Dreaming of Drew to get rest of season off, will target 2021 Woodbine Oaks

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Princess Elizabeth Stakes winner Dreaming of Drew has been put away for the year by trainer Barbara Minshall, who said she’s looking at the 2021 Woodbine Oaks as the main goal for the striking chestnut.

Dreaming of Drew was a blowout maiden winner in July before losing the Catch a Glimpse Stakes on the grass by a nose to Alda, a longshot in Friday’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. She subsequently finished fourth in the Grade 1 Natalma after trying to lay in through the stretch in that one-mile turf route.

With blinkers on in last Saturday’s $250,000 Princess Elizabeth going 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta, Dreaming of Drew led all the way in a comfortable score over fellow Canadian-breds.

“Coming down the lane in the Natalma, she was swerving a bit,” Minshall recalled. “It probably cost her a couple of positions. I put a small set of blinkers on her just to make sure she went straight. It really worked.”

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Minshall said the promising Tapit filly Designer Ready is headed for the Grade 3 Mazarine over 1 1/16 miles on the Tapeta here Nov. 22. She closed from 10 lengths back to win her debut going away in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special on the grass Oct. 3.

“She’s a Kentucky-bred, and there’s nowhere else to run her,” Minshall said. “She’s trained really well on the [Tapeta]. I think at this stage, you could probably put her on any surface and she would run a good race. I put on the turf because the family liked turf. She’s light on her feet, and I thought she’d move well on it. The race was there, and she was ready to run. It worked out really good. She trains like a very good filly.”

British Royalty, a come-from-behind debut winner around two turns Oct. 11, was a well-beaten fifth in last Sunday’s Coronation Futurity for Canadian-bred juveniles.

Regarding the Coronation, Minshall said: “He was too far back early. He’s very green. You just can’t leave him with that much to do.”

Minshall is eyeing an allowance race for her own 2-year-old filly Jill, who was second to the favored Sunsprite in an allowance on the inner turf Oct. 17.

“She’s really come along,” said Minshall, who paid $25,000 for her at the Canadian premier yearling sale.

Minshall is running Armistice Day in Saturday’s Grade 2 Autumn on the Tapeta. He was exiting a commendable fifth at 53-1 in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile when he came up empty in the Grade 3 Durham Cup on Oct. 11.

“His last race was a real bounce,” Minshall said. “I probably just ran him back too quick off a big race in the Woodbine Mile. He’s felt good the last few weeks.”