Miss Vyvyanne takes on the boys in Highlander
?q=100)
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Inner-turf horse for the course Miss Vyvyanne gets her sternest test to date when she takes on the boys over five furlongs in Saturday’s Grade 2 Highlander at Woodbine.
The $200,000 Highlander is one of five graded stakes on the Canada Day holiday card. Carded as the seventh race, it’s the first leg of the new $5 pick three with a 15 percent takeout. The Highlander is followed by the Grade 3 Dominion Day (race 9) and the Grade 3 Royal North (race 10).
An astute $32,000 claim a year ago by trainer Gail Cox, Miss Vyvyanne has won her last five starts in inner-turf sprints. She’s no slouch on Tapeta, either, over which she won a March 14 conditioned allowance at Gulfstream Park before taking a five-furlong handicap there April 11. She was overhauled late by reigning Canadian champion female sprinter Little Teddy most recently when second here in a five-furlong conditioned allowance on Tapeta.
“I think it’s the sharper turns [on the inner] that she enjoys,” Cox said. “She handles them so well. She kicks away down the lane and the stretch is shorter. So when you put all of those factors together, I think it just suits her in every way possible. She truly is a five-eighths horse.”
Is Western Whirl fast enough to go with Miss Vyvyanne early? Maybe. The Chiefswood Stables homebred fought for the lead before weakening late when a close third in the Grade 2 Nearctic over this course and distance Oct. 4. He faded to third after putting away the other speed in his season opener in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier.
“Ideally, I wish this was three-quarters, but he’s run some good races going short,” said Chiefswood general manager Robert Landry. “For a big horse, he’s got some good gate speed. I thought he ran a great race his first start of the year. Taking the blinkers off maybe helped him to relax a little more early.”
Trainer Dale Desruisseaux was pointing G T Five Hundred for a Tapeta stakes at Presque Isle but decided to stay home because of the smallish Highlander field. The gelding won his local debut in the May 3 Thorncliffe Stakes and is coming off a sagging sixth in the Jacques Cartier, both on Tapeta.
“He’s run a couple of good races on the turf,” Desruisseaux pointed out. “I think we learned a little bit about him last time. We tried to rate him a little, and I don’t think that’s what he wants to do. I think you just let him roll and wherever he is, he is. He has a really high cruising speed – he doesn’t really have a kick.”
There are three shippers in the seven-horse field, including Outlaw Kid, a closer trained by George Weaver who could be used as a pick three single if one believes the speed will tire. The Saratoga-based Ontario-bred won the Vice Regent here in 2023 and 2024 and was a troubled fourth in that restricted stakes last year. He ran first and second in a pair of stakes at Laurel Park earlier this spring.
Dominion Day
Two-time Canadian champion Paramount Prince is the once to catch in the $150,000 Dominion Day, a 1 1/8-mile Tapeta route that he won in 2024. Trainer Mark Casse tried him sprinting this spring and he found the mark May 2 before a fading fourth in another seven-furlong conditioned allowance May 23.
Casse has also entered the stretch-running Grade 3 victor Swift Delivery.
:: Subscribe to the DRF Post Time Email Newsletter: Get the news you need to play today's races!
Notorious Gangster won the aforementioned May 23 contest decisively off a nine-month layoff with a career high 96 Beyer, a race after Wyoming Bill cleared the second allowance condition with an 87 Beyer. Both could be much improved this year.
Royal North
The $150,000 Royal North, a 7 1/2-furlong inner turf tilt for fillies and mares, seems wide open.
Shippers Ozara, Ribaltagaia, and Fantastical should be among the favorites in the 11-horse field. Ozara is adding Lasix off a victory in the Miss Liberty Stakes at Monmouth Park and is trained by Miguel Clement, who won with 5 of 17 starters here last year.
Casse entered three runners with speed: Without Cause, Shifty, and Bessie Abott. Without Cause could set the pace under Woodbine’s 2024 leading rider Sahin Civaci, who has made his way back here following an extended stint in New York.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.