Grass is greener for Financial Recovery in Wonder Where Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Financial Recovery will look to record her second consecutive stakes win in Sunday’s $225,000 Wonder Where Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on turf, the third and final leg of the Canadian triple tiara series for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.

Financial Recovery recorded her first stakes victory July 1 when switching back to turf in the Ontario Damsel Stakes. Financial Recovery ran on turf in all four of her races last year, then raced on the Tapeta here in her first three starts at 3, including a seventh-place finish in the Woodbine Oaks.

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Trainer Catherine Day Phillips said the switch back to turf was beneficial to Financial Recovery.

“She ran well the first time on the synthetic, and that gave us hope,” Day Phillips said, referring to Financial Recovery’s second-place finish in the Fury in April. “We’ve always felt that she much preferred the turf. After the Oaks, I think it was fairly clear that we needed to get off the synthetic and back to the turf.”

Day Phillips added that Financial Recovery has progressed well since the Ontario Damsel.

“She’s been good,” she said. “We just went very easy into the Ontario Damsel, and she seemed to enjoy that. It’s been the same coming into this. We’ve gone fairly easy with her.”

Key Contenders

Financial Recovery, by Street Cry

Last 3 Beyers: 75-67-77

◗ Like most in this field, Financial Recovery will stretch out to 1 1/4 miles for the first time.

“Hopefully, she’ll relax the way she did in the Damsel and give a good run down the lane,” Day Phillips said.

Inflexibility, by Scat Daddy

Last 3 Beyers: 88-83-75

◗ Following troubled third-place runs in the Woodbine Oaks and Queen’s Plate, she now returns to the surface she won her maiden on three starts back at Belmont Park.

◗ She was bred by Anderson Farms, which also bred and co-owns Financial Recovery.

Mythical Mission, by Giant’s Causeway

Last 3 Beyers: 78-93-68

◗ She chased Enstone but ran out of racetrack in the Bison City Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta in her most recent start July 9.

◗ The stretch-out in distance and the surface change to grass should benefit her.

Enstone, by Tiznow

Last 3 Beyers: 80-83-83

◗ She got away with slow fractions and held on to win the Bison City Stakes. She should be on the lead again in this race.

◗ She finished second on turf in a maiden race last summer at Saratoga before tiring in the Grade 1 Natalma Stakes over a mile on grass here last September.

Niigon’s Eclipse stretches out

In the other stakes on the card, Niigon’s Eclipse looks to be dangerous on the stretch-out in the $125,000 Victoriana Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on turf for Ontario-sired fillies and mares.

Niigon’s Eclipse was third behind a sharp Skylander Girl in the seven-furlong Zadracarta Stakes in her most recent start July 1. Both Skylander Girl and runner-up Jennifer Lynnette were slated to run back in Saturday’s Grade 3 Royal North Stakes at Woodbine.

Some of Niigon’s Eclipse’s best races have come going long, including a runner-up effort in the Carotene Stakes over 1 1/8 miles on turf last October, when she earned a career-best 82 Beyer Speed Figure.

Other key contenders include Lilly’s Goldie, who will race on turf for the first time this season following a third-place finish in the Trillium Stakes on June 18, and Internal Bourbon, who ran second to Canadian champion Lexie Lou in this race last year.

Bear’s Pride won the Victoriana in 2015 and comes into this year’s edition off a 3 1/4-length victory in a starter allowance on grass for the high-percentage Denyse McClachrie barn.