Overskate, Eternal Search match Ontario-sired runners

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Patches O’Houlihan is the marquee horse in Sunday’s $100,000 Overskate Stakes, but Woodbine’s top sprinter will only run if the race is moved from the turf to Tapeta, according to trainer Robert Tiller.

There is some rain in the forecast, so there’s a chance the Overskate, which is restricted to Ontario-sired runners, could be switched from 7 1/2 furlongs around two turns on the inner turf to seven-eighths around one turn on the Tapeta. Patches O’Houlihan would be favored in either scenario, but Tiller is adamant that the 3-year-old Reload gelding will only run on the main track.

“He will not run if the race stays the way it is. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Tiller said.

Tiller had the same philosophy for five-time Canadian champion sprinter Pink Lloyd, who made all 37 of his starts in synthetic sprints while winning 29 times.

Patches O’Houlihan is 7 for 8 lifetime and unbeaten in six starts this year, which includes four stakes wins. He went to the sidelines for eight months after his only loss, a sixth-place finish in the Bull Page Stakes on the main turf last September, a race for which Tiller had an excuse.

:: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets.

“He stepped in a hole down the backside and was operated on two or three days later,” Tiller recalled.

Mason’s Gamble, Town Cruise, and Philip My Dear are contenders in the eight-horse field.

Mason’s Gamble is coming off a victory in a conditioned allowance with an $80,000 claiming option over 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner turf.

Town Cruise, victorious in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile in 2021, was fourth behind Mason’s Gamble last out and has an inner turf win on his record this year.

Reigning Canadian champion male 2-year-old Philip My Dear is meeting older opponents off a respectable fourth in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Stakes.

Stakes winners Miss Speedy, My Girl Sky, and Fashionably Fab are among a group of 11 in Sunday’s female equivalent of the Overskate, the $100,000 Eternal Search.

Miss Speedy took the restricted Ballade Stakes in her penultimate start. She has worked sporadically since finishing fourth most recently on July 22 in the Grade 3 Hendrie, another Tapeta sprint.

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

My Girl Sky is shortening up off a series of starts against conditioned allowance/$50,000 optional-claiming company.

“She has been facing tougher competition at the open allowance level and running respectably,” trainer Katerina Vassilieva said. “She’s been healthy and training well. The Ontario-sired division should, hopefully, offer some class relief, and she was able to score a stakes victory against Ontario-sired fillies in the Thunder Bay last year.”

Fashionably Fab captured the 2022 Shady Well Stakes. She cut back from a pace-pressing third in the Bison City Stakes to land the 6 1/2-furlong Rondeau Bay Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies on the dirt at Fort Erie in her latest.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.