Blurricane captures stakes debut in Ballade
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Blurricane rallied wide from off of the pace to take the $125,000 Ballade Stakes in an upset, giving jockey Eurico Da Silva a sweep of the weekend stakes at Woodbine.
Blurricane ($30.10), making her first start of the campaign, was kept in the clear by Da Silva along the outside, while Copper Fox and Sparkles’ Girl went out for the early lead in the six-furlong sprint for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.
Copper Fox carried the field into the stretch, but she couldn’t hold off several runners coming from off of the pace, including Blurricane, who rallied down the center of the track. Blurricane took the lead from Code Warrior in the final sixteenth, holding off Crumlin Spirit by a half-length, while crossing the line first in 1:09.66 for six furlongs on Tapeta. Crumlin Spirit finished second at odds of 27-1, completing a $450.50 exacta. 2016 Canadian champion sprinter River Maid finished sixth in the eight-horse field.
“The trip worked wonderful for us,” Da Silva said. “I had tons of horse in the turn. She is a horse that runs very, very relaxed. I rode her before and I know when I make a move, she will move very, very fast. When I took her outside and she saw the clear, she just kicked from there.”
The Ballade victory was Blurricane’s eighth lifetime win, but first stakes victory in her stakes debut. She was claimed by trainer Martin Drexler and owners Ken Lee, Dennis Mitchell, and Don and Gaye Bell for $25,000 out of her last start of the 2015 season. She had a successful campaign against allowance runners last year, recording three wins and hitting the board seven times from nine starts. Drexler said Blurricane had been training well in the morning leading up to the Ballade.
“She had a really, really good spring this filly,” he said. “We put her away a little bit earlier last year than I would have liked to. There was one spot we were looking for and the race wouldn’t go. We just decided to put her away thinking she was an Ontario-sired type of horse. It worked. She really does overcome a lot. She’s just a little thing but she tries.”
Blurricane, a 5-year-old daughter of Rebellion, banked the $75,000 winner’s share to bring her career earnings to $385,639.