Pink Lloyd moving on to Bold Venture following third Kenora victory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Canadian Millions Sales Stakes Night, which included an array of stakes for graduates of local yearling sales here Aug. 28, featured another stellar effort from the incomparable Pink Lloyd, Canada’s 2017 Horse of the Year.

Pink Lloyd notched his fifth consecutive stakes while winning the six-furlong Kenora for the third year in a row, over stablemate Circle of Friends. His final time of 1:08.28 was just .23 of a second off his own synthetic-track record, and he got a 98 Beyer Speed Figure.

Trainer Robert Tiller said Pink Lloyd is on target for the Grade 3 Bold Venture on the Woodbine Mile undercard Sept. 14.

“He’s doing very well,” Tiller said. “He was squealing and bucking [Sunday] morning. It was just like he never ran the other day. This was his best performance in that race by a mile. The fastest time. He could have broken the track record. [Eurico Da Silva] eased up on him the last part. He’s just remarkable.”

Tiller’s Reconfigure won the finals of the Woodbine Turf Sprint Series on Aug. 21. That inner-turf tally earned Tiller a $5,000 bonus for owning the first horse to win a race on all three local surfaces. Reconfigure won his May 17 season opener on the Tapeta and a $25,000 claimer on the main turf on July 13, the day Tiller claimed him.

Reconfigure is among a field of seven in Friday’s featured second-level optional claimer.