Pink Lloyd starts season looking for fourth straight Jacques Cartier win

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Pink Lloyd goes for his fourth straight win in the Grade 3 Jacques Cartier Stakes on Thursday at Woodbine as the three-time Canadian champion sprinter makes his 8-year-old debut. A field of five was drawn for the $125,000 event, which was carried over from last Saturday.

Pink Lloyd was unbeaten in six stakes starts last year, including a hard-fought score over Extravagant Kid in the six-furlong Jacques Cartier. As usual, he wintered at trainer Paul Buttigieg’s farm before shipping back into Woodbine to prepare for what could be his last campaign for Entourage Stable and trainer Robert Tiller.

Pink Lloyd had always done a good portion of his training on the training track until this past off-season, when he trained regularly on the Tapeta during a time as the training track was closed due to the pandemic. There were no official works at Woodbine from late March to mid-May, which explains the large gap in his work tab.

“I had one three-eighths breeze into him, and then he just galloped and galloped,” Tiller said. “We were able to get through it. He has a lot more experience on the main track now, and that worked well. We had one interruption that was a long time ago. All is well. We’re ready to go. I hope he can [win it] again. I just think he’s so special. I believe he’s going into it as good as ever.”

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Rafael Hernandez inherits the mount from the retired Eurico Da Silva, a choice that Tiller said was a no-brainer. The only time Hernandez rode Pink Lloyd, which was when Da Silva was serving a suspension, the gelding set the six-furlong synthetic-track record while earning a career-high 106 Beyer Speed Figure in the 2018 Jacques Cartier. Tiller said he was surprised by that performance because Pink Lloyd was coming off an injury that required surgery.

“He had a chip taken out of his knee,” Tiller recalled.

Not So Quiet, who was supplemented by trainer Mark Casse, looks like the one to catch. He survived a front-end battle to win a second-level optional claimer off a 1 1/2-year layoff on June 6. Kazushi Kimura inherits the mount from Hernandez on the 5-year-old.

Tiller gets win No. 2,000

Tiller registered his 2,000th career training win with his own horse, Have a Souper Day, in a maiden race last Friday.

“The main thing I’m proud of is the majority of those wins were here,” Tiller said. “I don’t ship. If you look at my record, I don’t think I won any more than 20 races elsewhere.”

Tiller’s biggest win out of town was with Domasca Dan in the Grade 2 Jamaica Handicap in 1989. The 70-year-old has captured 165 stakes, including 19 by Pink Lloyd.