Four Canadian sales stakes top 11-race card
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Souper Survivor makes his much anticipated stakes debut in Sunday’s $300,000 Simcoe, one of four Tapeta stakes for graduates of Canadian yearling sales on the Woodbine card, along with the $300,000 Muskoka, the $200,000 Algoma, and the $200,000 Elgin. Post time for the expanded 11-race card is 1 p.m.
Trained by Bill Tharrenos, Souper Survivor should be favored in the 6 1/2-furlong Simcoe for male 2-year-olds. He won his lone outing July 12 going 5 1/2 furlongs against Ontario-sired maidens in front-running style by 10 1/4 lengths with a 73 Beyer Speed Figure.
“He didn’t break running when he won,” Tharrenos pointed out. “I know there wasn’t much behind him, but when he got into rhythm, he really turned it on. He’s a very smart individual. That’s what I love about him. His mind his great and he’s a very athletic individual.”
Tharrenos said he likes the longer Simcoe distance for Souper Survivor, a son the late Souper Speedy.
“I think the further he goes, the better he gets,” Tharrenos said. “I think it’s better because he doesn’t have that burst of speed out of the gate. Once he gets moving, he starts really picking it up after the first quarter of a mile.”
Souper Survivor breezed an impressive five furlongs in 59.80 seconds from the gate Aug. 16. A week later, he covered the same distance from the pole in 59.20 under Emma-Jayne Wilson.
“The last two works showed where we’re going,” Tharrenos said. The gate work gave me some goose bumps, but we had to get serious because he hasn’t run in a long time and had to put his game on. I had him out [three-quarters] in 1:13. I was very pleased. It didn’t take much out of him. He ate his dinner and his legs were good.”
The talented maiden King’s Counsel could be the main threat to Souper Survivor. The Barbara Minshall-trained gelding is coming off back-to-back seconds versus open maiden special company, most recently behind De la Renta, who returned to beat the boys in the Soaring Free Stakes.
Bandolier should be prominent in the $300,000 Muskoka going 6 1/2 furlongs for 2-year-old fillies. Trained by James Bentley Begg, Bandolier showed speed in her first two starts before fading to third each time in maiden special company. She wired easier Ontario-sired maidens most recently over 5 1/2 furlongs, scoring by five lengths while beating two next-out winners.
“Early on, she was quick out of the gate and we were trying to use that to our advantage,” Begg said. “The third race, she more or less took herself to the front. She was able to sit comfortably in the bit behind another horse and kicked on pretty good. We’re really happy with her. We’re not too worried about the distance as long as she can sit the trip.”
Begg sends out Pageant Queen in the $200,000 Algoma, a seven-furlong sprint for 3- and 4-year-old fillies.
A stretch-runner, Pageant Queen has struggled since winning her April 25 season debut in a nonwinners-of-two Ontario-sired allowance.
“We’re going to put the blinkers back on her,” Begg said. “We were looking to stretch her out, but we thought this race wasn’t going to come up too tough. I think the seven-eighths will help her as long as she can sit her trip.
“The way she’s been breezing the last couple of weeks, they’re probably the best breezes of her career. I’m very happy with the way she’s going into the race.”
Pageant Queen and Bandolier worked a half-mile together in a bullet 47 seconds last weekend.
“It was a little quicker than I wanted, but they did it well and we didn’t do too much with them after,” Begg said. We did it an extra day out, so I think we’re in good shape with both of them.”
Regal Moment should be favored in the Algoma while seeking her fourth victory in a row for trainer Stuart Simon. She earned an 80 Beyer in each of her last two starts, beating Ontario-sired allowance types on the Tapeta before taking an open first-level allowance on the inner turf.
“She is just so genuine and is going to give her best on any surface and at any distance,” Simon said. “Knock on wood, she is ready to run a big one this weekend and be ready for a good campaign from the fall until the end of the season.”
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Brandy and Me is hard to gauge in the Algoma in her second start for trainer Evette Chartrand-Hoek. She went off at 35-1 when debuting over 5 1/2 furlongs against Ontario-sired maidens Aug. 1. She rallied from eighth to win going away by 5 1/2 lengths with an 80 Beyer.
The $200,000 Elgin for male 3- and 4-year-olds is headed by the steady 4-year-old Kekoa and the lightly raced sophomore Yukon Striker.
Kekoa brings solid two-turn allowance form to the seven-furlong Elgin and has an edge on the others Beyer-wise. After clearing the first open allowance condition in his penultimate race on the Tapeta, he finished a chalky second with an 89 Beyer in a conditioned allowance on the inner turf. Catherine Day-Phillips trains the late-bloomer.
Yukon Striker won his first two starts in shorter sprints, earning an 87 Beyer in a May 17 allowance score in his first try for trainer Kevin Attard. He has been idle since finishing a non-threatening fourth going 1 1/16 miles in the Grade 3 Marine on June 27.
◗ Paramount Prince and Runaway Again will renew their rivalry in Sunday’s $150,000 Caledon Stakes, a 1 1/16-mile Tapeta route for older Ontario-breds.
Paramount Prince, the 2023 King’s Plate victor and Canadian champion male 3-year-old, defeated Runaway Again by a head in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup on Aug. 1. Runaway Again, last year’s Prince of Wales winner, barely beat the speedy Paramount Prince when taking the Grade 3 Dominion Day by a neck on June 27.
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