Hotep impresses with Wando win

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hotep ($4.50 ) kicked in nicely through the stretch en route to notching his first stakes in the on Saturday.

Hotep is a full brother to last year's Queen's Plate winner, Eye of the Leopard, and 1 1/16-mile Wando is a prep for this year's Plate on July 4. Hotep covered the distance in 1:43.55 under Patrick Husbands.

Husbands made an early move on Hotep on the backstretch, and they tracked the front-running Just Call Me Roger around the far turn before going on to score by 3 1/4 lengths. American shipper Alcomatch rallied for second, and Just Call Me Roger faded to third in the five-horse field.

Hotep banked $72,000 for Sam-Son Farm and trainer Mark Frostad, who said Hotep ran spottily over the winter on the dirt at the Fair Grounds.

"He finally ran like we expected him to run today," said Frostad. "Patrick said he wanted to go, so he had to take him back and get him to relax, and finally he did relax. He saved him, and came on at the end."

* Woodbine canceled the last three scheduled races on Saturday's card, races 8 through 10, because of a strong west wind that had been blowing all afternoon. It was the first cancellation of Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine since the final day of the 2008 meet.