Munnyfor Ro takes the wide road in Woodbine Oaks
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Munnyfor Ro overcame a wide trip under Justin Stein to win the 66th running of the $500,800 Woodbine Oaks on Sunday, giving trainer Kevin Attard his first win in the prestigious event for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
After breaking from the outside post 10, Munnyfor Ro ($8.70) raced four-wide in midpack until the far turn in the 1 1/8-mile route. Lorena went straight to the front and set honest fractions, before a stalking Emmeline made the lead on the far turn.
Munnyfor Ro advanced to duel with Emmeline in the stretch, and then edged away late to prevail by 1 1/4 lengths, in a time of 1:50.31. Emmeline nosed out a closing Il Malocchio for third, while 5-2 favorite Curlin’s Catch checked in fifth, just behind 85-1 bomb Youens.
“I was told to have her settled,” said Stein, who won the 2015 Oaks on Academic. “It looked like there was a possibility of the (speed) stopping. I didn’t want to be in behind them. I put her in a spot (where) we could tip out in the turn, when it came time to ask her to run from the quarter-pole home. We had dream trip. It worked out perfect.”
The performance was good enough for Attard to consider supplementing Munnyfor Ro to the Aug. 22 Queen’s Plate, at a cost of $25,000. She was coming off a closing second here in the Grade 3 Selene.
“We were expecting a good performance out of her,” Attard said. “She ran a fabulous race in the Selene. I thought she’d move off of that race forwardly enough to be competitive today. She had good interim breeze, and we put it all together.
“A mile and a quarter is going to be her trip. I’m not worried about the distance. We’ll see how she comes out of the race, and then we’re going to have to sit down and talk about maybe supplementing her.”
A daughter of Munnings and a Distorted Humor mare, Munnyfor Ro earned $300,000 in her first stakes score for Raroma Stable.