Up With the Birds goes from last to first in Nijinsky

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Up With the Birds made a triumphant return to Woodbine on Saturday with an impressive last-to-first score in the Grade 2, $236,400 Nijinsky Stakes.

Up With the Birds ($9) bided his time on the backstretch of the nine-furlong turf route, while Five Iron and Really Sharp dueled through fast splits. Up With the Birds began to mount a wide rally at the top of the stretch, and then blew by everybody en route to a four-length tally, in 1:45.74.

Dynamic Sky rallied inside for second at 24-1, while River Seven outlasted Dorsett for third. The favored Za Approval was a non-threatening fifth, as Five Iron and Really Sharp both faded to finish sixth and seventh, respectively.

It was the second stakes win on the card for Eurico Da Silva, who guided Regal Conqueror to victory in the Ontario Damsel.

“He’s a very nice horse,” Da Silva said. “I wanted to do the same as I do with him in the morning. Let him relax, and he always works really good like that. He came on very, very strong.”

Up With the Birds, who was coming off a freshening which followed a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Dixie, earned $144,000 for Sam-Son Farm and trainer Malcolm Pierce.