Gamble's Ghost pursues repeat in Belle Mahone Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Gamble’s Ghost will look to win Sunday’s $100,000 Belle Mahone Stakes at Woodbine for the second year in a row when she faces six fillies and mares over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta.

Gamble’s Ghost comes into the Belle Mahone on the strength of back-to-back Grade 3 stakes scores in the Trillium Stakes on June 17 and the Ontario Matron Stakes on July 15. Both victories featured strong stretch rallies from the 5-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper.

“She’s probably just as tryin’ a horse as you could get,” trainer Josie Carroll said. “She shows up every time, and gives it everything. They don’t get much easier than that.”

Carroll added that the off-the-pace running style of Gamble’s Ghost does have the potential to open her up to trouble. In her lone defeat of the year, Gamble’s Ghost couldn’t overcome an apparent speed bias to finish third behind winner My Arch Enemy in an allowance race on May 21.

“It’s always concerning with that style of racing that you get locked in,” she said. “But that’s what she does, and you can’t really change her way of running. It’s been very successful. It takes her a little while to get her feet under her, but once she does, she comes running.”

Key Contenders

Gamble’s Ghost, by Ghostzapper
Last 3 Beyers: 89-90-78

◗ Leading rider Eurico Da Silva retains the mount for the Belle Mahone. In four starts aboard Gamble’s Ghost, Da Silva has recorded three stakes wins and a third-place finish.

◗ Along with Gamble’s Ghost’s victory in this race last year, Carroll also won the Belle Mahone in 2008 with Serenading.

My Arch Enemy, by Arch
Last 3 Beyers: 87-88-90

◗ She appears to be the lone pacesetter in this event, and comes into the race off of back-to-back third-place finishes in the Trillium and Ontario Matron.

◗ Mark Casse, who is looking to win the Belle Mahone for the third time in the last four years, sends out both My Arch Enemy and Giada Vegas.

“My Arch Enemy is a filly who shows up every time, runs really well,” Casse said. “We’re just hoping maybe to get lucky. She always tries hard, and I’d like to get a stakes win under her belt.”

Giada Vegas, by Scat Daddy
Last 3 Beyers: 88-91-90

◗ The Belle Mahone will mark her first start since a fifth-place finish in the Albert M. Stall Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds in February.

“It’s not an ideal spot to return, but she’s won stakes, she’s won some races,” Casse said. “It’s not really what you want to do, come back in a stakes, but we don’t have a whole lot of other opportunities so we’re going to get her started there.”

◗ She’s unbeaten in three starts on synthetic, having won three allowance races in a row at Woodbine in 2017.

Mexican Hat, by Street Cry
Last 3 Beyers: 76-72-77

◗ She’s a French import who has made three starts in North America, all at Woodbine. She’ll make her stakes debut in the Belle Mahone off an allowance victory at this distance on Tapeta on July 27.

◗ Da Silva has been aboard for all three of her starts at Woodbine, but he’s opted to stick with Gamble’s Ghost on Sunday. Emma-Jayne Wilson will take over the mount.