Gierkink's preview: Jackpot Hi 5 carryover huge

Wednesday, Sept. 17, preview

Inside preferred in Sunday’s stakes

The inside paths on the turf course were unused from the Aug. 17 Breeders’ Stakes until last Sunday, and those inside lanes yielded the winners of the three graded stakes on the Woodbine Mile card.

In the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, Trade Storm followed Kaigun along the rail on the turn, as they both raced in the second half of the 11-horse field. They ended up running one-two after Kaigun went wider in the stretch than Trade Storm, who rallied in the 2 path after awaiting room to prevail by a half-length. In a valiant effort, Bobby’s Kitten prevailed in a front-end battle with Ancil before holding on for third along the rail. River Seven and Grand Arch both raced wide and hung late to finish fourth and fifth.

In an unusual change made Sunday, Woodbine downgraded last Saturday’s course condition from good to yielding, even though the Going-Stick measurement decreased from 10 on Saturday to 9.9 on Sunday, which means the course became slightly softer. Going-Stick measurements are on a scale from 0 to 15, with 0 being very soft and 15 extra firm.

Saturday’s card featured a pair of Grade 2 turf stakes for 2-year-olds, the Natalma and Summer. One can ignore most of the poor performances in these two races because of the giving ground and the one-mile distance, which was farther than all but one of the horses had run before.

Jackpot Hi 5 carryover huge

The Jackpot Hi 5 carryover heading into Wednesday’s eighth race is $460,832.

Wingham (5-1) could make noise in the Ontario-sired maiden special for fillies and mares. The daughter of Niigon is a full sister to the allowance-winning router Savethethought, and owner Chiefswood Stable has fared well with debuting progeny by Niigon in routes over the years.

The Nick Gonzalez trainees Sister Rolly (2-1) and Miss Stone (9-2) are both candidates to hit the board. Sister Rolly has had many chances, but she has a realistic chance to make all the running after recently finding her niche around two turns.

Stay Silent (15-1) might be competitive off a troubled second against $12,500 maidens; she makes her fourth start off the bench.

Blushing Amour (10-1) benefited from an outside bias when she closed for second in a key $16,000 maiden claimer Aug. 8.

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: In the last five years, Blushing Amour’s trainer, Ross Armata, has a 24 percent strike rate the second time off a layoff of at least 45 days, with a return on investment of $2.57.

Horses to Watch

RACEN
Trainer: Mike De Paulo
Last race: Sept. 14, 3rd
Finish: 3rd by 3
Beyer: 47
After breaking slowly in her debut, she made an early move to the lead on the turn before weakening in the final furlong in a six-furlong maiden special for Ontario-sired juveniles. She’s bred to improve with experience, and the best offspring of sire Philanthropist, the champion Pender Harbour, is trained by De Paulo.

RIVER SEVEN
Trainer: Nick Gonzalez
Last race: Sept. 14, 11th
Finish: 4th by 2 1/4
Beyer: 96
After starting slowly from post 1, he raced four wide on the turn until the finish over an inside-favoring turf course in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. He adores some give in the ground and should get some this fall, perhaps in the Labeeb Stakes, which he won in a romp here last October.