Riptide Rock, White Flag meet in deep turf sprint

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There’s no stakes on the holiday Monday card at Woodbine, but the featured conditioned allowance turf sprint, with an $80,000 claiming option, has a stakes-caliber field that includes Riptide Rock and White Flag.

Riptide Rock cleared the second allowance condition in his 4-year-old bow by coming from off the pace going seven-eighths on the Tapeta on May 1. He subsequently ran fourth behind Artie’s Storm, Frosted Over, and Mighty Heart in the Grade 2 Eclipse, and is exiting off a non-threatening fifth in a 1 1/16-mile route at Monday’s level.

Riptide Rock made the board in all three of his turf starts, most notably when second in the Breeders’ Stakes last October. Trainer Sid Attard said he prefers middle distances for the unlucky 2021 Queen’s Plate runner-up, who will be ridden by Justin Stein. Monday’s race is 6 1/2 furlongs.

“I think seven-eighths or a mile is perfect for him,” Attard said. “I freshened him up a little bit. I gave him a couple of sharp, short works. He’s been going good.”

White Flag, a classy 8-year-old trained by Roger Attfield, is dropping out of graded stakes company to a spot where the stretch-runner doesn’t appear to have much speed to chase.

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Apprentice Slade Jones picks up the mount on White Flag, who got a 96 Beyer Speed Figure when third behind Bound for Nowhere and Arzak in the Grade 2 Highlander on July 2.

Lucky Curlin won for Attard off a $50,000 claim on Aug. 18. He was claimed from that race for $50,000 by trainer Marty Drexler. The closer is equally adept on turf or Tapeta and is the lone entrant who’s competing with an $80,000 tag.

“He seems like a very straightforward kind of horse,” Drexler said.

Leading trainer Mark Casse entered Tap It to Win and Turned Aside.

Tap It to Win is a versatile type who went coast to coast in the 1 1/16-mile Seagram Cup Stakes the last time he found the mark nearly a year ago.

Tap It to Win is shortening up off a wide eighth-place finish in this year’s Grade 3 Seagram Cup. His limited turf form is spotty.

Turned Aside has had a little break since ending up ninth in the six-furlong Highlander. An occasional front-runner, he could be forwardly placed near possible pacesetter Roaring Forties.

After being gelded in the off-season, Roaring Forties has been rejuvenated this year in his first campaign for trainer Katerina Vassilieva. He attended a fast pace before weakening to fifth in a deceptively good performance in the Grade 3 Bold Venture on the Tapeta on Aug. 13. His best of four turf races was a third in an open allowance won by Chuck Willis over a course labeled as good June 9.

Completing the field for the headliner, the sixth race on a nine-race card, are Red River Rebel, Lucky Score ,and main-track-only entrant Cash Dividend.