Durham Cup matches Melmich, Are You Kidding Me once again

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Older male rivals Melmich and Are You Kidding Me will square off for the fifth time this season Sunday at Woodbine in the Grade 3, $125,000 Durham Cup Stakes over 1 1/8-miles on Tapeta.

While Are You Kidding Me has won twice this season, Melmich will be looking for his first victory of the year in the Durham Cup. He captured this event by 7 1/2 lengths last season.

In his most recent start, the Aug. 29 Elgin Stakes, Melmich finished second for the fourth time this year. He sat off of very slow fractions in the four-horse field and couldn’t catch Kingsport. With just five horses entered in the Durham Cup and not a lot of early speed signed on, trainer Kevin Attard said he has been looking to sharpen Melmich up.

“I’ve tweaked his training regimen in hopes of putting some more speed into him,” he said. “I think he’s going to run well Sunday. The race is void of speed, so I think it will be a jockeys’ race.”

Are You Kidding Me enters the Durham Cup off of a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup Stakes here on Aug. 12. He captured the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes here over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta on May 26. He appears to be training well, having breezed a five-furlong bullet in 59.80 seconds on Tapeta on Sept. 8.

Florida Won finished third in the Seagram Cup and will be looking to record his third win in four starts since being claimed by trainer Norm McKnight for $40,000 on May 13.

Avie’s Mesa has won back-to-back allowance starts for trainer Josie Carroll and owner-breeder Ivan Dalos, and the 4-year-old son of Sky Mesa could be ready for a breakthrough in his graded stakes debut.

Rounding out the field is Lookin for Eight, who was supplemented by trainer Mark Casse and is cross-entered in an allowance over 1 1/4-miles on turf on Saturday’s card. He would enter the Durham Cup off of a fourth-place finish in a one-mile allowance event over yielding turf on Aug. 26.

Blessed Two could double up in Bull Page

In the other stakes on the card, Blessed Two will look to record his second consecutive stakes victory in the $100,000 Bull Page Stakes over six furlongs for Ontario-sired 2-year-old colts and geldings.

Blessed Two was well off of the early pace, but rallied strongly down the lane under jockey Gary Boulanger to take the $175,000 Simcoe Stakes in his most recent start on Aug. 29. He is trained by Attard and owned by Derek Chin.

“I was definitely concerned down the backside,” Attard said. “To be honest, I thought something had happened to the horse. I told Gary to let him get his feet underneath him, but I never expected him to be as far back as he was. At the quarter pole, I thought he could pick up a piece of it, and at the eighth pole, I thought he had a shot to win. We’ve tried to put some more speed into him heading into this race because of the cutback in distance.”

Three other horses exit the Simcoe to run back in the Bull Page: fourth-place finisher Souper Hot, fifth-place finisher Krpan, and sixth-place finisher News Flash.

Other key contenders include Stolen Identity and Bourbon Stritta. Stolen Identity was the morning-line favorite for the Simcoe off of his 8 1/4-length debut victory on July 29, but was scratched. Bourbon Stritta won his career debut by 4 1/2-lengths, earning a 72 Beyer in the five-furlong sprint on July 21.