Pumpkin Rumble dominant in Valedictory repeat

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The popular Pumpkin Rumble won the Grade 3 Valedictory for the second year in a row at Woodbine on Sunday, giving the retiring Eurico Da Silva an appropriate send-off in his final stakes mount.

Pumpkin Rumble raced in midpack for about the first half of the 1 3/4-mile marathon, as Auntie Katherine set moderate fractions. High Noon Rider joined Auntie Katherine up front on the far turn, where Pumpkin Rumble overtook both of them at the quarter pole, en route to a 5 1/4-length score in a time of 2:57.67.

Fearsome rallied strongly to finish a clear second over Theregoesjojo in the 11-horse field.

“He’s a super easy horse to ride,” Da Silva said. “He has a little soft mouth. You give him a chance to relax, and you can do anything you want with him. Today, I had a little bit of trouble to relax him at the beginning. Once I tucked in behind, he was so relaxed. I didn’t want to take the lead yet at the three-eighths, but he said ‘Eurico, I’ll handle this’. He took over, and from there it was over.”

Pumpkin Rumble paid $3.50, and earned $75,000 of the $128,700 purse for owners Al and Bill Ulwelling.

Trainer Kevin Attard said the plan for 8-year-old son of English Channel is to run him in Florida this winter.

“We started late with him, and had a little bit of an interruption in the spring,” Attard said. “Because he is lightly raced, we plan on sending him south, and giving him a try. We’ll see how he handles things down there.”