Something Extra goes for record third Connaught Cup victory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – No horse has won the Grade 2 Connaught Cup three times, but Something Extra will try to capture the seven-furlong turf sprint for the third straight year Saturday at Woodbine. The $200,000 stakes lured eight others, including Excaper and River Seven.

The 2012 Connaught Cup was the first stakes score for Something Extra, and it was the highlight of a lucrative campaign that also included a victory in the Mt. Sassafras Stakes. He won last year’s edition of the Connaught Cup over Riding the River and Upgrade but went to the sidelines after missing the board July 7 in the Grade 3 Highlander Stakes, which was moved to a soggy Polytrack at the last minute following heavy rainfall.

Trainer Gail Cox, who owns Something Extra in partnership with John Menary, said she gave the 6-year-old gelding all the time off that he needed last year to get over some bone bruising.

Something Extra raced in third throughout his comeback April 12 in the Grade 3 Shakertown Stakes at Keeneland. He finished a length behind the victorious Marchman, who came back to take the Grade 3 Turf Sprint at Churchill.[bc_video_id:325815:]

“He ran great at Keeneland,” Cox said. “He was training awesome and had run well off a layoff before. This is tough race. I would say tougher than last year. He’s been training very well.”

Excaper is best known for finishing second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf in 2011 at Churchill. He has been an underachiever since then, but the 5-year-old is exiting a front-running allowance score in his season opener at Keeneland, where he earned a 99 Beyer Speed Figure.

Trainer Ian Black said Excaper underwent throat surgery to correct an entrapped epiglottis during the winter at Payson Park in Florida.

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“When we brought him back, we waited for that race at Keeneland, which made sense,” Black said. “I’d noticed in his works that he was finishing better, so maybe we fixed something.”

Black said the amount of speed in the Connaught Cup is concerning, but that Excaper has trained encouragingly leading up to the race.

River Seven is returning from a freshening that began after he was beaten a pole Feb. 9 in the Grade 1 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream. He won his three previous outings, all in stakes, including a 10-length romp over yielding turf here in the one-mile Labeeb Stakes.

Rounding out the field are Laugh Track, Dimension, Run to the Bank, Seekingthediamond, Mr. Online, and Occasional View.