Jean Elizabeth plans Saratoga stop before Woodbine return

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Horsemen who have horses in Saturday’s Grade 2 Royal North Stakes must have breathed a sigh of relief when the gray streak Jean Elizabeth wasn’t entered in the six-furlong turf sprint.

Based at Keeneland with trainer Larry Rivelli, the speedy Jean Elizabeth won her last three visits to Woodbine, all in Tapeta stakes. Her last trip across the border was a dominant score in the Grade 3 Whimsical on June 21, which capped an eight-race win streak that began here in the Sept. 21 Sweet Briar Too Stakes.

Rivelli said the popular 5-year-old could return here in the fall for a stakes like the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion, which she won last year, but her next start will be in the $200,000 Caress Stakes, a 5 1/2-furlong turf dash Aug. 1 at Saratoga.

“I just figured the money’s a little bit more, with the difference in the American dollar versus the Canadian dollar,” Rivelli said. “She’ll be back [to Woodbine] for sure. There’s plenty of races for her there. She loves that place, and we like it there, too. It’s just a matter of me trying to put her in the right spots as much as I can.”

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An Illinois-bred, Jean Elizabeth has won 15 of 21 starts for earnings of $717,647. Rivelli marveled at her versatility and development.

“Any surface, anywhere, it doesn’t matter,” Rivelli said. “She’s gotten better as she’s gotten older, which is great.”

Explode joins Simon barn

Explode, one of the top 3-year-olds in Western Canada last year, recently shipped here from Hastings to the barn of trainer Stu Simon.

Simon is looking at the Grade 3 Seagram Cup on the Tapeta on July 26 as a possible spot for Explode, who has yet to compete on turf or a synthetic surface.

“We’re contemplating running him in the Seagram, and take it from there,” Simon said. “It was a little bit of an awkward time when he came here. It wasn’t early enough for the Connaught Cup. We’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. With the short season [at Hastings], they don’t have many stakes going long there. They thought they’d just send him here and try it.”

Owned by Canmor Farms, Explode won the Grade 3 Canadian Derby by disqualification last August at Century Mile. He was beaten a nose when second in the Grade 3 B.C. Derby on Sept. 7 at Hastings, and has been sidelined since finishing third against older rivals there in the Grade 3 B.C. Premier's Handicap on Sept. 27.

Explode had an explosive work Thursday, when he breezed five-eighths on the Tapeta in a bullet 59.20 seconds.

◗ The $100,000 Shepperton Stakes, scheduled for Sunday, was carried over to Thursday after it got four entries, including champion Pink Lloyd. There are two first-level allowance sprints on Sunday’s nine-race card. Pink Lloyd’s last race, the Jacques Cartier, was also postponed from the weekend to the following Thursday when it also drew a field of four.