Corsia Veloce gets Woodbine Oaks prep in Fury Stakes
?q=100)
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Corsia Veloce, the unbeaten Canadian champion 2-year-old filly, makes her season debut over seven furlongs in Saturday’s $125,000 Fury Stakes for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.
Trained by Josie Carroll, Corsia Veloce won her debut sprinting on the Tapeta last July and then doubled up in the Catch a Glimpse Stakes on the main turf in August. She went to the sidelines after taking the Grade 1 Natalma in September, a one-mile inner turf route that was a Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In qualifier.
The Fury is a prep for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on July 19, which is the goal for Corsia Veloce, who is owned by her breeders, Glenn Sikura and Mario Serrani.
“The plan all along is to try to get to the Oaks,” Sikura said. “I don’t take anything for granted. She had an injury, which precluded her from running her in the Breeders’ Cup. We were very conservative with her. She took a little bit longer to heal. It wasn’t anything too major, but it took a little bit longer for things to come around. We had her at WinStar Farm for a period of time, and they did an excellent job with her.”
Corsia Veloce has posted a series of solid works under jockey Fraser Aebly, including back-to-back bullet five-furlong breezes at the end of May.
“She hasn’t missed a day since she’s been back” at Woodbine, Sikura said. “She looks wonderful. She’s training well. We’ll see what happens. I wouldn’t say it’s been a rush program, but it’s been one of those programs where everything has had to go perfectly, step by step by step. I suppose we might have wanted another work or two in her, but we would never run her if we didn’t think she’s in good order.”
Piper’s Gift, Pageant Queen, Bossy Candy, Katie’s Grace, and Mathematical complete the Fury field.
The Dale Desruisseaux-trained Piper’s Gift is unbeaten in three Tapeta starts, including 2-year-old tallies in the Princess Elizabeth and Glorious Song stakes. Off a five-month layoff in the Memories of Silver Stakes on April 26 at Aqueduct, she finished a flat fourth without Lasix when going a mile over yielding turf.
Pageant Queen was stakes-placed four times at 2. She rallied outside from well back to land her April 25 season opener in a six-furlong Ontario-sired allowance, much to the delight of trainer James Bentley Begg.
“We were really happy with her,” Begg said. “What we found is that she has always runs a big race at the beginning of the year. She runs well after having a nice break.”
Bossy Candy earned her first victory Nov. 22 in the restricted Shady Well Stakes, after which she wintered in Florida without any success on the grass. She was a chalky second against older allowance opponents in a seven-furlong Tapeta sprint here May 3.
Katie’s Grace got the winter off after ending up second in the Nov. 29 Princess Elizabeth and checked in fifth behind Bossy Candy in her season opener. Like Corsia Veloce, this will be her first race with Lasix.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.