Loyalty tries seven furlongs in Duchess Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The once-beaten sprinter Loyalty clashes with the sharp router Souper Hoity Toity over the intermediate distance of seven furlongs in Saturday’s $125,000 Duchess Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Woodbine.

Loyalty is unbeaten in three six-furlong starts, all with Beyer Speed Figures in the 80s. Following her first-out maiden special win here April 24, she doubled up in a fast allowance over another daughter of Hard Spun, Hard Edge, who subsequently found the mark in allowance company.

The lone blemish on Loyalty’s record was a wide sixth-place finish as the favorite in the July 9 Alywow Stakes going 6 1/2 furlongs here on the main turf.

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Loyalty has had a little break since her daylight score in the $100,000 Lady Erie Stakes on the Tapeta at Presque Isle Downs. She hasn’t missed a beat since that Aug. 8 event while working every week since Aug. 20.

Luis Contreras will ride Loyalty again for trainer Josie Carroll, who also entered Pioneer’s Edge.

Souper Hoity Toity has won 4 of 6 outings for leading trainer Mark Casse. The daughter of Uncle Mo is coming off back-to-back Grade 3 stakes victories going long, in the Selene on the Tapeta and in the Ontario Colleen on the grass.

“She’s always run well, and her last two races were excellent,” Casse said. “We’re cutting back sprinting, but I want to keep her running against straight 3-year-olds, so this was really our only option, unless we wanted to ship.”

Join the Dance also was entered by Casse, who’s seeking his second Duchess win in a row following Miss Speedy in 2021. Patrick Husbands will ride the Live Oak Plantation runner, who was a $550,000 2-year-old purchase.

There are four American shippers in the nine-horse field – Pharoah’s Song, Empress Tigress, Hollywood Walk, and Tasweya.

Pharoah’s Song was supplemented by trainer Graham Motion off a 10th-place finish in the 1 1/8-mile Virginia Oaks over the lush turf at Colonial.

Empress Tigress romped in her debut on the Tapeta here May 22 and went on to land the $150,000 Coronation Cup Stakes on the Saratoga turf. She endured her only loss when second in the Galway Stakes on Aug. 11 at the Spa for trainer Jonathan Thomas.

The Mike Trombetta-trained Hollywood Walk is coming off a restricted allowance tally at Colonial. This will be her first start on Tapeta, over which she has been working at her Fair Hill Training Center base.

The erratic Tasweya is turning back off a troubled seventh in Laurel’s Searching Stakes, which was moved from turf to dirt. She was previously a front-running second in the Christiana Stakes on the grass at Delaware and was unplaced in her lone synthetic-track excursion at Turfway.

Rounding out the lineup is Curlin Candy, who was supplemented by trainer Mike DePaulo.

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

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