Elision ready for next step

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Elision is due to clear the first allowance condition, and she appears to have found a field that she can handle in Thursday's Woodbine headliner, which is scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on the grass.

Elision won her maiden here second time out last fall before spending the winter in New Orleans with trainer Malcolm Pierce. She placed in two allowance races over the sandy Fair Grounds turf course before stopping in Kentucky on her way back up north.

Elision's best effort came in 1 1 1/16-mile allowance April 8 at Keeneland. She rallied from the back of the pack to finish second behind the upwardly mobile Magical Affair. The third-place finisher, Lady Shakespeare, has since scored twice in optional-claiming company.

Elision encountered traffic in the stretch and rallied for second in an allowance sprint here May 22. She has been idle since ending up ninth after a wide trip in the June 7 Alywow Stakes.

Patrick s will ride Elision, a daughter of Elusive Quality owned by Pin Oak Stable. Her dam, Alternate, is a half-sister to the 1995 Canadian Horse of the Year, Peaks and Valleys.

Speed is often effective when the portable rail is placed in the outside lanes, which will be the case on Thursday, when lane 4 will be used. In a field devoid of speed, Ochoa could set the pace in the feature.

Ochoa led throughout a two-turn maiden route that was taken off the grass and run in the mud at the Fair Grounds in January. Most recently here in a turf allowance, she was a stalking second while beating Dance for Us, who returned to capture the restricted Bison City Stakes. Emile Ramsammy will get a leg up on Ochoa from Josie Carroll, one of Woodbine's hottest trainers.

The European import Mekong Melody has been idle since her second-place finish in a 17-horse listed stakes at Ascot last September, for which she was awarded a Racing Post Rating of 88.

Mekong Melody will be making her first start for trainer Roger Attfield, who has enlisted Chantal Sutherland for the mount.

Rashnaa is trying the turf for the first time off a slow maiden victory over nine furlongs on the Polytrack. She's by a 10-percent turf sire, Tapit, and her dam has produced a grass winner.

Rounding out the field are Sky Cup, Grand Advice, Fintona, and main-track-only entrant Esson Lake.