Disfunction aims for repeat in Vigil
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Disfunction lowered Woodbine's seven-furlong Polytrack record when he won the 2008 Vigil Stakes, and he will try to strike again in that Grade 3 fixture on Monday's holiday card.
Most recently, in the Jacques Cartier, Disfunction stalked pacemaker Stradivinsky early before dropping back to fifth on the turn. He then rallied wide to prevail by a neck under Emile Ramsammy.
Trainer Julia Carey said she was surprised to see Disfunction come from off the pace in the six-furlong Jacques Cartier.
"Emile did all the planning there," Carey said. "Being in the 1 hole, I thought he would be committed to the front. He was banking on [Stradivinsky] stopping. He let him go, and when he tried to go around him, two other horses saw the plan and they went to his outside, which shuffled him back a little. It worked out just fine, but it also showed that he doesn't have to go to the lead."
Disfunction led most of the way in the 2008 Vigil. His time of 1:21.51 translated into a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
"The track came up so fast, and the strong [west] wind was pushing him along," Carey recalled. "That made him go in a track-record time."
Rebellion, based at Keeneland with trainer Graham Motion, finished second following a winter layoff in the Grade 2 Commonwealth there. He was a fast-closing second in the 2008 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita.
Passager has earned back-to-back 100 Beyers, most recently when second in the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile on the turf at Keeneland. He finished third in both of his synthetic-track starts in France.
Judiths Wild Rush, an 8-year-old trained by Reade Baker, won the Vigil in 2005 and 2006. He was campaigned in the United States in recent years and was shipped back to Baker in the spring.
Judiths Wild Rush was seventh in the Jacques Cartier.
"We're going to take the blinkers off," Baker said. "He didn't wear them in his first four starts, of which he won three. He's been getting too anxious in the paddock and in the post parade."