Flag of Honour holds off rivals to take Jacques Cartier

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Favored Flag of Honour stamped himself as Woodbine’s leading sprinter with a front-running score in the Grade 3, $138,780 Jacques Cartier, the first of four graded stakes on the 10-race Saturday card.

Step Forward assumed a slim advantage in the six-furlong event before Kazushi Kimura let Flag of Honour roll along the inside to take the lead through a slow opening quarter. Flag of Honour never looked back and prevailed by 1 1/4 lengths over 11-1 shot Old Chestnut, in a final time of 1:09.79. Ironstone came from last for third in the seven-horse field.

Kimura said the plan was to take the lead on Flag of Honour if nobody else wanted it.

“When I broke well, everybody looked at each other,” Kimura said. “He’s always nice and easy to control. He was nice and steady and then kicked in strong. When I asked him to go, he exploded. I hope he’s going to win a couple more.”

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Trainer Julia Carey said Flag of Honour got a lot out of his first race of the year, which was a close second to Candy Overload in the Thorncliffe Stakes here May 5.

“I knew I went in there a little short, but I wanted to get a race into him, because I had missed a work,” Carey recalled. “So, it worked out great. It didn’t rattle him and it gave him that extra fitness.”

Flag of Honour ($5.60) earned $81,000 for R.M. and Mrs. J.M. Wanless. Carey said the 5-year-old son of American Pharoah could eventually return to the grass, on which he won two handicaps and a maiden race in his native Australia.

“I think he’s maybe ever better on the turf,” Carey said. “He’s pretty good on the synthetic, too. That’s nice to know. He’s a very nice horse. I’m so blessed to have gotten him.”

Palazzi closes strongly to take Eclipse

Palazzi ($14.10) rallied wide from a trailing seventh under Sahin Civaci to prevail in a blanket finish in the Grade 2, $179,200 Eclipse going 1 1/16 miles.

Palazzi won by a half-length over favored Tyson, who edged out another Canadian champion, Paramount Prince, for second. It was another three-quarters of a length back to pacesetter Get Smokin, who was making his first start on Tapeta. The final time was 1:43.86.

Palazzi, Paramount Prince, and Get Smokin are all trained by Mark Casse. Palazzi, a son of Pioneerof the Nile, earned $105,000 for owner Gary Barber. He had been mired in a slump before getting a freshening heading into the Eclipse.

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“Usually, he’s really calm in the post parade,” Civaci said. “Today, he was more active, bouncing around here and there. I’ve been working him and he’s been working great.”

Fashionably Fab upsets Belle Mahone

Fashionably Fab ($16.20) gave jockey Pietro Moran his first stakes win in the Grade 3, $152,280 Belle Mahone, which was her fifth straight stakes victory and first in open company.

Riding without his apprentice allowance, Moran had Fashionably Fab in a stalking position in the 1 1/16-mile test for fillies and mares. She linked up with pacesetter Solo Album in the stretch and got home on top by a neck, in a time of 1:43.73. Forever Dixie rallied belatedly for third in the eight-horse field.

“The trip was perfect,” Moran said. “She’s a special filly. I’d worked her from the gate before she ran her first race and we always knew she was special. I had a good horse underneath me.”

By Silent Name, Fashionably Fab banked $97,200 in her first start of the year for Terra Racing Stable and trainer by Kevin Attard.

Play the Music best in Royal North

Favored Play the Music ($6) outran Kentucky shipper Secret Money in the final furlong to take the Grade 3, $144,100 Royal North by 2 1/4 lengths. Secret Money, under Kimura, was demoted from second to seventh by disqualification for interference in the stretch.

Play the Music covered the 6 1/2 furlongs on the main turf in 1:14.85 under Patrick Husbands. A daughter of Mo Town trained by Casse, she collected $81,000 in her second consecutive stakes success for Glassman Racing.

Miss Speedy faded to third after setting the pace before being placed second due to the disqualification. Dolce Sopresa was promoted from fourth to third in the 10-horse field of fillies and mares.

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