Silent Poet has tough task in rebound bid
?q=100)
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The classy veteran Silent Poet meets the speedy sophomore Bushido in Thursday’s Woodbine headliner, a five-furlong inner-turf dash, combining conditioned allowance types with $50,000 claimers. The race was rescheduled from last Thursday’s card that was canceled due to poor air quality from the wildfires in northern Ontario.
Silent Poet has been the most successful turf sprinter at Woodbine in the past five years, during which he won the Grade 1 Highlander in 2021, the Grade 2 Connaught Cup and Grade 2 Nearctic in 2020, and the Grade 2 Play the King in 2019.
Silent Poet is winless since the beginning of 2022, but he ran several strong races in graded stakes last year, including a third behind the future champion Filo Di Arianna and March to the Arch in the Connaught Cup.
In his April 2 season opener at Gulfstream, Silent Poet rallied outside for second behind a rejuvenated Shekky Shebaz. He was outfinished for the win by Souper Watson after a three-wide stalking trip here most recently at this level on the Tapeta. Trainer Nick Gonzalez will give Justin Stein a leg up on the 8-year-old gelding.
Bushido is making his first start as a gelding for trainer Darwin Banach.
Bushido broke like a bullet in both of his juvenile outings, going five-eighths on the inner turf, winning each race decisively. After romping in a Sept. 4 maiden special weight, the son of First Samurai took the Ontario Racing Stakes with an 85 Beyer Speed Figure in October.
When coming off the sidelines in the April 16 Palisades Stakes at Keeneland, Bushido set a fast pace before fading to finish 10 1/4 lengths back in eighth.
Rafael Hernandez will ride Bushido, who breezed a half-mile in 47.60 seconds over the turf training course on May 28.
Masseto, a 4-year-old trained by Mark Casse, placed in Group 2 and 3 company in Ireland at 2. He also was a slow-starting fourth in a 17-horse, Group 2 fixture at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in England in 2021.
Masseto has raced twice on this side of the pond. He wound up fifth in a stakes at Kentucky Downs in 2021 before a victory in a first-level allowance in his last start here a year ago under Patrick Husbands.
Napa Spirit was claimed from a victory for $32,000 here last fall by trainer Mike Dunslow and went on to be competitive against $35,000 claimers and $50,000 starter types at Gulfstream. When returning here April 23, he ran gamely up front to beat allowance/$32,000-opposition in his first Tapeta start, earning an 87 Beyer under Emma-Jayne Wilson.
Rounding out the field is longshot Spite Store, who’s unraced since he went over the top late last fall.
Post time for the nine-race card is 4:50 p.m.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.