Siwa stretches out in stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Siwa will try to stretch her speed out to seven furlongs Saturday at Woodbine in the $125,000 Lady Angela, an Ontario sire stakes for 3-year-old fillies that also lured the swift Midnight Shadow.

Siwa turned heads when she debuted last June 3, winning a 4 1/2-furlong maiden dash in the slop by three lengths and receiving a 77 Beyer Speed Figure.

"She showed talent last year and seemed fairly quick when we started breezing her," trainer Kevin Attard recalled. "When we ran her, I thought she was quite impressive. She developed some problems, so we had to stop on her 2-year-old campaign."

Siwa faced open company when she came off the sidelines April 22 in the six-furlong Star Shoot Stakes. After breaking from the outside post, she set a suicidal pace before fading on a track that aided inside runners.

"She was doing super this past winter at Payson Park in Florida," Attard said. "I thought I had a good shot in the Star Shoot, but the fast fractions and the post hurt her."

Siwa rebounded with a front-running tally in a six-furlong allowance May 11, for which she got a 79 Beyer.

"She came out of her last race in good order," Attard said. "Now, the question is, will seven furlongs be an issue for her. Personally, I don't think so."

Midnight Shadow, third in Sovereign Award voting for 2006 champion 2-year-old filly, won two restricted stakes last year, the Nandi and the Shady Well. She has been laid up since her fading fourth-place finish as the favorite in the Oct. 28 Fanfreluche Stakes.

"She had some surgery over the winter," trainer Bob Tiller said. "They took a couple of flakes out of her knees. She's recovered well from that. I wish I had another work into her, but we're going to have to start her in [the Lady Angela] because we have nowhere else to run her."

Grandy's Glory, Runway Love, and Boldly Seductive also are in the nine-horse lineup.

Grandy's Glory won the 2006 Fanfreluche convincingly, earning a 78 Beyer in that six-furlong dash. She captured a second-level allowance in her first start of this meeting and was recently fourth in the seven-furlong Fury Stakes.

If a speed duel materializes, Runway Love could be a late threat off her third-place finish in her season opener May 5, an allowance that Boldly Seductive narrowly won after battling on the front end.