Dashing Admiral tries mile
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Dashing Admiral will try to get a mile Sunday at Woodbine in the $131,500 Vice Regent Stakes, a turf race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds.
Dashing Admiral won his first three starts, the first of which was a decisive score over $50,000 maidens in November. Following a winter layoff, he won a five-furlong allowance April 30 by nearly three lengths.
Dashing Admiral tried the grass six weeks later in the restricted Bold Ruckus Stakes. The surprising favorite in that six-furlong dash, he was steadied along the rail in early stretch before closing to prevail by three lengths.
Dashing Admiral's last two starts were both at six furlongs on the main track. He was third behind Twisted Wit and Cut and Shoot in the Achievement Handicap, and finished fourth against older rivals in an $80,000 optional claimer most recently.
Regarding Dashing Admiral's last race, trainer Sid Attard said, "We had absolutely nowhere to run him, so we just put him there. He ran well, and came back good."
Attard said the Vice Regent is probably at the outer limit of Dashing Admiral's distance capabilities.
"I'm a little concerned about him going a mile, but I think he'll handle it on the grass," Attard said. "Horses can go a little farther on the grass, and I really believe that he's better on it. He works better on the grass. I think [the Bold Ruckus] was probably his best race."
Attard was content with Dashing Admiral's Aug. 23 work, when the colt went three-quarters on the main track in 1:13.80.
"He did it easily," Attard said.
Copper Trail, also in the seven-horse field, is a refugee from the Canadian Triple Crown.
Copper Trail earned a 93 Beyer Figure when he rallied wide to finish second to Organ Grinder in the Victoria Park Stakes in June. He was beaten by double digits in both the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
Trainer Jim Day was content with Copper Trail's five-furlong work in 1:03.80 over the turf training course Aug. 8, which is the gelding's only grass experience.
"His one little turf breeze was quite decent," Day said. "He went very comfortably, and galloped out strong. He wanted to go around some more."