Graded winner Lookin to Strike drops into claimer

ETOBIOKE, Ontario – The classy Lookin to Strike gets some significant class relief in Friday’s seventh race at Woodbine, a $40,000 claimer with 10 entered that will be contested over six furlongs.

Lookin to Strike had his biggest moment when he captured the Grade 3 Ontario Derby in 2018, the year he also won the minor OBS Sprint Stakes.

Lookin to Strike kept some tough company while going winless in six starts this year. He was fourth behind champion Mighty Heart, March to the Arch, and Malibu Mambo in the Grade 3 Dominion Day. Two starts ago, he was third to powerhouse Pink Lloyd in the Grade 3 Bold Venture, and is coming off a fifth behind Clayton in a second-level allowance. Clayton returned to finish third to Pink Lloyd in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road.

Rafael Hernandez will ride Lookin to Strike for leading trainer Mark Casse. They combined to sweep both Grade 3 stakes for 2-year-olds here last Sunday, the Grey with God of Love and the Mazarine with Mrs. Barbara.

Trainer Mike DePaulo entered Souper Success, Kid Forester, and Readyforprimetime, who wound up fifth behind local sprint division leaders Souper Stonehenge and Pink Lloyd the only time he competed on the Tapeta in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier in June.

“He should like the six furlongs,” DePaulo predicted.

Souper Success registered a 9-1 upset when he defeated current rival Western Trouble in a $20,000 contest on Nov. 12. Western Trouble is stepping up off a claim by trainer Kevin Attard, who has won at a 16 percent clip off the claim over the past five years.

Senor Jobim is eligible to rebound off a flat third going seven furlongs, during which he had a wide trip off a slow pace over an inside-biased track. He was previously victorious in a six-furlong event for $40,000 claimers under leading rider Kazushi Kimura, who will get a leg up from trainer Marty Drexler on Friday.

Drexler also sends out Lookinatamiracle, who wasn’t a factor last time out in second-level allowance after finishing third in Senor Jobim’s Oct. 14 triumph.

Ikerrin Road wears bar shoes as usual. The Irish-bred 8-year-old is winless in 11 starts since his upset score in the 2018 Kennedy Road. Shaun Bridgmohan has the mount and is 6 for 17 for trainer Vito Armata.

◗ Woodbine has applied to the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario for the traditional 133-day meet next year from Saturday, April 16, to Sunday, Dec. 11. When the schedule goes to four days a week, racing will be conducted on the same Thursday-to-Sunday timetable as in 2020-21.

Woodbine staged shorter meets of approximately 100 days in 2020 and 2021 around government-mandated lockdowns designed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.