Lions Bay tries to regroup in Friday feature

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Excuses are a dime a dozen in racing, but Lions Bay had legitimate reasons for failing to threaten in his last three outings, according to trainer Jamie Attard. The 3-year-old can get back on track in Friday’s Woodbine headliner, which combines Ontario-sired allowance stock with $40,000 non-winners-of-three claimers.

Lions Bay won two Ontario-sired races leading into the July 6 Queen’s Plate, in which he wound up sixth after running with a twisted shoe.

“Coming out of the gate, he stumbled and grabbed a shoe,” Attard said. “It was on the inside of his front right. He bent it down a good inch and a half, and it didn’t come off. He ran the full mile and a quarter with it. We were still pretty happy with the way he ran. He was only beaten 12 lengths.”

Lions Bay wound up seventh in the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the Prince of Wales Stakes on dirt at Fort Erie. When returning from a freshening here Sept. 14, he finished 3 3/4 lengths back in eighth in a seven-furlong sprint at Friday’s class level.

“He didn’t really take to the dirt too well and had a few nicks in behind,” Attard said. “After the race, we sent him home to the farm for a few weeks. When we brought him back in, we didn’t think seven-eighths would be a problem for him, but cutting back off those routes, he got lost out there for a bit and then came flying down the lane. Coming off the layoff, I figure he needed one. We’ve waited for this race, and he’s had a couple good works leading up to it. He’s matured. He’s doing really well.”

The eighth race lured six others, including the uncoupled Mark Casse-trained 4-year-olds Intermix and Thinkinquality, who are both competing for $40,000 tags.

KEY CONTENDERS

Lions Bay (Last 3 Beyers: 65-65-70)

DRF FORMULATOR FACT: Attard, who has trained for three years, is 3 for 12 with horses starting for the second time off a layoff, with a return on investment of $2.57.

:: Learn more about Formulator | Follow the @DRFFormulator Twitter feed and get free Formulator facts

Intermix (Last 3 Beyers: 82-74-64)

◗ The probable favorite attended moderate fractions before beating $40,000 non-winners-of-two company by daylight in his last excursion.

Thinkinquality (Last 3 Beyers: 77-76-74)

◗ In his local debut Aug. 30, he was stuck in traffic before finishing fifth in a 1 1/8-mile optional-claiming turf route. The winner, Iroquois Falls, subsequently captured an allowance before narrowly losing the restricted Bunty Lawless Stakes on Oct. 12.