Not So Quiet sidelined with injury
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mark Casse said his crack sprinter Not So Quiet has gone to the sidelines and will not meet the mighty Pink Lloyd in Sunday’s $100,000 Ontario Jockey Club Stakes for Ontario-sired runners.
Not So Quiet completed a sweep of the Vice Regent and Overskate stakes for the second year in a row when winning the latter race convincingly after it was taken off the grass on Oct. 9. The 6-year-old earned Beyer Speed Figures of 98 and 95 in those races, and was never better than he’s been this year.
“He’s got an injury and he’s out for the rest of the year,” Casse said. “Likely, it’s not a big deal. He’ll be back in the spring. He just needs some time off. What a nice horse. He’s one of my favorites. He’s just so versatile, he can do anything.”
Casse does have Souper Stonehenge aiming for the Grade 2 Kennedy Road here Nov. 27, when he figures to meet archrival Pink Lloyd. They ran second and third behind Ride a Comet in last year’s Kennedy Road.
Coronation Futurity jinx
It’s been well documented that no winner of the 1 1/8-mile Coronation Futurity for Canadian-bred 2-year-olds has won the following year’s Queen’s Plate since Norcliffe in 1975-76.
Casse, who has won the Coronation three times, sent out favored God of Love to finish a troubled fifth in the $250,000 race last Saturday. He’s not a believer in the so-called Coronation Futurity jinx, and said the long period of time between the Coronation and Plate makes it hard to have a horse in peak form for both stakes.
“I sure wouldn’t blame the race,” Casse explained. “I think it’s circumstances. There’s so many variables. It’s just a long time to keep them happy and healthy and on their game. You just need so much luck.”
Simon makes stakes plans
Trainer Stuart Simon won an Ontario-sired stakes on each of the last two Fridays, including the Eternal Search with Summer Sunday, who is slated to close her career in the $100,000 La Prevoyante here Dec. 4.
Lorena notched her third sprint stakes in the Thunder Bay on Oct. 22 for Simon. She will try a route of ground for the second time in the Ashbridges Bay Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies on another Friday, Nov. 19. Lorena wound up eighth after setting a quick pace in the 1 1/8-mile Woodbine Oaks on Aug. 1.
“I really believe that she’ll run long,” Simon said. “With the Oaks, she had a condensed, squeezed schedule.”
◗ Ima Beast is the one to catch in Thursday’s featured sixth race, a six-furlong sprint for nonwinners-of-three Ontario-sired allowance types and $40,000 claimers. Trained by Harold Ladouceur, Ima Beast is coming off a front-running fifth behind Amalfi Coast and Summer Sunday in the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion.
First post is 1:10 p.m. on Thursday.