Muskoka Gold wins maiden in Cup and Saucer Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Muskoka Gold graduated in style in Sunday’s $226,600 Cup and Saucer Stakes at Woodbine, holding off the favored Pleasecallmeback to prevail by 1 3/4 lengths under Jerome Lermyte.

Muskoka Gold ($38.60) dueled up front with his Mark Casse-trained stablemate, Goldmine Cat, through honest fractions in the 1 1/16-mile turf route for 2-year-olds. Pleasecallmeback made his way into serious contention at the top of the stretch, but Muskoka Gold repelled his challenge in the final furlong to win in a time of 1:42.07 over the good ground.

Kunal, a 64-1 shipper, rallied from last to beat out More Chances for third in the 12-horse field of Canadian-breds.

The victory was redemption for Lermyte, who was disqualified from first on another Casse trainee, Skygaze, in Saturday’s Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes.

“It’s racing, and obviously [I] made some mistakes,” Lermyte said. “It’s painful, but we learn from it, and we try to come back stronger, and don’t make the same mistake. Today’s win made up for it a little bit, but it’s still painful.

“We played it by the break. I didn’t know what I was going to do. It was going to depend on how he would break, and how the race would unfold. He broke pretty good. Nobody was really going. I had one horse on the outside, and I took the opportunity to go there comfortably. He just kept going all the way.”

A son of freshman sire Lea, Muskoka Gold finished a close second in his only other race in a maiden special on the Tapeta. He earned $135,000 for Conrad Farms.