Gierkink's preview: Contentious Bold Ruckus Stakes

Saturday, June 14, preview

The $125,000 Bold Ruckus is a crapshoot because seven of the nine entrants are racing on turf for the first time in the six-furlong stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds.

The two competitors who have tried grass, Grom and Red Fever, were not victorious on that surface. Among the others, Spin the King and Flashy Margaritta possess the best turf pedigrees, and they’ve both worked quickly over the turf training course.

Spin the King, a son of Giant Gizmo, is a half-brother to turf stakes winner London Snow and Lovely Lola, who finished third in the Passing Mood Stakes on the local lawn. His trainer, Brian Lynch, has developed a host of good grass specialists, including the recent Grade 1 winner Coffee Clique.

Flashy Margaritta, a Bold ‘n Flashy gelding, is a half-brother to the hard-knocking Citius, who captured the 2011 Bold Ruckus for trainer Ralph Biamonte.

Sisterly Love gets back on Polytrack

Sisterly Love, last year’s champion older female in Canada, will try to rebound from a dismal turf effort in the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes in Saturday’s supporting stakes, the $100,000 Trillium, going 1 1/16 miles on Polytrack, her favorite surface. If her new rider, Patrick Husbands, employs an aggressive approach, then she figures to link up on the front end with another speedy mare, Moonlit Beauty, who’s coming off a second in the allowance prep for the Trillium.

Royal Fury came wide from midpack to win the prep convincingly under Eurico Rosa Da Silva, who appears to have chosen the improving Sam-Son Farm filly Checkered Past in this spot. Luis Contreras inherits the mount on Royal Fury, who could to be sitting on another peak performance, according to trainer Lynch.