New surface again for 'Hide'

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Hide and Chic recorded a 48-1 upset victory in her turf debut Aug. 7 in the Grade 3 Royal North Stakes. She tries another unfamiliar surface, Woodbine's Polytrack, in Saturday's Grade 3, $150,000 Seaway Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Hide and Chic had a fairly impressive r?sum? before she was shipped here to trainer Malcolm Pierce. Last summer, she finished second in both the Grade 1 Test at Saratoga and the Grade 3 Azalea Breeders' Cup Stakes at Calder.

Following an eight-month layoff, she returned in the six-furlong Royal North, where she rallied inside under David Clark to prevail by a neck over Financingavailable, who has since won two stakes.

"It worked out perfectly for her," Pierce said. "I was supposed to bring up [Eddie Castro], who had ridden her before, but he had some troubles with his paperwork. I was scrambling for a jock at the last minute, and David had never sat on her back, but it worked out well. She had worked very well going into the race. I don't think she should have been 48-1. Going in there, I really believed we could hit the board."

Pierce said he predicted another strong showing from Hide and Chic, who worked five furlongs on the Polytrack in 1:00.20 on Sept. 2.

"I think she'll take to the Polytrack fine," Pierce said.

The Seaway, which has a field of nine, has also lured American shippers Maryfield, Annika Lass, Quite a Ruckus, and Beautiful Bets.

Maryfield was a $50,000 claim last winter by trainer Doug O'Neill. She won a listed stakes in March at Santa Anita and earned back-to-back triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures when second in two stakes at the Hollywood spring/summer meeting.

Annika Lass has been freshened since finishing fifth in the Grade 1 Princess Rooney Handicap on July 15 at Calder. The Princess Rooney has produced three next-start winners, including Dubai Escapade, who captured the Grade 1 Ballerina at seven furlongs at Saratoga.

Also in the field is High Button Shoes, who ran second to Dubai Escapade in the Grade 2 Vagrancy Handicap in June at Belmont, but was fifth in the Ballerina on Aug. 27.

Trainer Mark Frostad said High Button Shoes prefers the outside, and that things didn't go her way in the Ballerina.

"She got stuck on the inside, and didn't like it very much down there," Frostad said.