Hailey's Prize stretching out for Eternal Search Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Hailey’s Prize will stretch out around two turns for the first time and make her stakes debut in Wednesday night’s $125,000 Eternal Search Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year old fillies, to be run over 1 1/16 miles on Woodbine’s Tapeta.

Hailey’s Prize’s 10 starts have come in sprints. Trainer Kevin Attard said he expected Hailey’s Prize would handle the stretch-out well.

“She should handle a mile and a sixteenth,” he said. “She’s just a real competitor. She tries each and every time.”

Hailey’s Prize has finished in the top three in all 10 of her starts, and has run second eight times. As a 2-year-old, she recorded runner-up finishes in all six starts, and this season she recorded her first win, which came going six furlongs on July 2 in her ninth start. Attard said racing luck was finally on Hailey’s Prize’s side.

“She’s had some rough trips and some unfortunate luck,” Attard said. “She’s tried hard on a few occasions to win and has not been rewarded, so it was good to get her picture taken.”

Key Contenders

Hailey’s Prize, by Silent Name
Last 3 Beyers: 74-70-59

◗ Attard noted Hailey’s Prize’s pedigree as a reason he believes she will stretch out effectively. She’s by Silent Name, a leading Ontario-sire, out of the unraced English Channel mare Ascot’s Hailey.

◗ Hailey’s Prize has been favored in her last eight starts, but she could be overlooked on the tote board in this field.

Listenlindalisten, by Court Vision
Last 3 Beyers: 80-73-69

◗ Listenlindalisten will also stretch out around two turns for the first time following her win in the Passing Mood Stakes over seven furlongs on Tapeta just two weeks ago.

◗ She set the pace in the Passing Mood, which was taken off turf, and could find herself on the lead once again in the Eternal Search.

Crumlin Queen, by Where’s the Ring
Last 3 Beyers: 73-71-66

◗ Crumlin Queen will shorten up to 1 1/16 miles following her fourth-place finish in the Wonder Where Stakes on July 30 over 1 1/4 miles on turf, where she earned a career-best 73 Beyer.

◗ Two starts back she romped by 5 1/2 lengths in an allowance over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta.

Cindervella, by Silent Name
Last 3 Beyers: 59-80-73

◗ She won the South Ocean Stakes at this distance as a 2-year-old, but has yet to hit the board in four starts as a 3-year-old.

◗ She’s one of just two in the field to have recorded an 80 Beyer in her career, coming when she was fifth behind eventual Queen’s Plate winner Holy Helena in the Woodbine Oaks on June 11.

Missy Crissy, by Court Vision
Last 3 Beyers: 56-69-60

◗ She’s been off since her seventh-place finish on turf in the Ontario Damsel Stakes on July 1, and could wake up moving back to the Tapeta in what will be just her third start of the season.

Kadley, by Silent Name
Last 3 Beyers: 64-63-56

◗ She’ll also make her stakes debut in this spot and will be cutting back in distance following a third-place finish in an allowance over 1 1/8 miles on turf July 12. The runner-up from that race has come back to win.

Caren out for the season

Caren, the 2016 Canadian Horse of the Year, will miss the rest of the 2017 season after suffering a soft-tissue injury, trainer Mike De Paulo said.

De Paulo said the injury occurred in June, ahead of preparations for the Grade 2 Dance Smartly Stakes at Woodbine as part of the Queen’s Plate undercard.

“One day she came back from a gallop and we saw something we weren’t happy with,” he said.

De Paulo said the intention is to bring Caren back for her 5-year-old campaign in 2018.

“We’ll start her back in the spring, and if everything goes good, we’ll campaign her,” he said. “If not, we’ll breed her.”

After a 2016 campaign that saw her win four consecutive stakes, Caren made just two starts in 2017, finishing fifth in the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes over six furlongs on Tapeta, and fourth in the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes over a mile on turf.

Caren, from the first crop of Ontario-sire Society’s Chairman, was a $45,000 purchase at the Fasig Tipton October yearling sale in 2014. Owned by Robert Marzilli, she’s won 9 of her 17 starts, including eight victories in stakes, with career purse earnings of more than $1-million.