Late-running Hammerhead tries Tapeta in a small, competitive field

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Gold Square’s Hammerhead will experiment on Tapeta in Friday’s featured allowance route at Woodbine as part of a competitive five-horse field of 2-year-olds.

Hammerhead wound up sixth after a tardy start when debuting in a two-turn maiden special on the grass at Saratoga in August when he was trained by Chad Summers. The War Front colt was subsequently sent north of the border to trainer Kevin Attard, who saddled him to a third-place finish on the main turf here Sept. 15.

When switching to the inner turf most recently in another 1 1/16-mile maiden special, Hammerhead closed stoutly from eight lengths back to win going away under apprentice Austin Adams.

“We didn’t get a chance to work him prior to his first [local] race,” Attard recalled. “He acted up a little in the gate that day and didn’t break the best. I thought his second race was a good performance. He sat patiently, made a big move, and looked pretty professional.”

Attard has reason to believe that Hammerhead will make a smooth transition to the Tapeta.

“He’s worked well over it,” Attard said. “I thought he worked really well last week with an older horse and galloped out nicely. We contemplated running him in the Grey Stakes but elected to stick with the maiden race. This race showed up, and I thought it might be a chance to [plan for] some races for him here next year.”

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Trainer Mark Casse sends out a pair of second-out maiden winners, Attack and War of Destiny, in the mile and 70-yard contest.

Attack ran into traffic early in the stretch while closing from a trailing 12th to finish fourth when going long on debut Oct. 6. It wasn’t surprising to see him bet down to favoritism Nov. 17, and he prevailed in the 1 1/16-mile maiden special after rallying stoutly from left field.

War of Destiny set a slow early pace before fading to fifth when debuting Oct. 13 in the seven-furlong Display Stakes. Three weeks later, he came from a stalking position to win a six-furlong maiden special with a 75 Beyer Speed Figure, the highest in this field.

By Preakness winner War of Will, War of Destiny is bred to run on and could hook up on the lead with the more experienced Commander Worsley, who is in for the $75,000 claiming option.

Trained by Darwin Banach, Commander Worsley wired $25,000 maidens over seven furlongs in his penultimate race. He was hounded up front before weakening late to third last time out in a nonwinners-of-two route for Ontario-sired allowance types and $40,000 claimers.

Completing the field is Church and State, who overcame a slow beginning to land his Nov. 15 opener in a seven-furlong maiden special with an eye-catching stretch kick for trainer Dale Desruisseaux.

Post time for the eight-race card is 1:10 p.m.

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