Ready for the Lady ($30.60) surprises in Singspiel

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The aptly named Ready for the Lady reached full bloom in Sunday’s Grade 3 Singspiel at Woodbine, closing from last under Emma-Jayne Wilson to post a 14-1 upset in the 1 3/8-mile turf route.

Over a course labeled good, the favored shipper King Vega tracked pacesetter Collective Force through moderate fractions before assuming command entering the stretch.

Ready for the Lady, one of three supplements in the six-horse field, trailed while about five lengths back on the far turn before mounting a furious wide rally. He got up in the final strides to win by three-quarters of a length over second choice British Royalty, in a time of 2:18.12.

After losing ground in the stretch, Collective Force came back on for third, ahead of a fading King Vega. Elusive Knight and Enchant Me completed the order of finish.

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Fresh off his maiden victory, Ready for The Lady ($30.60) earned $90,000 of the $154,200 purse for owner-breeder Charles Fipke.

It was the ninth Singspiel victory for trainer Roger Attfield, who said the 4-year-old son of More Than Ready was ready for the ladies last year.

“He was so studish last year,” Attfield recalled. “He just didn’t have any desire. I knew there was ability there, but he wasn’t putting it out. I would have like to have gelded him at that time, but Chuck will never geld one.

“All of a sudden, he started to go better and started to put his mind to it a little bit more and allowed me to train him a little bit harder. This was kind of an interesting experiment. I wasn’t going into this race originally, but it was such a small field that I thought I’d try to help the race go. I knew the mile and three-eighths was probably a better distance for him than the allowance race. When it rained down here, I thought that would help him too. With his action, I think he prefers a little give to the ground.”