Pink Lloyd circles field to win Kennedy Road Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The remarkable Pink Lloyd overcame a lot to win the Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes for the second time in the past three years at Woodbine Saturday.

Richiesinthehouse acted up in the gate beside Pink Lloyd, before taking the lead through moderate fractions in the six-furlong sprint. Eurico Da Silva steadied Pink Lloyd early in traffic, and they trailed the eight-horse field heading into the turn.

Over an inside-biased track, Pink Lloyd mounted powerful wide rally on the turn, and then blew by Extravagant Kid at the eighth pole en route to a 1 1/4-length score in a time of 1:08.72.

Extravagant Kid finished second, and Malibu Secret nosed out Dixie’s Gamble for third. Reconfigure, Richiesinthehouse, Eskiminzin, and O’Kratos completed the order of finish.

Da Silva is retiring at the end of the meet, and was quite emotional after riding Pink Lloyd for the final time.

“There was so much trouble in front of me, and I just took him back and said ‘Boy, we need to go outside’,” Da Silva said. “There’s only one horse who could do it. His name is Pink Lloyd.”

Trainer Robert Tiller said he bypassed the Oct. 26 Overskate Stakes with Pink Lloyd to have him fresh for the Kennedy Road. The son of Old Forester was declared a non-starter after breaking his gate open early in the Sept. 14 Bold Venture Stakes.

“There will never be another one like this horse,” Tiller said. “My owners have been terrific. They were willing to wait. I felt after his last race he needed a rest. He got it. We had a couple of interruptions in between that were very hard on my gray hair. It made it even grayer.”

Pink Lloyd ($3.50) earned $126,000 of the $198,100 purse for Entourage Stable.