DePaulo has two dropping to maiden-claiming on Thursday card
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Maiden special to maiden claiming is one of the bigger class drops in racing, and trainer Mike DePaulo has two such runners on Thursday’s Woodbine card.
In the seventh, DePaulo sends out My Ginny Bear, who trailed in a 14-horse field after missing the break in a key maiden special in her debut, which was won by future Grade 3 Selene winner Our Flash Drive. My Ginny Bear is plunging all the way down to the $7,500, while going from seven furlongs to 1 1/16 miles.
In the eighth, DePaulo saddles possible favorite Shes the North, who has four third-place finishes to her credit from 13 starts over various distances on turf and Tapeta. She was dueled into submission on the front end and checked-in a distant sixth in her last race going 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner turf.
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Shes the North is meeting maiden Ontario-sired and $40,000 claimers in the hybrid race, which is scheduled for seven-eighths on the main turf.
According to DRF Formulator, DePaulo was 5 for 28 with droppers to the maiden-claiming ranks over the last five years. That’s good for a respectable 18 percent win average, with a return of investment of $1.60.
*** Jolie Olimpica was on her game when taking Saturday’s Grade 2 Nassau going a mile in her local debut and first start back on Lasix, after going without it for two races. If the former California runner finishes out her campaign at Woodbine, where the anti-bleeding medication Lasix is allowed in most stakes, then the Grade 2 Dance Smartly going 1 1/4 miles Aug. 22 and the Grade 2 Canadian going 1 1/8 miles Sept. 18 are possible spots for her on the grass.
Jolie Olimpica has never competed beyond 1 1/16 miles, which is the distance over which she was a front-running second to Rushing Fall in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland last July.
*** Il Malocchio will be a longshot in Sunday’s prestigious Woodbine Oaks, but she isn’t without a chance in the 1 1/8-mile test for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
After winning the 2020 Victorian Queen Stakes and finishing second here in the Princess Elizabeth Stakes, Il Malocchio wintered in the U.S. with trainer Ken McPeek; she was competitive in two of three starts.
Il Malocchio was reunited with her original trainer, Marty Drexler, in the spring. She’s coming off a fourth-place finish behind another daughter of Souper Speedy, probable Oaks favorite Lorena, in the seven-furlong Fury Stakes.
Il Malocchio breezed five-eighths in 1:01.20 on Sunday.
“She worked good,” Drexler said. “How often do you get to run for $500,000.”
*** The Jackpot Hi 5 carryover is $116,762, and the Jackpot Power Pick 6 carryover is $14,648.