Razor-sharp Paramount Prince speed of the Seagram Cup

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Is there anyone willing to go with the speedy champion Paramount Prince in the Grade 2 Seagram Cup on Saturday at Woodbine? That’s the question rival trainers are wondering heading into Saturday’s renewal of the $175,000 Tapeta route.

Paramount Prince gained fame when leading all the way in last year’s King’s Plate under Patrick Husbands. He also posted front-running victories in his season opener in allowance company at Gulfstream Park and most recently in the Grade 3 Dominion Day. In between, he was rated behind his Mark Casse-trained stablemate Get Smokin en route to finishing a close third in the Grade 2 Eclipse. Get Smokin faded to fourth in that race but subsequently won the Grade 2 United Nations at Monmouth Park.

Casse also entered the stretch-running Eclipse victor Palazzi and longshot Volcanic in the nine-horse field.

Trainer Mike DePaulo sends out the steady Stanley House, who ran third in the 2023 King’s Plate. This year, Stanley House won his return from an extended layoff in a conditioned allowance/optional claimer before a stalking second in the Dominion Day, an effort with which trainer Mike DePaulo was content.

“He ran a good race,” DePaulo said. “For a minute there, it looked like he was going backwards, and he came back on to be second. Patrick can be very dangerous when he backs up the field, and there hasn’t been a lot of pace in [Paramount Prince’s] races. It would be nice to see somebody in there with some gas to chase him. I don’t know who that will be.”

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Wicked Django rallied for third at 24-1 in the 1 1/8-mile Dominion Day and the turnback to 1 1/16 miles in the Seagram might be to his detriment.

Money Supply ships in from Saratoga off a victory in a turf stakes at Horseshoe Indianapolis. He has no synthetic experience, and sire Practical Joke has produced just 9 percent winners in synthetic routes.

Ontario Colleen

Casse entered Witwatersrand, Crevalle d’Oro, and Time to Dazzle among a field of 13 3-year-old fillies in the Grade 3, $135,000 Ontario Colleen going a mile on the grass.

Reigning Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Witwatersrand rebounded from a poor showing in the Grade 3 Florida Oaks on the Tampa Bay Downs turf to romp in the Ruling Angel Stakes here May 18. She’s coming off a flat third behind Sabatini while heavily favored in the Grade 3 Selene.

Sabatini is trying turf for the first time after landing her two-turn debut in the Selene, in which turf expert Crevalle d’Oro finished a commendable second. By the 15 percent turf route sire Uncle Mo, Sabatini will be ridden by Sofia Vives for trainer Josie Carroll. They combined to capture last Saturday’s Woodbine Oaks with Kin’s Concerto.

Trainer Kevin Attard sends out Airosa, Rosa, and Tripolina. Airosa and Tripolina are both making their first start of the year after working together.

Simply in Front ships in from Churchill Downs, where she finished seventh in the June 29 Tepin Stakes. She’s going back on Lasix, which she used when winning her penultimate race in allowance company.

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