Circle of Friends gets rematch with Piven

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Piven defeated Circle of Friends in a bias-aided victory July 23, but the tables should be turned in Thursday’s featured second-level optional claimer at Woodbine.

Circle of Friends rallied five wide against the grain of an inside bias to come a neck short of Piven, who had saved ground most of the way. Circle of Friends was previously a trailing fourth behind the unstoppable Pink Lloyd in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier Stakes, 19 days after checking in sixth in his season opener.

Patrick Husbands stays aboard Circle of Friends. The successful journeyman is 2 for 12 at the meet for trainer Don MacRae, who claimed Circle of Friends for $62,500 from trainer Robert Tiller last November. The 6-year-old’s last victory came going five-eighths at this level in his 2019 season debut.

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Piven won his last three Tapeta starts, dating back to a $40,000 claimer Nov. 16. Owner Gary Barber got trainer Mark Casse to claim him from a win for $60,000 on Dec. 15, after which the gelding struggled on the dirt at Aqueduct and on the turf at Gulfstream.

Rafael Hernandez retains the mount on Piven. The meet’s leading rider is 5 for 14 for the powerful Casse barn.

Silent Jimmie is coming off the fastest race of any of these, a closing second behind Pink Lloyd in the July 23 Shepperton Stakes, during which he benefited from the aforementioned bias under an astute ride from Daisuke Fukumoto.

Silent Jimmie, who has just three wins from 34 starts, is turning back an eighth of a mile to 5 1/2 furlongs, a distance that is shorter than what he prefers.

Hitters Park and Salieri ran one-two in the opening race of the Woodbine Turf Sprint Series, a glorified five-furlong starter on the inner course. The second leg of the series was called off due to insufficient entries.

Salieri earned Beyer Speed Figures in the low 90s in July, when wiring $25,000 claimers on the main turf and when a front-running second in the turf sprint series. His Tapeta form last year was mediocre, and he could have company on the lead here from Alacritous, who won a slow first-level allowance on the second day of the meet June 7.

Hitters Park parlayed an inside-stalking trip into a daylight score with a 96 Beyer in the turf sprint series opener. His lone Tapeta start was a narrow loss in a five-furlong optional starter Nov. 8.

Souper Success, who won the 2019 Woodstock Stakes, is mired in a slump. He came up empty last time in the Shepperton and also was a dull sixth a month earlier on the grass.

Rounding out the seventh-race field is Timber Ghost, who hasn’t raced since capturing an optional claimer in June 2019 on the dirt at Belmont.