Marchfield rallies in Breeders' Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Marchfield ($9.30) rallied from far back under Patrick Husbands to capture the 117th running of the $501,600 Breeders' Stakes, the third leg of the Canadian Triple Crown at Woodbine on Sunday.

It was the first stakes victory and turf debut for Marchfield, a nicely bred A.P. Indy colt with a quality turf pedigree. Trained by Mark Casse for Melnyk Racing Stable, he earned $300,000, which brought his career earnings to $463,753.

Alezzandro, the 7-5 favorite, shrugged off several challenges on the front end, while setting a fast pace in the 1 1/2-mile event. Marchfield trailed most of the way and was about 15 lengths off the lead on the far turn.

Marchfield commenced a wide rally at the head of the stretch and mowed down Twilight Meteor at the sixteenth pole en route to a length victory. It's Like This finished third, and Alezzandro faded to sixth in the field of Canadian-bred 3-year-olds, which was reduced to nine runners with the scratch of It's a Danzig. The final time was 2:29.50.

Marchfield disappointed in the first two Triple Crown races, the Queen's Plate and Prince of Wales Stakes, much to the dismay of Husbands, who won last year's Breeders' aboard Royal Challenger.

"I don't know why he ran so bad in the Plate," Husbands said. "We had the blinkers on him in the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie, and he would not relax, so we took the blinkers off. Today, I couldn't get him on the bridle, but they were going too fast. They started coming back to me, and it was matter of time."

Casse said the lively pace, the equipment change, and the surface switch all contributed to the turnaround from Marchfield.

"We got pace today," Casse said. "The blinkers had him keyed up, so we took them off and he relaxed. This is what he's bred to do and he showed that he could do it."

* Stablemates Main Executive, the 8-5 favorite, and 7-1 shot Cool Selection ran one-two all the way around in Sunday's $126,200 Shepperton Stakes.

Main Executive and Cool Selection, who are half-brothers, vied through slow fractions in the 6 1/2-furlong dash for Ontario-sired runners. Main Executive ($5.30) took the lead at the head of the stretch, and Cool Selection's late surge came up a neck short.

Richard Dos Ramos rode Main Executive, who covered the distance in 1:16.77, and banked $75,000 for Bruno Brothers Farm and trainer Radlie Loney.

"He relaxed a little today, and I was glad to see that," Dos Ramos said. "He ran hard."