Piper's Factor brings track record into Connaught Cup
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Piper’s Factor, fresh off lowering the 7 1/2-furlong inner-turf course record in a conditioned allowance, will negotiate that course and distance again against tougher company in the Grade 2, $200,000 Connaught Cup on Sunday.
After going winless in eight outings last year, Piper’s Factor is unbeaten in two starts this year for Vassilieva.
“After last season, we basically wanted to press the reset button,” Vassilieva said. “Instead of wintering south, he got time off at the farm in Ontario. This seems to have done him a world of good. He came back a fresh horse this year and has not put a wrong foot down so far.”
The Mike Stidham-trained Maycocks Bay ships in from Maryland for the second time. He led all the way here in the Grade 2 Eclipse in his first start on Tapeta May 30. In two career turf starts, he has placed without finding the mark. Sofia Vives retains the mount. She rode Piper’s Factor in his last outing.
Tapeta expert G T Five Hundred dead-heated for third here June 27 in the Grade 2 Highlander, a five-furlong inner-turf dash.
“The five-eighths race was too short, but I thought he ran pretty decent,” Desruisseaux said. “He wants to go six or six and a half furlongs. This is two turns. He ran two turns before going a mile and a sixteenth, which wasn’t the greatest, but he’s run good grass numbers going six and a half or seven-eighths.”
Nassau
The Grade 2, $200,000 Nassau will feature Sultana’s attempt to extend her winning streak to four races in the one-mile inner-turf tilt for females.
After landing an allowance on the inner course in September, Sultana doubled up in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf on the Tapeta. She hasn’t started since a gutsy score in the Grade 3 Orchid at Gulfstream in March.
The Mark Casse-trained Bessie Abott is coming off a troubled third in the Grade 3 Royal North on the inner turf under Fraser Aebly.
“We had a really nice trip up until about the quarter pole and I hadn’t moved on her yet,” Aebly recalled. “I found a seam, but a few horses drifted and gave us a little bump at the head of the lane. She finished up very strong and I thought we could have been a little closer at the end, but we had a bit of tough racing luck that day.”
There are trio of shippers in the seven-horse field – Salty Senorita, Fiery Lucy, and Vina Arana. All three are getting back on Lasix.
Carded as the eighth on a 14-race card, the Nassau is the opening leg of the $5 all-stakes pick three. The other legs are the Plate Trial (race 9) and Connaught Cup (race 11).
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