Husbands, Casse score Woodbine stakes double

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sky Captain caught 1-9 favorite Frac Daddy in deep stretch to take the Grade 3, $155,100 Dominion Day, giving jockey Patrick Husbands, owner John Oxley, and trainer Mark Casse a sweep of the two stakes Tuesday at Woodbine.

Frac Daddy set honest fractions while a bit rank in the 1 1/4-mile route. He opened up a clear lead early in the stretch, but a stalking Sky Captain wore him down to prevail by a length in 2:03.32. His Race to Win checked in third in the five-horse field.

It was the first stakes score for Sky Captain, who is unbeaten in three starts since returning from a one-year layoff in April. The 4-year-old returned $14.70 as the second choice.

“He’s such a nice horse,” said assistant trainer Kathryn Sullivan. “We’ve had such high hopes for him all along. As a 2-year-old, we thought he could possibly be a [Kentucky] Derby horse, but unfortunately, he was injured.”

The Casse trainees Northern Passion and Unhedged ran one-two in the supporting feature on Canada Day, the $115,000 Sweet Briar Too Stakes.

The favored Northern Passion ($5.60) rallied wide from sixth to win by 1 1/2 lengths over Unhedged, who edged out Youcan’tcatchme for second. Over a turf course labeled “firm,” Northern Passion completed the seven furlongs in 1:22.42.

“She was doing it pretty easy down the backside,” Husbands said. “At the three-eighths pole, I had to decide to go inside or go eight wide. I thought I was on the best horse, so I stayed on the outside and went eight wide. I was a bit scared of going that wide, but she was much the best today.”