Change in tactics helps Yummy With Butter

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Yummy With Butter certainly was due for a break in a stakes, and finally got one in Sunday's Overskate at Woodbine.

A good trip and a friendly photo got Yummy With Butter to the infield stakes winner's circle here for the first time following a thrilling finish to the seven-furlong Overskate for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and upward.

The stakes win was also the first for trainer Mark Fournier, who relocated here from Fort Erie in 2008.

"I thought 'Oh, no, not again!' " said Fournier, who along with many in attendance had thought Yummy With Butter had lost the bob to Stray Cat Stride in the Overskate, just like he fell a head shy of a win in the Shepperton a month ago. This time, Yummy With Butter emerged victorious by the slimmest of noses under jockey Tyler Pizarro.

Fournier said he believed that a change in running style was a key to Yummy With Butter's stakes breakthrough.

"I'd told Tyler that he was really sharp, and I just had a feeling he'd be a lot closer than usual," said Fournier. "He was close early, off a pretty quick pace, and he got a clear run. He never got stuck in behind horses."

Yummy With Butter's next start should come in the Oct. 12 Mt. Sassafras, a seven-furlong stakes in which he finished third last year.

Ghost Fleet may try Cup and Saucer

Ghost Fleet was back on the main track and back in the stakes winner's circle after scoring by a neck in Sunday's $169,350 Swynford, a seven-furlong race for 2-year-olds.

Ghost Fleet had scored impressively in his first two starts, including the six-furlong Vandal but then finished sixth as the odds-on choice in the seven-furlong turf allowance prep for the Summer Stakes.

Following that race, trainer Sid Attard elected to take Ghost Fleet off the trail for this coming Saturday's Summer and point him for the Swynford.

Attard is unconvinced that turf was the sole reason for Ghost Fleet's only losing effort.

"He scoped good after, but I think he was sick that day," said Attard. "He just wasn't himself. I'd like to give him a shot at the Cup and Saucer. We have lots of time."

The $250,000 Cup and Saucer, a 1 1/16-mile turf race for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds, will be run here Oct. 18.

Ghost Fleet's half-brother Utterly Cool won the Cup and Saucer last year.

Double Malt could test older

Trainer Malcolm Pierce had a perfect day here last Saturday, sending out Double Malt to capture the $127,000 La Prevoyante and Mullins Beach to win a $91,220 open allowance race.

For Double Malt, the neck win under regular rider Eurico Rosa da Silva was her third straight but was something of a departure from her other recent successes.

"Her last couple of races, she'd won easier," said Pierce, who had sent out Double Malt to get up late to score by a half-length in the Passing Mood over seven furlongs of turf and then dominate the Eternal Search over 1 1/16 miles on the main track. "This time she had to fight to keep her head in front the last sixteenth. She was game. She gave us a big effort."

Pierce, for want of a better option, may send out Double Malt against older fillies and mares in the $125,000 Classy 'n Smart at 1 1/16 miles here Oct. 7.

Mullins Bay fond of turf sprints

Mullins Bay, coming off a second-place finish in the Belle Geste over seven furlongs of turf, was a convincing 2 1/2-length winner in a stakes-caliber field of six traveling

6 1/2 furlongs on the turf.

The race was marred by the fatal breakdown of Lady Attack, a stakes-winning mare trained by Josie Carroll.

Mullins Beach was recording her third win of the meeting, having captured the five-furlong La Voyageuse on the main track and the Ontario Damsel over 6 1/2 furlongs of turf.

"That's what she likes to do best, sprint on the turf," said Pierce.

Mullins Beach should get another opportunity to do just that here in the Oct. 3 Avowal, a seven-furlong overnight stakes for fillies and mares which offers a purse of $100,000.

Pierce trio tunes up for stakes

Pierce, who has won a meet-leading 11 stakes, will be looking to add to that total in a pair of lucrative turf events this coming Sunday.

Sterwins is headed for the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile while Points of Grace and Much Obliged are on target for the Grade 2, $300,000 Canadian for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on the grass.

All three horses breezed five furlongs this past weekend under exercise rider Mark Ramsammy.

Sterwins went in 59.20 seconds on the main track Saturday, Points of Grace was timed in 1:01.40 on the turf course Sunday, and Much Obliged was clocked in 59.00 on the main track Sunday.

Phoenix next target for Fatal Bullet

Fatal Bullet returned to the work tab on Sunday with a four-furlong breeze in 46.60 under da Silva.

"He worked super, and galloped out strong," said trainer Reade Baker. "Our plans are to head for the Phoenix."

The six-furlong Phoenix, a Grade 3, $250,000 race at Keeneland on Oct. 9, would be Fatal Bullet's prep for a return engagement in the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Santa Anita on Nov. 7. He finished second in last year's running.

Stein appeals suspension, fine

Jockey Justin Stein has been granted a stay after appealing a

25-day suspension and $2,500 fine that was handed down by the stewards last Friday.

Stein had been unseated by his mount, Sincerely A to Z, during last Wednesday's seventh race. He is reported to have directed profane remarks and threats toward jockey Chantal Sutherland following the incident.