Pink Lloyd grabs 24th stakes victory in Bold Venture
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The incomparable 9-year-old Pink Lloyd won his 24th stakes in Saturday’s Grade 3 Bold Venture, giving jockey Rafael Hernandez a sweep of the two stakes on the Woodbine card.
In a five-horse field without a front-runner, Pink Lloyd set a slow pace with Lucky Curlin pressing him all the way in the 6 1/2-furlong sprint.
Pink Lloyd dug in through the stretch and prevailed by three-quarters of a length over Lucky Curlin, in a time of 1:15.13. Lookin to Strike, Cash Dividend, and Magical Man completed the order of finish.
Trainer Robert Tiller said the plan was to make the lead with Pink Lloyd, even though it’s not his preferred trip.
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“That’s not what he wants,” Tiller said. “He likes to run at horses. He’s a very competitive horse. But we had no choice today. Raffie (Hernandez) just rode his race. As soon as the gates opened, I knew he was going to make the lead. We didn’t want to get shuffled back, because there was really no speed in the race. It was a great race. I was worried about him making the lead and maybe waiting for horses and all that stuff. Anyway, it worked.”
Pink Lloyd ($4.10) earned $108,000 of the $168,900 purse for Entourage Stable. The popular son of Old Forester was voted the Sovereign Award as champion male sprinter in each of the past four years.
*** Miss Speedy went straight to the front under Hernandez and kept on going to notch her first stakes in Saturday’s $141,300 Duchess by two lengths over the previously unbeaten Aug Lutes.
With blinkers off, Miss Speedy returned $6.60 and covered the seven-furlong distance in 1:21.10. Trained by Mark Casse, the daughter of Ontario sire Souper Speedy collected $90,000 for the partnership of Gary Barber and Ryan and Barry Kerbel.
Salty as Can Be finished four lengths back in third, a neck in front Lady War Machine, the 5-2 second choice in the 10-horse field of 3-year-old fillies.