Boardroom, Avie's Samurai give Carroll strong hand in Duchess

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Josie Carroll’s week got off to a great start when she sent out Mighty Heart to win the $400,000 Prince of Wales Stakes on Tuesday at Fort Erie. She’ll try to keep her roll going with Boardroom and Avie’s Samurai on Saturday at Woodbine in the $100,000 Duchess Stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

Boardroom won her first two outings impressively in the summer, including a 6 1/2-furlong allowance where she earned an 85 Beyer Speed Figure.

Not long after Mighty Heart won the Sept. 12 Queen’s Plate, Boardroom was heavily favored in the Ruling Angel Stakes on the Queen’s Plate undercard. She salvaged third in the 6 1/2-furlong event after jockey Luis Contreras had to deal with a broken line.

“The pin on the line bent, and it came loose as she left the gate,” Carroll recalled. “We don’t know if she rubbed it on something.”

Boardroom worked well in company with Mighty Heart on Sept. 24, breezing a half-mile on the Tapeta in 47.20 seconds.

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Avie’s Samurai is seeking her first stakes triumph after losing a heartbreaker in her penultimate start, the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen on the grass. She was a surprisingly dull fourth in the Ruling Angel, and has since worked an easy half-mile.

Also entered in the seven-furlong Duchess is the Kentucky-based Owlette, who has been a regular visitor to Woodbine. She won two stakes here last year and took her June 13 seasonal bow over Curlin’s Voyage in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes. Trainer Wesley Ward is adding blinkers following her runner-up placing in the Lady Erie Stakes at Presque Isle.

Trainer Mark Casse entered Diamond Sparkles, Fly So Pretty, Our Secret Agent, Raison d’Etre, and Two Sixty. Among them, Grade 3 Selene winner Two Sixty is the most accomplished, but the need-the-lead type is at best around two turns. Our Secret Agent finished a clear second in the Ruling Angel after winning her maiden and an allowance. Raison d’Etre is coming off an allowance score on the grass.

Shirl’s Speight tops Toronto Cup

Shirl’s Speight heads Saturday’s other $100,000 stakes, the Toronto Cup over a mile around one turn on the main turf.

Shirl’s Speight romped at first asking in a quick maiden special July 4, when he wasn’t far off the seven-furlong course record. He subsequently won the Grade 3 Marine going long on the Tapeta. After missing the Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby due to a cough, the Roger Attfield trainee finished seventh against older rivals in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, in which he earned a career-high 93 Beyer.

Casse entered Lucky Curlin, Proven Strategies, and the supplement Duke of Carthania in the Toronto Cup.

Carroll cross-entered the turf expert Runway Dreamer in both stakes. She won her last start against her own sex in an allowance route on the inner turf.