Maawka, Rockcrest will be blazing in Woodbine feature
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Raw speed will be on display in Thursday’s featured third race at Woodbine, if Maakwa and Rockcrest hook up as expected. They’re the two fastest horses on Beyer Speed Figures in the field, and handicappers should ponder if it will be a fight to the finish between them, or will the five-furlong dash set up for one of the others.
Maakwa toiled in the maiden ranks before winning for a $25,000 tag in October and then clearing the nonwinners-of-two Ontario-sired allowance condition in his final 2021 outing.
Maakwa had worked strongly heading into his April 24 season opener, during which he set a rapid pace before getting nailed on the wire by favored Last American Exit. He matched a career-high 86 Beyer in that six-furlong event under Gary Boulanger, who retains the mount for trainer Shana Lopez.
Rockcrest, a 5-year-old trained by Nigel Burke, is winless in 14 starts since taking the Simcoe Stakes for graduates of Canadian yearling sales at 2. The handsome gray did run two winning races last year, however, most notably a second to Not So Quiet in the restricted Vice Regent Stakes going five-eighths on the inner turf in September. He has been idle since ending up second in another five-furlong inner turf dash Oct. 19, a second-level allowance won by 44-1 bomb Wedgewood.
Keveh Nicholls rides Rockcrest, who has a much higher TimeformUS early pace rating than Maakwa, suggesting that he possesses superior early foot. Going back five years, Burke was 0 for 5 with six-month-plus layoff runners, but Rockcrest has been working right along and was victorious in his debut at 2.
The other three entrants in the nonwinners-of-three dash combining Ontario-sired types with $40,000 claimers seem overmatched.
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ouper Classy tailed off in the fall but ran well during the early portion of his 2021 campaign. After getting away slowly, he wound up fifth behind Maakwa in his April 24 season opener. A hot Kazushi Kimura will get a leg up on him from trainer Mike De Paulo, who is adding blinkers.
Celebratory has been ineffective against second-level allowance competition. The drop to compete with a $40,000 tag here is significant, and he could parlay a stalking trip into a share.
Tragically Quewick is a 4-year-old half-brother to Rockcrest. After getting bumped at the break, he came from second to beat Ontario-sired nonwinners-of-two rivals in his April 17 comeback.
◗ A seven-horse field of 3-year-old fillies will line up in Thursday’s sixth race, an Ontario-sired allowance for nonwinners of two. The six-furlong sprint could set up for the comebacker Souper Flashy, who notched her debut sprinting at 2 and then finished second in the restricted Princess Elizabeth Stakes in October. Her trainer, Kevin Attard, doubled up last Sunday.