Pender Harbour, Paso Doble top field for Overskate Stakes
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Even though last year’s Overskate Stakes winner and Canadian champion sprinter, Phil’s Dream, is sidelined with an injury, Saturday’s renewal of the $125,000 Overskate still has some firepower. The veterans Paso Doble and Pender Harbour head the seven-furlong event for Ontario-sired stock, which also lured two of Phil’s Dream’s sophomore stablemates, Too Many Egbert’s and Forester’s Destiny.
Paso Doble recorded his first win of the year Aug. 4 in the restricted Shepperton Stakes, in which he got away with murder on the front end before scoring comfortably.
“He did set soft fractions, but he doesn’t need the lead,” said trainer Mark Fournier. “It was just the way the race played out. There was no speed. He went out there and got his way.”
Paso Doble has worked four times leading up to the Overskate, a race in which he finished second in 2011.
“He’s in good order,” Fournier said. “He’s had a couple of good five-eighths works.”
Key contenders
Paso Doble (Last 3 Beyers: 87-75-85)
* Fournier took Paso Doble off Lasix after the 8-year-old finished seventh in his season opener in the Jacques Cartier Stakes.
“He had an electrolyte imbalance,” Fournier said. “He was dehydrating. When he came back from a race, he had the thumps. We put him on some supplements. We scoped him after he worked, and he wasn’t bleeding, so we took him off [Lasix]. He seems to be finishing better.”
Pender Harbour (Last 3 Beyers: 81-86-93)
* Canada’s champion 3-year-old in 2011 has captured 3 of 6 outings this year, including two 1 1/16-mile stakes. He has a win and two seconds in three seven-furlong attempts this year.
Too Many Egbert’s (Last 3 Beyers: 84-68-81)
* Trainer Paul Buttigieg said there isn’t another 3-year-old stakes for Too Many Egbert’s, which is why he’s running him against older opponents off a victory in the Vice Regent Stakes on grass.
“His best races have been on the turf,” Buttigieg said. “That’s what he’s bred for.”
Forester’s Destiny (Last 3 Beyers: 79-76-65)
* Buttigieg said six furlongs was too short for this son of Old Forester when he checked in fourth against salty older rivals Aug. 27 in the Kenora Stakes.
AVOWAL STAKES
Saturday’s overnight stakes, the $100,000 Avowal, will go with nine fillies and mares.
The speedy Silent Treat is a two-time stakes winner at the meet. Another added-money triumph would solidify her status as Woodbine’s top female sprinter.
Hillaby, Smartyfly, and Why Katherine are the other main protagonists in the seven-furlong turf sprint.