Caitlinhergrtness makes last Woodbine start in Bessarabian
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The career of 2024 King’s Plate winner Caitlinhergrtness is winding down. She makes her final Woodbine start in Saturday’s Bessarabian, one of three Grade 3, $150,000 stakes on the card, along with the Autumn and Maple Leaf.
Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly in 2024, Caitlinhergrtness has won two 1 1/16-mile Tapeta stakes in six starts this year, the Belle Mahone and Ontario Matron. Trainer Kevin Attard nominated her to all three Saturday stakes and said he opted for the seven-furlong Bessarabian over the 1 1/4-mile Maple Leaf because of the distance.
“I don’t think she wants to go 10 furlongs,” Attard explained. “We tried the Maple Leaf last year and she made the lead and got a little leg-weary late. It’s just beyond what she wants to go.”
Attard said the Bessarabian will be the final local start for the popular daughter of Omaha Beach, who could run back in a 1 1/16-mile Tapeta stakes at Turfway in December before heading off to the breeding shed.
“She’s been a pleasure to be around,” Attard said. “She really enjoys her job. She’s in a stall at the barn where there’s a lot of action, and she’s always looking for attention. She doesn’t really bite. She just wants to be played with, in a sense. I’m definitely going to miss seeing her there, that’s for sure.”
Emma-Jayne Wilson will ride Caitlinhergrtness for the first time on Saturday from post 12 in a 16-horse field that includes two also-eligibles.
“She looks really good,” Attard said. “I’m very happy with where she’s at and how she’s been able to maintain herself this whole season.”
Trainer Miguel Clement sends out the New York shippers Les Reys and Love Cervere, both of whom won a stakes here this year while adding Lasix. Les Reys took the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion on Oct. 11, while Love Cervere beat fellow 3-year-olds in the June 21 Alywow.
Other notable American entrants include the Bill Mott-trained Serene Seraph and Grade 2-placed Ellen Jay, who is stuck on the also-eligible list.
Trainer Mark Casse supplemented last year’s Bessarabian winner, Stormcast, off a wide eighth-place finish in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters.
Autumn
Funtastic Again makes his second Woodbine start against 2023 King’s Plate victor Paramount Prince and 11 others in the 1 1/8-mile Autumn.
Trained by Wesley Ward, Funtastic Again led all the way under Victor Espinoza in the Grade 3 Dominion Day going 1 1/18 miles here June 28. He was back on Lasix in that race after a sagging sixth in his previous outing in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile in April at Keeneland.
“He ran an amazing race,” said Espinoza, who retains the mount on Saturday. “I was just cruising with him. I was basically just attached to his back. That’s all I had to do. He’s a very kind horse. He was full of energy.”
The Casse-trained Paramount Prince ended a drought when he wired the field in an Oct. 19 conditioned allowance. The 2023 Canadian champion male 3-year-old and 2024 champion older male on the main track previously had been third back-to-back Grade 3 stakes.
Casse is also running Swift Delivery, who won his first stakes impressively in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup on Aug. 2, after which he missed the board in a Grade 3 fixture at Kentucky Downs. Swift Delivery is partially owned by Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who is engaged to marry the chart-topping recording artist Taylor Swift.
Reigning Canadian champion male 3-year-old Dresden Row is looking to rebound off an uncharacteristically dull third behind Paramount Prince on Oct. 19. He lost a nail-biter the time before to wake-up winner Cool Kiss in the Grade 3 Durham Cup and is surprisingly winless in four starts this year.
Cool Kiss will try to prove that his 17-1 upset in the Durham Cup wasn’t a fluke. He’s one of two Marty Drexler trainees in the lineup, along with Classic Mo Town, who took the Grade 2 Eclipse in May.
Maple Leaf
Casse, who has won the Maple Leaf five times, entered Blitz and Dancing N Dixie in Saturday’s renewal.
Blitz is competing beyond a middle distance for the first time off a runner-up placing in the HBPA Stakes at Presque Isle. Dancing N Dixie won a Tapeta stakes two years ago at 2 at Gulfstream before evolving into a turf specialist.
Turfway-based Long Ago has ample experience over 1 1/4 miles, including several competitive performances on synthetic surfaces in Europe.
Maryland invader For Flying is no stranger to Woodbine. Before ending up seventh last time out in an allowance at Kentucky Downs, she was competitive in three consecutive Grade 3 stakes here on the Tapeta.
Drexler runs the speedy Hurricane Clair and the turf miler Queens Command in the seven-horse field.
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