Cloudy's Knight rerallies in Valedictory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Cloudy's Knight ($3.60) battled back along the rail after surrendering the lead on the final turn and captured Sunday's , the closing day feature of the 167-day Woodbine meet.

Cloudy's Knight was rank in the early stages of the 1 3/4-mile race before jockey Rosemary Homeister Jr. let him have the lead the first time they crossed the wire, with a mile left.

Cloudy's Knight set slow middle fractions before being overtaken on the final turn by Eagle Poise, the 5-2 second choice in the 10-horse field. Cloudy's Knight dug in through the stretch to win by a length, finishing in 2:59.32. Pool Play rallied to finish another three-quarters of a length behind Eagle Poise in third.

Homeister said the race didn't unfold the way she had hoped.

"Usually, he's very quiet in the post parade, but today he was bouncing and happy, wanting to do something," she said. "He broke pretty sharp and was on the bit right away. I was trying to hold him, but he had his mind made up. He wanted to win both times around.

"When [Eagle Poise] came up next to him, I let him pass him a little bit because I didn't want to ask him again yet, and he just made him fight that much harder," she said. "He does not want to get beat."

Cloudy's Knight, Canada's champion male turf runner in 2007, earned $90,000 for S J Stable and trainer Jonathan Sheppard.