My Boy Prince steps down in class for Cup and Saucer
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – My Boy Prince, who had a lot go against him when second in the Grade 1 Summer, drops sharply in class to meet Canadian-breds in the $250,000 Cup and Saucer for 2-year-olds, the richest of three stakes on Saturday’s Woodbine card.
My Boy Prince graduated at second asking by six lengths with an 84 Beyer Speed Figure on June 18. He subsequently developed a foot abscess and missed some training heading into the Aug. 27 Simcoe Stakes, a restricted 6 1/2-furlong event that he won by 14 lengths with a 95 Beyer.
“He had missed some time,” trainer Mark Casse recalled. “He’d only had two breezes in a period of about two months, and he ran a 95 Beyer and a 110 on the Timeform. We liked him a lot in Ocala this winter. He wasn’t really focused his first race, but he was focused the second race.”
My Boy Prince was favored most recently when switching to the grass in the one-mile Summer. After undergoing a shoe repair in the paddock and over giving ground on a course with an outside bias, he set the pace along the inside before fading to second.
My Boy Prince gets back on Lasix for the 86th running of the Cup and Saucer, a 1 1/16-mile test that Casse has won six times. Casse entered two others, including recent maiden winner Magic Slips. Both are owned by Gary Barber, and jockey Sahin Civaci is named on both runners.
Trainer Kevin Attard sends out King Rosso, War Painter, and Zippy Gizmo.
War Painter graduated in the seven-furlong Victorian Queen on the main turf Sept. 24. That Ontario-sired stakes for fillies went about a second faster than the male Ontario-sired stakes on the same card, the Bull Page, which was won by Zippy Gizmo.
Ontario Fashion
Canadian champion female sprinter honors could be on the line in the Grade 3, $150,000 Ontario Fashion, where the Casse-trained Our Flash Drive locks horns with Loyalty and Ready To Venture in the six-furlong dash.
Our Flash Drive captured the Grade 3 Whimsical on the Tapeta and the Grade 2 Royal North on the grass in the spring. Without Lasix in her last two outings, she wound up fifth in the Grade 3 Caress at Saratoga and fourth in the Grade 2 Ladies Turf Sprint at Kentucky Downs.
Loyalty took the Grade 3 Hendrie with a 97 Beyer here July 22. She was favored most recently in the Grade 2 Presque Isle Downs Masters, in which she finished a flat fourth after a wide, stalking trip over an inside-favoring surface.
Ready To Venture came from Maryland to win the Grade 3 Seaway with a 90 Beyer in her second start off the bench here Sept. 17.
Among the others entered are 2020 Canadian champion female sprinter Artie’s Princess and last year’s Sovereign Award winner in the division, the Lorne Richards-trained Hazelbrook. Both are winless this year.
“With all the issues [Hazelbrook] has had to deal with, she’s always gone out there and given a very honest effort,” Richards said. “There is no reason she can’t run well this weekend. We have her in the [Keeneland November sale], so this is probably her last race.”
Ontario Matron
Casse sends out Souper Hoity Toity in the Grade 3, $150,000 Ontario Matron going 1 1/16 miles for fillies and mares.
Souper Hoity Toity upset a troubled Moira in the Grade 3 Belle Mahone on June 3, after which she was promoted to second from third via disqualification in the Trillium Stakes on July 23. She could go favored over Il Malocchio, who narrowly won the Grade 3 Trillium and then cut back to seven-eighths in the Seaway and finished a wide third.
Other contenders include Kentucky-based Mouffy, Saratoga shipper Tamarama, and Trillium runner-up Angelou, who was demoted to third for interfering with Souper Hoity Toity in deep stretch.
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