Smokey Fire gets stakes win in Kennedy Road

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Smokey Fire won his first stakes over Grade 2 winner Field Commission and 20-1 outsider Signature Red in the at Woodbine on Saturday.

Home for Harlan set a lively early pace in the six-furlong dash, before Signature Red assumed command through a half-mile in 44.81 seconds. Smokey Fire made a four-wide bid on the turn and then hit the front at the eighth pole before holding off Field Commission to win by three-quarters of a length, in a time of 1:08.49.

Signature Red faded to third, and favored El Brujo finished a wide seventh in the nine-horse field. You Don't Pass was scratched.

The Grade 3 Kennedy Road was the first time that Emma Wilson rode the Sid Attard-trained Smokey Fire. Attard also trains Signature Red and the sixth-place finisher, Jungle Wave.

"It couldn't have worked out any better," Wilson said. "Sid told me in the paddock to let him run his own race. I was able to sit on the outside and stay comfortable. When we cruised up around Signature Red at the top of the lane and I still had a big hold, I had a pretty big smile on my face."

Smokey Fire ($15.30) earned $103,500 for Jim Dandy Stable.