Rescheduled Ontario-sired stakes topped by Hint, Ciunas
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Friday will be take two for a pair of $100,000 Ontario-sired stakes for 3-year-olds that were canceled last Sunday at Woodbine due to high winds.
Regal Moment is scratched after seemingly being the one to beat in the Ashbridges Bay for fillies. Her absence makes the 1 1/16-mile route wide open.
Hint makes her first start beyond 6 1/2 furlongs under Ryan Munger, her third rider in as many starts. After ending up a distant third when debuting over six furlongs Oct. 11, she rallied from fifth to win a 6 1/2-furlong Ontario-sired maiden allowance with a 71 Beyer Speed Figure. Hint blew out three furlongs on Monday, going easily in 37.60 seconds.
Trainer Gail Cox has excellent numbers with stretch-outs, and her charge Hint has a blend of speed and stamina in her pedigree.
Ella It Is finished up the track in both the Grade 3 Selene and Woodbine Oaks early in the summer. Following a break, she returned Sept. 28 to beat nonwinners-of-three Ontario-sired types going 7 1/2 furlongs on the inner turf. She is coming off a belated second in an open seven-furlong allowance.
Pietro Moran, riding without his apprentice allowance, retains the mount on Ella It Is for leading trainer Mark Casse.
Five others were entered in the Ashbridges Bay, including Brengungirl, who is winless this year after taking two of her three 2-year-old starts, including the South Ocean Stakes.
The 1 1/16-mile Lake Ontario drew a field of eight males, including Ciunas, Dark Screen, Dewolf, and Sedburys Ghost.
Ciunas won his first two starts in the summer before coming up empty in the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Stakes, the anchor leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. He switched to the Tapeta most recently and was a charging second behind a peaking Humber River.
Trainer Roger Attfield sent Ciunas out to breeze three furlongs in a leisurely 39.40 on Tuesday. This will be his first race with Lasix.
Dark Screen could set the pace while stretching out to a distance over which he’s questionable. The erratic gray won the six-furlong Lake Superior Stakes on the main turf in July and then went into the dumper before beating older allowance rivals in a five-furlong inner turf dash most recently.
Following a successful juvenile campaign, Dewolf has endured a sophomore slump. He ran fifth in a 13-horse field in the Aug. 16 King’s Plate before getting drilled in the Prince of Wales Stakes on dirt. He’s coming off a flat fourth behind Humber River and Ciunas.
Sedburys Ghost has been a major disappointment since winning the July 20 Plate Trial Stakes. The Barbara Minshall-trained gelding is getting some class relief following a slow-starting eighth in an Oct. 26 conditioned allowance/optional claimer on the inner turf.
Post time for the expanded 11-race card is 3 p.m.
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