Quiet Knight on cusp of victory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Quiet Knight recently combined with Woodbine’s leading rider, Sahin Civaci, for the gelding’s best race, and they will team up again in Friday’s nominal feature at Woodbine.

Trained by Kevin Attard, Quiet Knight wasn’t far from graduating in his second appearance of the meet June 14, when he finished a close third after battling for the lead. He subsequently ran fourth in another 6 1/2-furlong turf sprint for Ontario-sired and $40,000 maidens, during which he was bumped in the stretch and was promoted to third by disqualification.

Quiet Knight competed over a mile on the inner turf in each of his last two starts. After closing for third Aug. 4, Civaci rode him for the first time Sept. 15 and put him in a stalking position before they finished a narrowly beaten second.

On Friday, Quiet Knight cuts back to seven furlongs in a race scheduled for the main turf, which has taken lots of rain this week. His lone Tapeta race was a fading seventh in his May 24 debut, in which he broke through the gate prior to the start. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him beat these Ontario-sired and $40,000 maidens on either surface.

Seven others were entered in the sixth race, including Blue Spirit, Midnight Mo, Knowing, and Monday Morning.

Blue Spirit, the lone filly in the lineup, dueled through soft fractions before fading late to third when debuting against her own sex Sept. 7 on the Tapeta. The daughter of Midshipman is a full sister to turf winner Opal Creek. Trainer Sandy McPherson was 0 for 6 with maiden second-time starters during the past five years.

Midnight Mo finished far back in all three of his Tapeta races against maiden-special opposition, most recently when cutting back from a route to six furlongs. The Chiefswood Stables homebred is by 13 percent turf-sprint sire Uncle Mo, and his dam was a stakes-winning grass specialist who has been a poor producer. Trainer Layne Giliforte surprisingly is winless at the meet.

Knowing is another dropper from the maiden special weight ranks who’s competing for the $40,000 while trying the grass for the first time. He checked in fourth when debuting in August and came up empty while failing to switch leads in the stretch last time out. By the 6 percent turf-sprint sire Wicked Strong, Knowing is out of a turf winner who dropped two winners from eight grass runners.

Monday Morning has been rounding into form for owner-trainer Mike McDonald. A wide trip going 1 1/16 miles three starts ago led to perhaps his worst performance. He rebounded with a runner-up placing when turning back to seven furlongs while dropping to $25,000 in his penultimate race. The son of Silent Name rallied for third most recently behind favorites Cabernaydo and Quiet Knight in his first turf start on the inner course.