Golden Sabre breaks track record in Durham Cup

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Golden Sabre lowered the nine-furlong track record during an impressive come-from-behind score in the Grade 3 Durham Cup Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday.

Golden Sabre trailed in seventh on the backstretch, as longshot Midnight Aria set moderate fractions of 24.71 and 49.28 seconds.

Golden Sabre began to mount a wide rally midway on the far turn, and he collared the favored Lukes Alley near the eighth pole before drawing clear for a 2 1/2-length win. Are You Kidding Me finished a head behind Lukes Alley in third, and was followed by Melmich, Florida Won, Midnight Aria, and Turkish.

The final time of 1:48.33 was .53 of a second faster than the previous Polytrack record, set by Academic in this year’s Woodbine Oaks.

Emma-Jayne Wilson inherited the mount on Golden Sabre from Luis Contreras, who stuck with Lukes Alley, last year’s champion older male runner in Canada.

“He’s a competitor,” said Wilson. “He just needed a nice clean run, and we’d be good to go. He’s got as powerful a kick as they come. I knew as we popped and kicked, that he’d be pretty tough to beat.”

Golden Sabre earned $108,000 of the $174,000 purse for Sam-Son Farm and trainer Malcolm Pierce.