Hell N Wild will try to maintain consistency

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hell N Wild has been a model of consistency during a light campaign at Woodbine, and she will try to win for the third time at the pandemic-shortened meet in Thursday’s featured second-level allowance.

Hell N Wild was second to the favored Foxxy Belle when returning from a six-month layoff on the second day of the meet June 7. Following a two-month break Aug. 9, she cleared the second allowance condition going 5 1/2 furlongs.

Hell N Wild remained at the second-level allowance category while tagged for $60,000 on Sept. 5, when she finished third behind reigning Canadian champion female sprinter Summer Sunday on the Tapeta. Most recently, on Oct. 24 when competing for $60,000 again, she made her turf debut a winning one after pressing a moderate pace, earning a career-high 87 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.

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Kazushi Kimura will ride Hell N Wild again for True North Stable and Lorne Richards, who was her trainer of record for all five of her victories. From the outside post, she races for $60,000 again.

The 6 1/2-furlong headliner lured six other fillies and mares, including front-runners Gamble’s Candy and Samurai Queen.

Victorious in the 2019 Ruling Angel Stakes, Gamble’s Candy has been mired in a slump this year against graded stakes opposition, and a drop in class could be just what the doctor ordered. Trainer Josie Carroll freshened her up leading into this engagement, in which Daisuke Fukumoto picks up the mount.

The quirky Samurai Queen has gotten her act together this year under patient guidance from trainer Darwin Banach.

Early in the meet, Samurai Queen romped in two consecutive non-winners-of-three claimers, both with an 80 Beyer. That swayed Banach into trying her at the first allowance condition, at which she finished second Aug. 15 before winning it from off the pace two weeks later. A slow start and a wide trip over an inside-biased track led to her downfall in a second-level allowance Oct. 4.

Leading trainer Mark Casse entered Raison d’Etre and Oceans of Love.

Raison d’Etre annexed her local debut on the grass in a first-level allowance Sept. 12, but she wasn’t a factor during a wide trip last time in the Duchess Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Her new rider, Rafael Hernandez, has won on about 30 percent of his mounts at the meet for the powerful Casse barn.

Oceans of Love went to the sidelines after being beaten in double digits twice in the spring, including in a restricted stakes at Gulfstream. The 4-year-old has posted some sharp works and has fired when fresh in the past.

Nantucket Red was along for third in Hell N Wild’s last triumph, when Luis Contreras rode her for the first time.