Champions Munnyfor Ro, Skygaze to do battle in Belle Mahone Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Canadian champions Munnyfor Ro and Skygaze will clash Sunday at Woodbine in the $100,000 Belle Mahone, a 1 1/16-mile overnight stakes for fillies and mares.

Munnyfor Ro won two-thirds of the 2021 Canadian Triple Tiara, the Woodbine Oaks and Wonder Where, stakes that sandwiched a commendable fourth-place finish against the boys in the $1 million Queen’s Plate. The 2021 champion 3-year-old filly has been idle since winning the Ontario Damsel Stakes here Oct. 31.

Munnyfor Ro breezed five-eighths in 1:01.40 on May 27, to the satisfaction of trainer Kevin Attard, who has a 17 percent strike rate with six-month-plus layoff runners.

“Her last work, I was really happy with it,” Attard said. “She needs to do something now. She’s a little aggressive, a little sharper than normal, so it seems like she’s itching to get into some racing action. She’s running against older stakes horses for the first time, so she’s going to have to step up from 3 to 4.

“From a physical standpoint, she’s matured. She’s bigger and stronger, so hopefully, she can put it all together. Last year was special. Could she replicate that? We’re hoping so, but time will tell.”

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Justin Stein will ride Munnyfor Ro, the 125-pound highweight in the 10-horse field.

Skygaze was voted the Sovereign Award for champion older female last year on the strength of her decisive victories in the Belle Mahone and Grade 3 Maple Leaf.

Trainer Mark Casse was at a loss to explain Skygaze’s dull sixth-place finish in her season opener in the 1 1/16-mile Latonia Stakes on April 2 at Turfway Park, when she was beaten 15 1/4 lengths.

“She never picked up her feet in her last start,” Casse said. “She’ll do that now and then. I think the first time we ran her at Woodbine [in 2020] she ran terrible. When she shows up, she’s really tough, and she’s training well.”

Casse also entered Broadway Lady and Alydiva in the Belle Mahone.

Broadway Lady won a second-level allowance on the grass here in October before ending up ninth after setting the pace in the Maple Leaf on Nov. 13.

“Broadway Lady is probably a better turf horse,” Casse pointed out. “She didn’t run any good last time in the Maple Leaf, but I ran her back quick then and it was a mile and a quarter. I think she’ll enjoy the shorter distance, and she’s training well.”

Alydiva was competitive in stakes during the winter at Turfway prior to the Latonia, in which she finished a distant fourth on the Jeff Ruby Steaks undercard.

“I have no idea what happened that day,” Casse recalled. “A lot of our horses never” challenged.

Silent Causeway and November Fog ran one-two in the La Prevoyante Stakes for Ontario-sired females on Dec. 4.

Dreaming of Drew could set the pace while stretching out to the distance over which she wired the field in the 2020 Princess Elizabeth Stakes.