Mr. Hustle to try turf in Soaring Free Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – After a pair of impressive victories on Tapeta, Mr. Hustle will make his next start on the turf, as trainer Roger Attfield will point the 2-year-old son of Declaration of War to the $100,000 Soaring Free Stakes over 6 1/2 furlongs on Aug. 18.

Should all go well in the Soaring Free, Attfield said he would then point Mr. Hustle to the Grade 1, $250,000 Summer Stakes on turf Sept. 15. Attfield is confident that Mr. Hustle will be able to handle the surface switch.

“He’s got a turf pedigree,” he said. “Usually, those kind will run on synthetic also. We didn’t buy him specifically for turf, but turf horses usually run on the all-weather, and that’s what we have at Woodbine. There’s no reason to think that he wouldn’t be able to go on the turf.”

Mr. Hustle debuted on June 16 in a five-furlong sprint, which he won by 5 1/4 lengths, and followed that up with a victory in the Victoria on July 7.

Attfield has won three of his four starts with 2-year-olds this season. Along with Mr. Hustle’s two wins, Attfield also sent out Pleasecallmeback to an impressive debut victory Sunday on turf. Mr. Hustle and Pleasecallmeback have been workmates at Woodbine this year.

Attfield said they were close to each other during their works, although some thought Pleasecallmeback was better than Mr. Hustle.

“I’ve got three or four 2-year-olds that I really like,” Attfield said.

“[Mr. Hustle] looked like he was going to be one of the early ones in the bunch. He was the oldest. He was a January foal. Those two were the most two advanced horses. They were the most mature.”

Mr. Hustle was a $235,000 purchase at the 2018 Keeneland September yearling sale. Attfield said Mr. Hustle showed a lot of positive characteristics at the sale.

“I thought his pedigree was good enough for sure,” he said. “He was a nice-moving horse. He was a well-balanced horse. He looked like he had a good mind on him, which he does. He checks off most of the boxes you work through when you’re picking one. He had just about everything we were looking for, to be honest with you.”

Are You Kidding Me still has it

The Attfield stable has gotten off to a good start at the Woodbine meet, with three stakes winners: Tiz a Slam, Mr. Hustle, and Are You Kidding Me. Are You Kidding Me showed he’s still at the top of his game as a 9-year-old with his win in the Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes at Woodbine on June 30.

Attfield said he would point Are You Kidding Me to the Grade 3, $125,000 Seagram Cup Stakes over 1 1/16 miles on Tapeta at Woodbine on Aug. 11. While Are You Kidding Me hasn’t worked since his win in the Dominion Day, Attfield said he is in good order.

“He’s just been cruising along,” he said. “He’s training away regularly. It’s a little while between races. He doesn’t need to be doing a lot of other works.”

A two-time Sovereign Award winner, Are You Kidding Me has had a productive season just four starts in. After finishing eighth in an allowance on the turf at Keeneland in April, Are You Kidding Me finished third in the Grade 2 Eclipse Stakes on May 20 and second in an allowance race on June 16 before recording his victory in the Dominion Day.

“We have to look after him and he looks after us,” Attfield said. “He’s in good shape. We’ll give him a bit of time to come back and he’ll probably run another good one for us.”

◗ Registration opens on Friday for the 2019 Woodbine Weekend Horseplayers Tournament, which will take place on Aug. 24 and Aug. 25 in the Post Parade Dining Room. The tournament is a live bankroll tournament with eligible wagers including win, place, show, exactor, and daily double. Players will also compete for two seats to the National Horseplayers Championship. Buy-in for the tournament is $350, of which $250 is put in the prize pool, while the remaining $100 is used as the live bankroll. For more information, visit Woodbine.com/Tournaments.