 27.

“He’s always worked really well over it,” Attard pointed out.

War Bomber and Lac Macaza are scratched, reducing the field to 10. Forever Souper, based in Maryland with trainer Mike Trombetta, starts from the outside post while trying to extend his winning streak to four races following a gutsy score in the Presque Isle Downs Mile.

Kennedy Road

Reigning Canadian champion male sprinter Patches O’Houlihan could face his sternest test of the year when he takes on 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Nobals and four others in the Grade 2, $175,000 Kennedy Road over six furlongs.

Trained by Robert Tiller, Patches O’Houlihan is unbeaten in four starts this year. He won three consecutive Tapeta stakes in the summer before scoring over good turf most recently in the Grade 2 Nearctic.

Tiller is happy with the Reload gelding’s condition and campaign, although he wasn’t thrilled about drawing post 1. Sofia Vives will ride him again for owner-breeder Frank Di Giulio Jr.

“He’s doing fine,” Tiller said. “He’s won on the inner turf, the outer turf, the Tapeta. He’s carried weight with a light rider on him. He got beat in this race last year. Our game plan is to run in this race and then give him a nice rest over the winter.”

Victorious here in the 2022 Woodstock Stakes on Tapeta, Nobals has started just three times this year, finishing on the fringes in his last two outings against Grade 2 stakes opposition on the grass in Kentucky. The 5-year-old has been working over the Tapeta at Turfway Park for trainer Larry Rivelli, who’s no stranger to stakes success at Woodbine.

◗ There’s a mandatory payout on the Jackpot Hi 5, which figures to have a carryover of about $300,000 for Saturday’s 12th and final race at 6:50 p.m. Eastern.

Favorites Patrolman, Ghostly Spitfire, and Winston Blue could dominate the $15,000 claimer for nonwinners of three.

Longshots Stormin Dave and Zippy Gizmo should be considered for the lower slots in the 1 1/16-mile event.

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