Our Flash Drive gives Casse fourth consecutive Selene Stakes win
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Our Flash Drive ($4.70) proved to be a comfortable winner of Saturday’s Grade 3 Selene Stakes at Woodbine, giving trainer Mark Casse his fourth straight victory in the 1 1/16-mile route for 3-year-old fillies.
Our Flash Drive went directly from her impressive maiden victory here June 19 to the Selene, during which she tracked stablemate California Lily through moderate splits before taking control at the quarter pole. She opened up a clear lead in the stretch before holding sway to prevail by 2 1/4 lengths, in a time of 1:44.69.
Patrick Husbands rode Our Flash Drive for Charlotte Weber’s Live Oak Plantation, which also won the Grade 3 Victory Ride shortly after at Belmont Park with the Casse-trained Souper Sensational. The daughter of Ghostzapper earned $90,000 of the $156,000 Selene purse.
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“She relaxed right off the bat,” Husbands said. “I was stalking (California Lily), and then she started to back up, and (Our Flash Drive) started to stop, too. I had to get into her to get her going again, and then she just started to draw away.”
Ontario-bred Munnyfor Ro finished a clear second over Sweet Souper Sweet, a performance that will make her one of the favorites for the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks for Canadian-breds.
Fury Stakes
Lorena ($3.90) led all the way in Saturday’s $125,000 Fury Stakes, an important prep for the Aug. 1 Woodbine Oaks, giving jockey Gary Boulanger his fourth winner on the card.
Boulanger put Lorena on the point and they set a controlled pace in the seven-furlong sprint for Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies.
The talented Casse-trained maiden Astrological made a three-wide bid into contention on the turn. She tested Lorena through the stretch, but Lorena dug in to win by three-quarters of a length, in a time of 1:23.94. Curlin’s Catch rallied wide for third in the seven-horse field.
Lorena banked $75,000 for the partnership of Gerry Olguin, Brent and Russell McLellan, and trainer Stuart Simon.
Simon was non-committal about running Lorena back in the 1 1/8-mile Oaks, which would be the first start around two turns for the daughter of Souper Speedy.
“Whether we go in the Oaks or not, we’ll mull that over a little bit,” Simon said. “I hate to put too much on a young horse’s plate. We’ll take it under careful consideration.”