Callendars is where she wins

FORT ERIE, Ontario - Callendars, one of two 3-year-olds in a field of seven, will almost certainly be favored in Monday's $60,000 Centre Stage Anne Stakes at Fort Erie.

The Centre Stage Anne, a six-furlong race restricted to Canadian-bred fillies and mares, is the supporting feature on Monday's Bison City Stakes program.

Owned by Eugene and Laura Melnyk and trained by Phil England, Callendars returns to the site where she has scored both of her lifetime wins.

Callendars has started six times. Her career was launched at Gulfstream this winter, where she flashed early speed in two contests before tiring.

Her two wins at Fort Erie were sandwiched in between two fourth-place finishes at Woodbine. In her last start in Toronto, on June 15, she finished only five lengths behind the talented Mountain Orchid in the Apelia Stakes.

"It was a tough group," said jockey Frank Todd Jr., who also rode Callendars in both her wins at the Fort. "She had an outside post, and didn't have her own way like she did here when she last won. "

Callendars's last victory here earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 86, which towers above any earned by the other runners in this field this year.

Trainer Daniel Wills is sending Orientalspringhope for another go at Callendars. Orientalspringhope was second, 3 3/4 lengths back, when Callendars popped her high Beyer Figure.

"Callendars didn't have any company on the front end when she beat us," said Wills. "Maybe someone in the stakes will give her company, and then it could be a different story."

Orientalspringhope, a 6-year-old bred and owned by Marilyn Cook, is the highest-earning starter in the Centre Stage Anne field. She has banked $126,224 to date.

Ready I Am, the other 3-year-old filly in the lineup, was a $20,000 claim by trainer Myke Neubauer and partners in the spring. The filly was wide in her latest race but still rallied from last to finish second in the five-furlong allowance event. The extra furlong of Monday's race should work to her benefit.

Completing the field are Shady Inspiration, La Vitesse, Dance Me Inside, and Make Mine Rosy.