Dancehall Deelites true 2-turn filly

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dancehall Deelites will try to make the most of her fitness advantage in Sunday's Grade 2, $278,750 Mazarine Breeders' Cup Stakes at Woodbine.

The 1 1/16-mile event is the country's richest Thoroughbred race for 2-year-old fillies, and it could go a long way in determining the champion of the division.

Dancehall Deelites, trained by Sid Attard, is the only runner in the Mazarine lineup to have won around two turns. She won her fifth and most recent start Sept. 17 in a mile and 70-yard maiden special, leading throughout to win by five lengths and to earn a Beyer Speed Figure of 67.

"She won easy," Attard said. "She ran fast at the beginning and kept on going."

Attard has thought highly of Dancehall Deelites since he began training her.

"She had always worked good," Attard recalled. "We knew that she wanted to go two turns right away, because of the way she trained. When we worked her five-eighths, she didn't want to stop when she was galloping out."

Todd Kabel will ride Dancehall Deelites for owner-breeder Bob Harvey, who teamed up with Attard to take the 2001 Atto Mile with Numerous Times.

Trainer Mark Casse entered two contenders in the wide-open event, Higher World and Extra Bases.

Higher World was a stalking second in her six-furlong debut in July. She captured her only other outing, a seven-furlong maiden special Aug. 14, by nearly nine lengths, leaving Dancehall Deelites in her wake.

"I really think she's a nice filly," said Casse, who has aimed Higher World toward the Mazarine ever since she won her maiden. She was entered and scratched from the one-mile Natalma Stakes on turf here Sept. 12.

Extra Bases encountered traffic problems in the stretch before ending up three lengths back in fifth in the Grade 3 Natalma. She graduated her second time out on the dirt Aug. 1, and then finished a fast-closing second to South Bay Cove in the six-furlong Ontario Debutante Stakes.

Canadian Gem trailed the field in the Natalma after flashing speed. Trained by Roger Attfield, she graduated by five lengths over a sloppy track in her second start.

Trainer Sandy McPherson sends out Hassayampa, a recent allowance winner going six furlongs, and Didycheatamandhowe, who defeated $50,000 maidens in her lone outing.

* In the second race, a 6 1/2-furlong classified allowance, Wake at Noon, Canada's 2002 Horse of the Year, returns from an extended layoff.