Back on turf, Rapid Test should be formidable
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Rapid Test completed his 2025 campaign with a victory over a good group of Ontario-sired runners in the Overskate Stakes on the inner turf. Off two solid performances on the Tapeta, he goes back to the inner course as the one to beat in Saturday’s featured conditioned allowance with an $80,000 claiming option.
Trained by Catherine Day-Phillips, Rapid Test was along for third behind Canadian champions Paramount Prince and Mansetti in his May 2 season opener. Three weeks later, in another seven-furlong event at this level, he defeated the aforementioned King’s Plate winners when second after making an early inside bid to vie for the lead on the turn.
Saturday’s engagement goes over the same 7 1/2-furlong distance as the Overskate, when Rapid Test will have Austin Adams back in the saddle.
“I am excited to see Rapid Test back on the turf, as he really seemed to enjoy it last year,” Day-Phillips said. “He does try hard on either surface.”
Among the other contenders in the seventh race are Ice Chocolat, Piper’s Factor, Awesome Bourbon, and War Bomber.
Ice Chocolat ran the race of his life two years ago when taking the Grade 3 Poker at 24-1 on the grass at Saratoga. The Brazilian import went winless in his next six outings, however, ending his slide with a 2 1/2-length tally when tagged for $50,000 in an optional-claiming race on the Tapeta on May 17.
Fraser Aebly inherits the mount from suspended leading rider Pietro Moran on Ice Chocolat. The 8-year-old is trained by Mark Casse, who’s also sending out longshot Little Ni.
Piper’s Factor, victorious in the 2024 Toronto Cup Stakes on the main turf, ended a drought of his own last out when cutting back to six furlongs in a May 10 allowance on the Tapeta. The fast worker lost a heartbreaker to Never Surprised in June 2025 in the best of his three inner-turf excursions last year, for which he got a career-high 93 Beyer Speed Figure. Sofia Vives will ride Piper’s Factor for hot trainer Katerina Vassilieva, who was 6 for 18 at the meet heading into this week.
Awesome Bourbon had a breakout season in 2025, during which he won three consecutive allowances on the inner turf in August and September. He got the winter off after a troubled third in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road in December, in which he was placed second by disqualification. After getting away slowly, he trailed in seventh throughout in his season debut in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier, a Tapeta race that he probably needed. Jose Campos replaces Moran on the Abraham Katryan-trained 6-year-old, who was a troubled fifth when heavily favored in the Oct. 26 Overskate.
War Bomber, a classy Grade 2 winner, has seen better days. The 8-year-old raced thrice this spring at Gulfstream without any success and is making his first start for trainer Tara Neigel, who has impressive recent numbers with new acquisitions.
Post time for the first of nine races is 1 p.m.
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