Little Teddy looks to double up as turf courses open
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Turf racing returns to Woodbine on Thursday with one race scheduled for each course on a solid eight-race card.
Work on the revitalization of the main turf began last fall with the reinforcement of the tunnel that leads to the main track. A small section of the course was removed and resodded.
The main turf will be restricted to six- and 6 1/2-furlong sprints until mid to late June. It will be shut down following King’s Plate weekend (Aug. 16-17) until next year for further resodding on the backstretch.
A host of major stakes have been moved to the inner turf in September and October, including the Woodbine Mile and Canadian International. The inner course will be used more judiciously than usual in the fall, according to Woodbine’s vice president of racing, Tim Lawson.
“We’re going to need to be more strategic as to how we use the inner turf,” Lawson said. “We obviously don’t want to chew it up too much.”
Stakes winner Little Teddy will be looking to double up in Thursday’s featured seventh race for fillies and mares on the Tapeta. The six-furlong conditioned allowance, with a $50,000 claiming option, lured a competitive field of six that includes three other winners at the young meet.
Trained by Santino DiPaola, Little Teddy competed in a host of restricted stakes for 3-year-old fillies last year, winning the Georgian Bay on the inner turf and ending up second in both the Thunder Bay and Algoma. When returning from a five-month absence April 26, Little Teddy rallied outside off quick fractions over a track that favored speed and inside runners to win an open five-furlong allowance under apprentice Austin Adams.
In a field without much speed, Cara Cara could make the lead after breaking from the rail under Eswan Flores. She nearly cleared the second-allowance condition last fall and had a wide-stalking trip over a rail-favoring track when a flat fourth in her May 3 comeback. John Mattine trains the daughter of Signature Red.
Silent Sky came along the rail on the turn before angling outside to beat first-level allowance types going 6 1/2 furlongs in her May 3 seasonal bow. Fraser Aebly will ride her again for trainer Kevin Attard.
Garnet and Gold is seeking her third victory at the meet for hot trainer Tony Adamo after getting claimed for a bargain $15,000 in March at Turfway Park. She beat non-winners of three two back when tagged for $40,000 and then doubled up in a six-furlong allowance on Tapeta.
Chromeplated Heart wound up second in each of her last three outings for trainer Debra Rombis, enduring a neck loss in her May 3 comeback at this class level.
The Mark Casse-trained Irish import Orderofthephoenix was promoted from second to first due to a medication violation by the winner in her local debut April 26, a nonwinners-of-two allowance with a $50,000 claiming option for 3-year-olds.
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