ETOBIOKE, Ontario – Ready for Shirl, the leading candidate for champion female turf runner in Canada this year, takes her talents to Woodbine’s inner turf for the first time in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Dance Smartly at Woodbine. Ready for Shirl has come into her own this year at age 4 for Hall of Fame trainer Roger Attfield. She rallied through traffic to finish a close second in the Grade 2 Nassau in late June and then won her first stakes July 20 in the Grade 2 Canadian over favored Gimme a Nother, who returned to capture the Grade 2 John C. Mabee at Del Mar. Ready for Shirl went off Lasix most recently when moving out from 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 miles in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor and finished a distant third behind favorites She Feels Pretty and Diamond Rain, an effort Attfield was content with. “She wasn’t going to beat those two in front of her,” Attfield said. “But I think if she’d been a bit closer early on, she would have finished closer to them.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. A debut winner going long on the grass at Keeneland at 3, Attfield said there is reason to believe that Ready for Shirl will handle the tight inner course going 1 1/16 miles with aplomb on Saturday. “She was impressive [in her debut], and that’s quite a tight course also,” Attfield recalled. “I don’t think it will bother her. She’s pretty nimble. She’s worked really well at Payson Park, and that’s actually tighter than [Woodbine’s] inner turf course.” Caitlinhergrtness, Breath Away, and Hurricane Clair are among the others in the nine-horse field. Last year’s King’s Plate winner and Canadian champion 3-year-old filly, Caitlinhergrtness won her season opener in the Belle Mahone Stakes and subsequently ran second in another Tapeta route, the Grade 3 Trillium. She missed the board in two stakes on the main turf during the summer, but she got back on the beam most recently with a decisive score in the Grade 3 Ontario Matron on Tapeta. Trainer Kevin Attard said the elegant daughter of Omaha Beach was getting back to her preferred type of course in the Matron. “I just think she needs two turns,” Attard said. “The way the [main] turf is configured, it’s not to her liking. When she did win on the turf, it was on the inner turf course. Now she’s back doing what she likes.” Saratoga shipper Breath Away won her second start off a layoff in the 1 1/16-mile Violet Stakes at Monmouth on Aug. 30. “She is training very forwardly,” trainer Miguel Clement said. “I think she is a better filly in the fall than she is in the summer, so I think that will benefit her in this race. She has always been a consistent horse, and we’re looking forward to seeing her race this weekend.” Hurricane Clair set the pace before fading to trail the seven-horse field in the Taylor. She ran gamely up front when a surprising second most recently in the Matron, finishing 3 1/4 lengths behind the rejuvenated Caitlinhergrtness. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.