Bound for Nowhere in top form for Nearctic

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Kentucky shipper Bound for Nowhere returns to Woodbine on Saturday in the $250,000 Nearctic and could use the Grade 2 stakes as a springboard to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.

An accomplished 8-year-old owned and trained by Wesley Ward, Bound for Nowhere was razor-sharp here July 2 in the Grade 2 Highlander, which like the Nearctic, is a six-furlong main-turf sprint. He was blocked in the stretch before finding some room inside of Silent Poet in the final furlong and went on to score by a length under Pablo Morales.

“I thought I might have been a little closer, but it worked out perfectly,” Morales said. “A lot of horses came out together, and I was able to drop in and save a little bit of ground. He was very powerful all the way around there. I was sitting with a ton of horse. I was following a couple that I thought would carry me, but everybody stayed together and I was getting a little worried, but I’m glad I was able to work out a trip. When I put him in the clear and he felt a bit of room, he just took off.”

Kazushi Kimura takes over the mount on Bound for Nowhere, who has been working right along on the Keeneland turf.

The Nearctic attracted eight others, including Woodbine’s perennial leading turf sprinter Silent Poet.

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Trained by Nick Gonzalez, Silent Poet captured the 2020 Nearctic and won last year’s Highlander, when it was a Grade 1. After ending up fourth in this year’s Highlander, he ran third in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup and is coming off a troubled seventh as the favorite in the Vice Regent Stakes for Ontario-breds.

Durham Cup

Special Forces is among a field of nine in the $150,000 Durham Cup going 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta.

Special Forces won last year’s Grade 3 Durham Cup over Sir Winston and was beaten a nose in the 2019 edition of the race. The 7-year-old began this year in a tailspin in a series of graded stakes before landing a Sept. 11 conditioned allowance.

“His last race was good,” trainer Kevin Attard said. “He got a little class relief. He should have his confidence back.”

Artie’s Storm, Frosted Over, and War Bomber all won a two-turn Tapeta stakes at the meet.

Artie’s Storm won his season opener in the Grade 2 Eclipse over Frosted Over, who then turned the tables by landing the Grade 3 Dominion Day.

War Bomber defeated both Artie’s Storm and Frosted Over when taking the Grade 3 Seagram Cup with the aid of a speed bias, after which he finished a weary ninth in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

◗ There also are a pair of $150,000 2-year-old stakes on Saturday’s E.P. Taylor Stakes undercard – the Ontario Racing and the Woodbine Cares. Both are five-furlong inner-turf sprints.

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Ward sends out probable favorite No Kay Never in the Woodbine Cares for fillies and the fast maiden Ever a Rebel in the Ontario Racing. Both were supplemented.