Pink Lloyd points to New Providence Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pink Lloyd recorded his first stakes victory and won Woodbine’s first stakes race of the season in last weekend’s Jacques Cartier Stakes. He likely will make his next start May 6 in the $125,000 New Providence Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and up, trainer Robert Tiller said.

The lightly raced 5-year-old is now a four-time winner in six career starts but didn’t make it to the races until last August. Tiller said minor injuries delayed Pink Lloyd’s racing debut.

“I could give you a list, and it would be very long,” he said. “He didn’t race until he was 4 years old, so that obviously tells you that he had issues.”

Tiller said he’s expecting a productive campaign from the son of Old Forester.

“He’s a very good horse, and right now, he’s very sound,” he said. “In this business, especially with a horse like him, you just go day to day, but he came out of the race very well. I believe he’s a good horse, and I believe he’ll keep proving it. As long as he gets over there in good order, he’s going to run well.”

Stacked Deck retired

Stacked Deck, Canada’s champion male sprinter of 2015, has been retired from racing after fracturing a sesamoid in his left foreleg in the Jacques Cartier Stakes, trainer Barb Minshall said.

“It’s really one of those unfortunate things,” she said. “He just took a bad step or something there, but it was definitely not something that we thought was going to happen. He was training really good. He was perfect.”

Minshall said Stacked Deck will be shipped to Kentucky, where the next steps in his recovery will be determined.

The 6-year-old gelding retires with nine wins from 23 starts. Three of those victories came in graded stakes, including scores in the Grade 2 Kennedy Road and Grade 3 Bold Venture stakes at Woodbine in 2015 on his way to earning a Sovereign Award as champion male sprinter. He earned $769,988 for Minshall and owner and breeder Bruce Lunsford.

“He’s had a great career,” Minshall said. “He’s been a sound horse throughout his career. He’s won races every year, and he’s run a lot for a sprinter that’s run hard every time.”