Kennedy Road Stakes comes up a tough return spot for Pink Lloyd

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Three-time Canadian champion male sprinter Pink Lloyd will line up against some formidable opposition when he returns from a break in Saturday’s Grade 2 Kennedy Road.

The $175,000 event is one of four stakes on the blockbuster Woodbine card, along with the Grade 3 Ontario Derby, the Grade 2 Bessarabian, and the $150,000 Ontario Damsel.

An 8-year-old trained by Robert Tiller, Pink Lloyd is putting his 10-race win streak on the line in the six-furlong Kennedy Road, which the gelding has won twice. He went over $2 million in Canadian career earnings in his last start Sept. 5 in the Grade 3 Vigil.

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Tiller said the gap between Tapeta sprints in the Woodbine stakes schedule was the reason for Pink Lloyd’s hiatus, but he said the popular gelding hasn’t missed a beat in his training.

“He’s in great shape,” Tiller said. “He hasn’t run for 10 1/2 weeks. That’s always worrisome, especially with his training style. He’s a hacking horse. He’s had a lot of miles. He’s never missed a day. He’s only had three works. That’s how we train him. Hopefully, he’s not too sharp, but he’s doing very well. We’re looking forward to the race.”

Six others were entered in the Kennedy Road, including Silent Poet and Ride a Comet.

The speedy turf expert Silent Poet is experimenting on Tapeta while closing out a career year. He captured his first two starts, most notably the Grade 2 Connaught Cup, and is coming off a victory in the Grade 2 Nearctic going six furlongs on good ground. His only loss in five starts this year was a third-place finish going a mile in the Grade 2 King Edward.

Trained by Nick Gonzalez, Silent Poet has a maiden win from four synthetic-track starts, which included a poor showing going 1 1/4 miles in the 2018 Queen’s Plate. Gonzalez says Silent Poet ran well on synthetic early in his career and there are no turf races left for him at the meet.

“He just got so good on the turf that we stuck to it,” Gonzalez said, adding that Silent Poet came out of the Nearctic “better than he went into it.”

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Ride a Comet won 4 of 6 races during his breakout 3-year-old season in 2018, including the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby on grass. When he returned from an extended layoff here Oct. 16, he won a second-level allowance on the Tapeta with a sweeping wide rally from seventh. His seven-furlong time of 1:21.31 was good for a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

“Being off two years and two months, it was pretty impressive,” trainer Mark Casse said. “He bowed twice on us.”

Casse said he might run Ride a Comet on turf next.

“He beat some really good horses in the Del Mar Derby,” he said. “He’s an extremely talented horse. He’s a half to Belmont winner Tapwrit.”

Casse also entered Souper Stonehenge, who’s coming off a second-level allowance score.