Shirl's Speight, with Marine win, has plenty of stakes options

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Trainer Roger Attfield reports that Shirl’s Speight has excelled since his dominating win in the Grade 3 Marine Stakes at Woodbine, and his connections are looking at several stakes for the unbeaten 3-year-old sensation.

Shirl’s Speight, owned and bred by Charles Fipke, won his July 4 debut on the grass in a cakewalk and in near course-record time for the seven furlongs. Three weeks later, the son of Speightstown took the 1 1/16-mile Marine on the Tapeta with a 91 Beyer Speed Figure.

Shirl’s Speight is nominated to the Grade 2 King Edward for 3-year-olds and up on the grass here Aug. 15. The race is a prep for the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

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“Nothing’s etched in stone at this moment,” Attfield said. “I don’t have any options at Woodbine outside of running against older horses, which I don’t mind doing. I could run in the King Edward. There’s the (Grade 3 Virginia Derby) at Colonial Downs on Aug. 29, which I thought was a pretty interesting race for him.

“Mr. Fipke is not ruling out the Kentucky Derby if he could get in there, which would be a difficult task with respect to the education that he’s had so far. He didn’t get much experience out of either one of his races, really. He hasn’t been on the dirt, yet, and I’ve never worked him on the dirt, which I will do the next time he works. I’m sure he’d handle it well, with his pedigree.”

Attfield also mentioned two other stakes for 3-year-olds on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs: the Grade 2 American Turf and the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile.

“My main interest is the future of the horse, because I think he’s got a huge future,” Attfield said. “I’d hate to mess him up mentally by doing something silly. He came out of his race super and has trained back very well.”

Attfield compared Shirl’s Speight to his 1990 Canadian Triple Crown winner Izvestia, who captured the Queen’s Plate by 13 lengths in a scintillating performance.

“He’s the closest thing I’ve had to Izvestia,” Attfield explained. “He’s doing everything as easily as Izvestia did at the start of his career. And a similar type of horse, too, very compact and a really well-made horse.”

** In consultation with the HBPA, Woodbine has raised the minimum weight for jockeys to 118 pounds beginning Thursday. The top weight will go to 125 pounds where applicable, except for handicaps or stakes where assigned weights will remain at the discretion of the racing secretary.

A release put out by Woodbine stated: “The health and welfare of our jockeys was the driving factor for this decision, and the new base weight aligns with racing jurisdictions in Kentucky, Florida and New York.”