Frac Dancer, Shamans Girl notch upsets in Clarendon, Shady Well

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Frac Dancer ran gamely on the lead to take the $150,000 Clarendon Stakes and first-time starter Shamans Girl notched her debut in the $150,000 Shady Well Stakes on a Saturday card with lots of longshot winners at Woodbine.

Frac Dancer ($8.10) put away Competitive Tough up front before holding off favored Midnight Mascot to prevail by a neck in the six-furlong Clarendon, in a time of 1:10.96. Gun Court rallied outside for third and was followed by Garafoli, Competitive Touch, Meko Makee, and Cooler Man in the race for Ontario-sired or Ontario-bred 2-year-olds.

Sahin Civaci rode Frac Dancer, a son of Frac Daddy, for owner Phoenix Racing and trainer Mike DePaulo.

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“There were a lot of speed horses, so that was one concern,” Civaci said. “We were just going to pop out of the gate and play the break and see where we are. We popped out very well. I kept him three [paths] off the rail just to keep him not too eager. Down the lane, when I asked him, he kicked on really well.”

The Shady Well was the filly version of the Clarendon, and Shamans Girl broke slowly before trailing the six-horse field down the backstretch.

Shamans Girl ($49.30) saved ground until midway on the turn before closing outside to win going away by 3 1/2 lengths, in a time of 1:11.63. Vandoo finished second and was followed by Little Teddy, Red Eleanor, the favored front-runner Onella, and Master Aragorn.

Ryan Munger got a leg up from trainer Harold Ladouceur on Shamans Girl, a daughter of Shaman Ghost owned by Stronach Stables.

“I was under the impression that she was going to get a bit outpaced,” Munger said. “She’s a quality filly, but she’s still very green and I thought there’s a lot of experienced fillies that [were going to show speed]. I just followed them around and at about the three-eighths pole, she just started pick them off one by one by one. I just angled her clear and she was a pretty simple ride from there.”

• There is a rare Pick 5 carryover of nearly $60,000 heading into the early Pick 5 on Sunday’s 10-race card.

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