Glenville Gardens switches surfaces for Autumn Stakes prep

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 2 turf stakes winner Glenville Gardens goes two turns on the Tapeta in Friday’s Woodbine headliner, the $74,500 allowance prep for the Autumn Stakes. The 1 1/16-mile race is for 3-year-olds and up and drew a field of five.

Glenville Gardens was claimed for a bargain $40,000 in September 2015 by trainer Sid Attard. He subsequently won an optional claimer and the Labeeb Stakes and then got last winter off after an 11-length loss in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes.

Glenville Gardens has stuck to the turf this year, with Gary Boulanger up for all five of his starts. He capped a three-race win streak in August in the Grade 2 Play the King, which is the local prep for the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile. Normally a stalker, he was sent to the early lead in the Sept. 17 Woodbine Mile and set quick fractions before fading to seventh, 6 1/2 lengths behind the victorious Tepin.

Boulanger is back aboard Glenville Gardens, who breaks from the rail on Friday.

The Grade 2, $200,000 Autumn, also at 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta, will be run Nov. 6.

The Friday feature goes as race 8 on a solid nine-race card that begins a weekend featuring the Grade 1 Canadian International on Sunday. No turf races are scheduled for Friday.

KEY CONTENDERS

Glenville Gardens, by Street Cry

Last 3 Beyers: 92-98-94

◗ The 4-year-old gelding won his lone 1 1/16-mile outing on the main track, going gate to wire in the 2014 Display Stakes here on the Polytrack.

Royal Son, by Tiznow

Last 3 Beyers: 89-96-92

◗ He finished seventh in a recent turf stakes at Kentucky Downs, but his previous form here on the Tapeta was good. After a front-running score in an optional claimer July 17, he faded to fourth behind Breaking Lucky, Are You Kidding Me, and Melmich in the Grade 3 Seagram Cup.

◗ Expect the Mark Casse trainee to shake loose on the lead under Patrick Husbands.

Kingsport, by Milwaukee Brew

Last 3 Beyers: 92-92-93

◗ The steady 4-year-old is also trained by Attard, who sent him out to win the restricted Shepperton Stakes going short in August. Most recently, going long in the three-horse Elgin Stakes, he dueled with Melmich through soft fractions before fading late. Runner-up Freitag came back to finish second to Are You Kidding Me in the Grade 3 Durham Cup.

Conquest Typhoon, by Stormy Atlantic

Last 3 Beyers: 96-94-94

◗ The grass specialist has been freshened since a seventh-place finish Aug. 6 in the Lure Stakes on turf at Saratoga. In early 2015, he finished second on Polytrack in the Grade 3 Spiral at Turfway Park and third on Tapeta in the Grade 3 El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields.