Churchtown, Duke of Hazzard square off in allowance

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Roger Attfield is a man on the go. The esteemed Hall of Famer is pointing Shirl’s Speight and Lady Speightspeare to the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland and will saddle Churchtown in Thursday’s excellent Woodbine feature.

Coming off a troubled fourth in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, Shirl’s Speight is on target for the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 5. He notched his first Grade 1 stakes in the Maker’s Mark Mile in April at Keeneland before tailing off in the summer.

Attfield beamed about Shirl’s Speight’s five-eighths breeze in 59.80 seconds on the Tapeta last Sunday.

“He worked unbelievably well,” Attfield said. “This is his kind of weather. He hates the hot weather. He’s coming up to it very well.”

After winning her last three starts here in graded stakes, Lady Speightspeare has a foothold on three Sovereign Awards this year. Attfield said the goal for her is the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on Nov. 5 or another Keeneland stakes.

“There’s also an undercard stakes going a mile on the turf,” Attfield pointed out.

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Churchtown drew post 1 in Thursday’s third race, a conditioned allowance with an $80,000 claiming option scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the main turf.

Churchtown won allowances on different surfaces earlier in the meet before getting a break. He was favored Sept. 10 in the one-mile Toronto Cup Stakes for 3-year-olds, during which he pressed the pace and then took control in the stretch before getting nailed on the wire by Luckman.

“He didn’t get to run the way I wanted him to,” Attfield said about the Toronto Cup. “He likes to stalk, ideally. I think he would have won it if he had. It wasn’t his style, but he ran a good race.”

Emma-Jayne Wilson is being reunited with Churchtown and was aboard for all three of his wins. The son of Air Force Blue breezed a half-mile in 49 seconds with Newport Agent on Sunday.

“It was a maintenance work,” Attfield said. “He’s training very well. He’s in good shape.”

Kentucky-based trainer Wesley Ward continues his fall invasion at Woodbine when he sends out probable favorite Duke of Hazzard against Churchtown.

Duke of Hazzard finished sixth in last year’s Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, after which he went to the sidelines for eight months. When returning to action in his first try for Ward on May 22, the 6-year-old wound up second in the Seek Again Stakes at Belmont.

Following fifth- and third-place finishes in two more stakes, Duke of Hazzard won his last outing in a $180,000 handicap at Kentucky Downs. King Cause, the runner-up in that one-mile event, subsequently won the Grade 3 Knickerbocker at Belmont at the Big A.

Woodbine’s red-hot leading rider Kazushi Kimura has the call on the French import Duke of Hazzard.

Post time for Thursday’s eight-race program is 4:50 p.m.

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