Hammerhead may wake up at longer distance
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Kevin Attard was the hottest trainer at Woodbine last weekend, winning seven races. He will try to keep the ball rolling Saturday when he saddles Hammerhead in the featured conditioned allowance/optional claimer.
Hammerhead made quite a splash winning the Grade 3 Valedictory over 1 1/2 miles here Dec. 6. After racing in fifth early, jockey Daisuke Fukumoto made a daring early move to the lead on the backstretch, and he and Hammerhead never looked back while prevailing by a length with a 96 Beyer Speed Figure.
Hammerhead was only an early factor when racing wide in the Grade 3 W.L. McKnight on the Gulfstream Park grass in January. He resurfaced as a first-time gelding here May 23, finishing a non-threatening sixth in a 1 1/16-mile conditioned allowance, a race that was on the short side for him.
Hammerhead moves out to 1 1/8 miles on Saturday after working four straight half-miles on a weekly schedule. Last Saturday, he covered the distance in a snappy 47 seconds.
“I think he needed his last race,” Attard said. “He’s come back and worked a few times, his last couple being strong. The extra distance will also help. He wants to run all day long.”
Other contenders are the Mark Casse-trained trio of Like the King, Lucky Guest, and Phillip My Wine.
Like the King, best known for capturing the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks in 2021, was campaigned sporadically last year after winning a conditioned allowance on the grass in 2024. When exiting a five-month layoff May 23, he saved ground on a live rail until the stretch before ending up third ahead of Hammerhead. The handsome 8-year-old worked five furlongs in a bullet 59 seconds on June 24.
Lucky Guest finished a troubled fourth off a nine-month vacation April 19. When going from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles on May 31, he wired a field of nonwinners-of-two allowance types with the aid of an inside-speed bias.
Phillip My Wine is coming off a workmanlike score over nonwinners-of-three Ontario-sired allowance types and $40,000 claimers in his second start off the sidelines.
Cool Kiss has struggled since posting a 17-1 upset while beating Canadian champions Dresden Row and Paramount Prince in the Grade 3 Durham Cup last September. He may improve in his second race off a sabbatical and second for trainer Darwin Banach.
Roscar, victorious in the 2024 Breeders’ Stakes, is starting for the first time since finishing a well-beaten ninth in the Grade 1 Canadian International on Oct. 4. His Tapeta form includes a third in the 2024 Ontario Derby. Trainer Rachel Halden has good numbers with six-month-plus comebackers.
Sedburys Ghost is winless since taking the nine-furlong Plate Trial Stakes last July. He reaffirmed that turf isn’t his surface of choice last out when fifth at this level. Getting back to a route on Tapeta could be just what the doctor ordered for the Barbara Minshall trainee.
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