Moonshine Justice wins Vandal Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Favored Moonshine Justice notched his second stakes in a row Sunday at Woodbine in the $164,550 Vandal, a six-furlong dash for 2-year-olds.

Moonshine Justice stalked front-running Handlebar Hank through splits of :22.29 and :46.11 seconds under jockey Todd Kabel. He overhauled that rival at the sixteenth pole, and then held off a late bid from Galaxy to score by a length and a half.

Handlebar Hank faded to third, while 8-5 second choice Slew's Sage ended up fourth in the eight-horse field of Canadian-breds. The final time over a muddy track was 1:12.73 seconds.

"My horse dug in and fought a real game race," said Kabel. "We were concerned about the track, because I worked him once on an off track, and he didn't appear to handle it, but he got a hold of it today."

Moonshine Justice ($5.30) earned $98,730 for the partnership of trainer Dave Cotey, Hugh Galbraith and Derek Ball.