Silent Fortune returns after solid second in fall stakes
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Canadian Triple Crown nominees Silent Fortune, Three Sonny Sideup, Morstachy’s, and Smart Sky are among a field of seven 3-year-olds in Friday’s seventh race at Woodbine. Scheduled for seven furlongs on the Tapeta, it combines non-winners of two Ontario-sired allowance types with $40,000 claimers and carries a purse of $61,800.
Silent Fortune notched his debut at 2 before ending up fourth in the Bull Page Stakes on the turf. He has been idle since an inside bias-aided second-place finish in the Oct. 14 Frost King Stakes, for which he got a 78 Beyer Speed Figure.
Kazushi Kimura has the mount on probable favorite Silent Fortune for Picture Time Stables and trainer Gail Cox, who has a 7 percent strike rate with six-month-plus layoff runners.
Three Sonny Sideup placed in each of his first two starts at 2, both going the seven-furlong distance of Friday’s feature. The son of Breeders’ Stakes winner Danish Dynaformer ran to his stamina-oriented pedigree when earning his diploma over a mile and 70 yards in late November, after which he got the winter off.
Trained by Norm McKnight, Three Sonny Sideup has been working with his stakes-winning stablemate War Bomber. Their last two drills were both going six furlongs in quick time, with neither giving an inch. Declan Carroll will ride Three Sonny Sideup.
Morstachy’s nearly won his penultimate start in a starter/optional claimer at Gulfstream. The Kevin Attard-trained gelding is coming off a slow-starting third in his season opener behind a sharp One Bay Hemingway, who returned to beat older non-winners of three rivals with an 84 Beyer.
Luis Contreras, who was aboard for Three Sonny Sideup’s maiden win, takes over on Morstachy’s.
Smart Sky graduated over $15,000 maidens Dec. 4 before finishing third against $25,000 claimers just six days later. Coming off the bench April 30, he wound up six lengths behind One Bay Hemingway in fifth after a ground-saving trip.
Ryan Munger picks up the mount for trainer Ravendra Raghunath on Smart Sky; the two combined for a recent victory.
Renegade Serenade looks best among the others. After winning his debut in October, he had no shot while racing wide over an inside-biased track when 14th in the Coronation Futurity. He is unraced since a closing second in a seven-furlong Ontario-sired allowance Dec. 9.
Rounding out the seventh-race lineup are Candy Street and Might Be Speedy, who could set the pace with blinkers on if jockey Skye Chernetz lets him roll from the outset.
The Triple Crown begins with the $1 million King’s Plate on the Tapeta here Aug. 20, and ends with the $400,000 Breeders’ on the grass here Oct 16. The middle leg, the $400,000 Prince of Wales, goes on the dirt at Fort Erie Sept. 12.
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