Multiple Sovereign Award finalist Amalfi Coast begins 4-year-old season in feature

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Heading into its second season, Woodbine’s inner turf course is in fantastic shape, due to an ideal mixture of rain and warm weather in May, and will host Saturday’s opening-day allowance feature. With a base purse of $75,000, the 7 1/2-furlong no-conditions event drew 10 fillies and mares, including the hard-luck Amalfi Coast.

Amalfi Coast was a 2019 Sovereign Award finalist in three categories, but she failed to take home any hardware. She came closest in the champion 3-year-old filly division, losing the award 133-110 to Woodbine Oaks winner Desert Ride. She also was second in the champion female sprinter category and third in the champion female turf division.

Amalfi Coast was the consummate late bloomer. Unraced at 2, she burned lots of money before graduating in her fourth start on the Tapeta last August. After ending up second in a subsequent allowance, she appeared to find her calling on the grass when beating Ontario-bred 3-year-old fillies in both the Ontario Damsel and Carotene stakes in the fall.

Amalfi Coast capped her 2019 campaign with an impressive score over older opposition on the Tapeta in the Grade 2 Bessarabian. For covering seven furlongs in 1:22, she earned a career-best 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

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Amalfi Coast wintered at Gulfstream Park with trainer Kevin Attard, where she worked three times in March before shipping home. Among her three local breezes was a sharp half-mile in 47 seconds last Saturday.

Rafael Hernandez replaces the retired Eurico Da Silva on Amalfi Coast, who is owned by Terra Racing Stable.

Among the winter-raced entrants in the lineup is Get Explicit, who has never won a stakes but was second in the Grade 3 Waya last summer at Saratoga.

Get Explicit wasn’t a factor in a trio of graded stakes over the winter in Florida, all in longer routes. Her lone start over the local inner course was a chalky second going 1 1/16 miles in a second-level optional claimer. She is trained by Barb Minshall, who also sends out the Another Time, a winner over the Tampa turf in March.

Souper Escape ships in from the Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland off a five-month absence. She took the La Lorgnette Stakes on the Tapeta here Sept. 1, after which she competed in a trio of turf stakes, the best result being a third in a restricted 7 1/2-furlong contest at Gulfstream.

Red Cabernet won the Eternal Search Stakes for Ontario-sired stock on the inner course last August. She has worked quickly for her first outing since a troubled ninth in the Nov. 24 Bessarabian. The Ontario-sired 6-year-old is eligible for both bonuses offered in this race.