Ballymore Star has the figures to win first-level allowance
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield will be looking to make some noise in Friday’s Woodbine feature when he sends out favored Ballymore Star and longshot Caira in the first-level allowance route on Tapeta for fillies and mares.
Owned by Robert Evans, Ballymore Star was campaigned strictly on the grass in her first six starts at four different tracks, the highlight of which was a second at Gulfstream.
Ballymore Star broke through here July 3 in her first Tapeta start going 1 1/16 miles, scoring by six lengths over Swilling, who came right back to win another maiden special. She earned a 78 Beyer Speed Figure, which exceeded the Beyer par of 75 for this level.
Rafael Hernandez retains the mount on Ballymore Star, an Irish-bred 4-year-old by elite European sire Sea The Stars. She has worked three times in the past month, including a half-mile in a bullet 47.40 on the Tapeta on Aug. 4.
Caira was a minor player on the Tapeta last fall before wintering at Gulfstream, where she had a modicum of success on the grass. Off a two-month break May 14 at Churchill, she finished second in a good allowance on turf, but the 5-year-old was a disappointment when she returned to Woodbine in a July 23 allowance on the main course.
Gary Boulanger will ride Caira for Watters Edge LLC.
Barkin should be a late threat if sufficiently cranked up for her first outing since Oct. 1, when she won a 1 1/4-mile maiden special on turf by 6 3/4 lengths with an 83 Beyer. She placed in each of her three previous races, including a close second at first asking on the Tapeta.
Emma-Jayne Wilson rides the New York-bred Barkin for Willow Pond Stable. Over the last five years, Barkin’s trainer, Catherine Day Phillips, won at a 19 percent clip with horses exiting a layoff of at least six months, while producing a return on investment of $2.30.
Dictate and Fourteen Days could link up on the lead in the 1 1/16-mile event.
Dictate graduated with a $40,000 claiming tag in her final 2020 appearance on the inner turf in October. Protected off a long layoff by waiver claiming on July 4, she set an honest pace before checking in second in her first two-turn try on the Tapeta.
Fourteen Days is stretching out off a gate-to-wire victory in a seven-furlong hybrid sprint combining Ontario-sired and $40,000 maidens. The daughter of speed sire Old Forester is a full sister to the stakes-winning sprinter Marjorie’s Dream.
Saratoga Vision is dropping off an eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Nassau on turf to compete at the first-level allowance category for the first time.
Rounding out the field is longshot Tempereya, who’s adding blinkers for her second local start.