Fev Rover, Moira square off again in Canadian Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Heavyweights Fev Rover and Moira will meet again in Saturday’s $200,000 Canadian Stakes at Woodbine. The about nine-furlong main turf event is a prelude to the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor here Oct. 8.

Fev Rover will try to win the Grade 2 Canadian for the second year in a row. She was promoted from fourth to third after Moira was disqualified from second to eighth in last year’s E.P. Taylor and has evolved into an even better runner this year for trainer Mark Casse.

Fev Rover was an impressive come-from-behind winner over Moira on yielding ground in the Grade 2 Nassau in her July 1 season opener. She went on to finish a close third in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga and was an easy front-running winner of the Grade 1 Beverly D. under Javier Castellano most recently at Colonial Downs.

“She came back in two weeks in the Diana,” Casse pointed out. “I wasn’t really worried about it. I thought she was on her game. Javier couldn’t get out [of traffic], and finally when he got out, she came running at the end. I thought she ran really well.

“In the Beverly D., we didn’t feel like there was any speed in the race. The good thing about her is she can do whatever you want her to do. If there’s no speed, she’ll go to the lead. And if there is some speed, she will settle.”

After the Beverly D. on Aug. 12, Fev Rover returned to Woodbine, where she breezed an easy half-mile in 49.40 seconds on the Tapeta on Aug. 30.

“I brought her back to Woodbine because I want to get two starts into her before the Breeders’ Cup,” Casse said. “Part of the reason that she’s as good as she is is because she loves to train over the synthetic at Woodbine. And I like the timing of this race. The other option would be to wait another month for the E.P. Taylor, but she’s proven that she likes to run. It will help to qualify her for [Canadian] Horse of the Year.”

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Reigning Canadian Horse of the Year Moira was beaten a neck by Souper Hoity Toity after awaiting room along the inside in her June 3 comeback in the Grade 3 Belle Mahone on the Tapeta. She didn’t fire her best shot over the giving ground in the one-mile Nassau, and then finished a clear second behind the front-running shipper Miss Dracarys in the Grade 2 Dance Smartly, an effort trainer Kevin Attard was content with.

“She had a good trip while the winner got the lead and set the right kind of pace for it,” Attard said. “She was closing, and the [longer] distance of the Canadian should help us. She’s in good order. Unfortunately, she hasn’t won [this year]. A couple of races were just hard luck. Ideally, I would have liked a little more time between races, but that’s the way the schedule is. The E.P. Taylor is the main goal.”

Among the others in the seven-horse field are Miss Dracarys and the Casse-trained Talbeyah, who ran fourth in each of her last two outings in longer stakes.

“She’s a nice filly in her own right,” Casse said. “She’s not on the same level as Fev Rover, but she’s certainly a nice one.”

Singspiel Stakes

Casse entered the improving Palazzi in Saturday’s $150,000 Singspiel, a Grade 3 event with an eight-horse field that is a prep for the Grade 1 Canadian International on Oct. 8.

Palazzi cleared the second and third allowance conditions in his last two outings, going 1 1/16 miles on the main turf and 1 1/8 miles on the Tapeta. Runner-up Malibu Mambo exited his last race to win another conditioned allowance with an $80,000 claiming option.

“Palazzi has a lot of talent,” Casse said. “He’s a little on the moody side. But his last two races were good. When he comes with his A game, he’s tough. He’s just not been very consistent in his performances, but he seems to be on the right track right now.”

The last time he competed over the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Singspiel, Palazzi finished a close second to stablemate Who’s the Star, who was subsequently voted the Sovereign Award for Canadian champion older main-track male.

Trainer Mike Doyle sends out the towering Malibu Mambo, who won the third allowance condition traveling 1 1/4 miles in the aforementioned Aug. 12 allowance/optional claimer.

“He’s doing well and we’re taking a shot,” Doyle said. “He’s run three times this year. The first start, he got very tired, the second start, he got a little tired. He’s a huge horse, so it took a while to get him ready. He’s also had a few issues, which we have taken care of.”

Trainer Chad Brown ships in Rockemperor, who’s exiting Grade 1 company and is winless since taking the Grade 2 Bowling Green at Saratoga last year. The durable 7-year-old will compete on Lasix for the first time in more than two years in the Singspiel.

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