Roi Soleil figures to get ideal trip in featured allowance
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Thursday’s Woodbine headliner looks like it will set up for Roi Soleil if the closer produces one of his better performances in the conditioned allowance.
Roi Soleil has two wins and a second from three five-furlong turf starts, including an allowance score over the local inner course on which Thursday’s feature will be contested at that distance. He was claimed from his winning Dec. 15 outing for $40,000 by trainer Phil Hall on behalf of Telford Farms, after which he got the winter off.
Roi Soleil faded from third to eighth in his April 27 season opener. When moving out to six furlongs in another Tapeta sprint most recently, the 4-year-old went three wide on the turn and wider in the stretch to end up fourth over an inside-biased track. The race was won by the unbeaten Frac Dancer, with another classy stakes winner, Lucky Score, ending up second.
Keveh Nicholls retains the mount on Roi Soleil, a term that’s French for Sun King, which was the nickname given to one of France’s greatest kings, Louis XIV.
The stakes-placed 3-year-old Jet Sweep Joe is meeting older opponents for the first time after shipping in from Turfway. He was a narrowly beaten second in both the Tyro and Skidmore stakes last summer before tailing off in the fall while running in formidable races, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint at Del Mar, in which he finished ninth.
Paul McEntee trains Jet Sweep Joe, who is among the need-the-lead types in the field, along with Its Time to Shine, He Shoots He Wins, and Speed Figures.
A half-brother to 2023 King’s Plate victor Paramount Prince, Its Time to Shine is seeking his fourth triumph in a row. He culminated that three-race win streak May 18 on the Tapeta with a three-length score in a first-level allowance, during which he benefited from an inside bias. He got fried in a speed duel in his only turf start where the seven-furlong distance was too far for him.
He Shoots He Wins dropped to $25,000 non-three company in his second race off the sidelines, finishing second after giving way late. He also came up empty in his lone grass outing, which was going a mile around two turns early in his career on the inner course.
Fittingly, Speed Figures owns the highest recent Beyer Speed Figures in the lineup. He earned an 85 Beyer when notching a five-furlong allowance win off a two-month break in his local debut April 27. The Florida-bred, a son of the late Ontario sire Souper Speedy, graduated his third time out in the fall at Laurel, which was his best of three turf races.
Completing the field are Artemus Citylimits and the main-track-only entrant Junior Hot Shot.
◗ Emma-Jayne Wilson gets her first mount of the meet in the fourth race on Onejabtoomany. Wilson underwent surgery after suffering neck and pelvic fractures when going down in a spill aboard Ready Shakespeare here Oct. 25.
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