Filo Di Arianna getting more ground in King Edward

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Filo Di Arianna got back on track when returning to Woodbine in the Grade 2 Highlander, and the two-time Canadian champion will prep for the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 King Edward.

A Brazilian import trained by Mark Casse, Filo Di Arianna had a banner 2022 season, which included front-running scores in the Grade 2 Connaught Cup and the one-mile King Edward. He was winless during an abbreviated 2023 campaign that featured a narrow loss in the Grade 3 Poker at Belmont.

Filo Di Arianna faced North America’s top turf sprinter, Cogburn, when second and seventh in a pair of 5 1/2-furlong stakes in the spring – the Grade 2 Twin Spires Turf Sprint at Churchill and the Grade 1 Jaipur at Saratoga.

“Those races were a little too short for him,” Casse said. “He wants to grab you and not be pushed. He likes to do things the way he wants to do them. He’ll like the mile.”

Filo Di Arianna made short work of his seven rivals June 29 in the six-furlong Highlander, winning by 2 1/4 lengths over Maryland shipper Witty while earning a 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Del Mar-based Kazushi Kimura, who’s in town to ride the entire King’s Plate card, retains the mount on 8-year-old Filo Di Arianna. Kimura was Woodbine’s leading rider from 2021-23.

Among the others in the eight-horse field are Cruden Bay, War Bomber, and Wicked Django.

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Cruden Bay has reached full bloom this year under the tutelage of trainer Donnie MacRae. The stretch-running 6-year-old is coming off two straight seven-furlong scores under Sofia Vives, in a conditioned allowance and the Connaught Cup.

“Down the lane, you just have to give him one clear run and not get him stopped,” Vives said. “He’s one that you have to tell him what to do, and he listens.”

War Bomber captured last year’s King Edward in a gutsy display over Treason. The Irish-bred subsequently finished a well-beaten fourth behind Master of The Seas in the Woodbine Mile and got the winter off after another fade job in the Grade 2 Autumn.

In his second start off the sidelines in the Connaught Cup, War Bomber looked the part of a winner in the stretch before Cruden Bay came charging on the outside to catch him in the final strides.

Wicked Django has been one of the most improved older runners at the meet on Tapeta. Trainer Krista Cole sent him out to win an allowance route in his season opener, after which the closer posted back-to-back thirds in a pair of graded stakes, the Dominion Day and Seagram Cup.

Wicked Django began his career on the grass last summer, when the now 4-year-old finished third and sixth in a pair of middle-distance maiden events on the main course.

Completing the King Edward lineup are Like the King, Kaukokaipuu, Secret Reserve, and Ironstone, who was cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 Bold Venture.

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