Ontario had big-time trouble at start of last race

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It would certainly be fitting if Ontario wins Saturday’s $125,000 Ontario Damsel Stakes at Woodbine, and the lightly raced chestnut has the potential to get the job done in the 1 1/16-mile route for 3-year-old fillies.

After getting away slowly, Ontario mounted a powerful wide rally from eighth to win her 6 1/2-furlong debut going away July 7. Off that eye-catching performance, she was favored in the 1 1/16-mile Bison City Stakes for Canadian-breds on Aug. 10, in which she finished a distant fifth after being checked while squeezed back early.

Trained by Josie Carroll, Ontario was a $450,000 yearling purchase by LNJ Foxwoods and NK Racing. The daughter of outstanding synthetic sire Ghostzapper is well-regarded by LNJ’s Jaime Roth.

“Always loved her,” Roth said. “That last time out trip was . . . no words. I hope we see the real Ontario. Fingers crossed.”

Trainer Mark Casse entered Witwatersrand, Crevalle d’Oro, and Gild the Lily. Last year’s Canadian champion 2-year-old filly, Witwatersrand has run hot and cold this year. She has been idle since a 10th-place finish in the Grade 3 Ontario Colleen on July 27 and might not be a fan of hot summer weather.

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Pendulum, based at Turfway Park with trainer Brendan Walsh, has the look of a player in the competitive 13-horse field. She dropped a neck decision in a two-turn maiden special at Gulfstream Park in her lone synthetic-track excursion Jan. 7. The daughter of Street Boss has stuck to the turf ever since and won an allowance two back at Ellis Park before finishing a closing third in the Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs.

Ontario Fashion Stakes

Owen’s Tour Guide goes for her second consecutive stakes win in Saturday’s Grade 3, $135,000 Ontario Fashion.

Owen’s Tour Guide had been effective racing up front early in the meet when winning a conditioned allowance/optional claimer before ending up second in the Grade 3 Hendrie. She struggled in her next two outings before Jose Campos rode her from off the pace to land her first stakes in the five-furlong Zadracarta on the inner turf Sept. 21.

“Jose and I had planned that strategy in the morning, to sit off the pace,” trainer Willy Armata said. “She doesn’t have five-eighths speed, so we let them run away from her and then the hope was to have her run them down. Before this race, she was going to the lead and then getting tired down the lane, but with Campos, he got her to relax and then came with that nice run.”

The six-furlong sprint for fillies and mares attracted nine others, including the Kevin Attard-trained trio of Love to Shop, Ro Town, and Tripolina. Love to Shop, second to Loyalty in the Grade 2 Bessarabian last November, is eligible to run big in her second race after a significant layoff.

Casse sends out Star Candy and Ticker Tape Home, who has won both of her starts since exiting a spring layoff, including the Grade 3 Seaway with a career-high 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

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