Pender Harbour back at two turns in Steady Growth

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Mike De Paulo will be celebrating his 50th birthday Sunday at Woodbine and will look to find the winner’s circle in the $125,000 Steady Growth Stakes with his talented gelding Pender Harbour.

“It’s nice to win any day, but my birthday would be great,” he said.

Pender Harbour enters the Steady Growth off a runner-up effort in an open allowance event over seven furlongs in which he earned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure.

“He ran a good race,” De Paulo said. “Based on the Beyer, that was as good of a race as he can run.”

De Paulo believes the stretch-out in the 1 1/16-mile Steady Growth will be to Pender Harbour’s benefit.

“All his life, he’s been a two-turn horse,” he said. “He broke his maiden going seven-eighths, and he’s run in some other sprints, but otherwise, he’s run two turns.”

Pender Harbour will face Ultimate Destiny, who defeated him in the Sir Barton Stakes in December and won the Steady Growth last year. Ultimate Destiny is coming into the race off a sixth-place finish May 11 in the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes.

“It came up a very tough race, and we knew that going in, but I really didn’t have a choice on where to run him,” said trainer Alec Fehr. “This was our target all along, and I didn’t want to wait and not run him at all until now.”

Fehr said Ultimate Destiny is better this year than he was last year at this point in the season.

“He was so impressive last year when he won his first three starts in a row, but speed-figure-wise, his first race this year was better than [his first race] last year,” he said.

Bobcaygeon and Courtville ran fifth and sixth in a seven-furlong allowance that Pender Harbour won April 18. Courtville subsequently ran fourth in a second-level allowance over 1 1/16 miles May 18.

Urban Forester won a second-level allowance over seven furlongs April 27 to kick off his 2014 campaign and ran fourth behind Alpha Bettor in the prep for the Eclipse Stakes on May 10.

San Nicola Thunder was third behind Urban Forester in that April 27 allowance event and ran a close fifth in a 1 1/16-mile allowance May 18.

Langstaff was fifth behind Phil’s Dream in the New Providence Stakes on May 19 and will be stretching out to 1 1/16 miles for the first time.

Rounding out the field is Pugsley, who has three wins in five career starts at 1 1/16 miles.