Let It Ride Mom points to Hendrie Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse said Let It Ride Mom, winner of the Grade 3 Whimsical Stakes on April 28 at Woodbine, is being pointed to the Grade 3, $125,000 Hendrie Stakes on Tapeta over 6 1/2 furlongs for her next start on June 10.

Let It Ride Mom returned off a long layoff in the Whimsical, making her first start since a ninth-place finish in the Grade 3 Valley View Stakes at Keeneland in October. Prior to that start, Let It Ride Mom was victorious in the La Lorgnette Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Woodbine’s Tapeta. With Let It Ride Mom having success going long, Casse said he wasn’t sure how she would handle six furlongs.

“I was afraid it was a little short for her,” he said. “She had every excuse to get beat, but in the end, she still ran well. She’s come back at 4 and is training bigger and stronger than ever.”

Let It Ride Mom has now won her last three starts on the Woodbine Tapeta, including her win in the Whimsical, last season’s La Lorgnette Stakes, and the Glorious Song Stakes in 2016 as a 2-year-old. In six career starts on synthetic, Let It Ride Mom has either won or finished second. Those runner-up finishes came in stakes events in 2016, including the Ontario Debutante Stakes and the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes.

“She definitely likes it,” Casse said of Let It Ride Mom’s apparent affinity for synthetic surfaces. “There’s no question.”

Casse had nominated Let It Ride Mom to the Grade 2 Nassau Stakes over a mile on the turf here May 27, but may run as many as three other horses in that spot. Among the Casse contingent that could run in the Nassau are Grade 1 winner Dream Dancing, last year’s Grade 3 Royal North Stakes winner Jennifer Lynnette, and Bletchley.