Southern Ring scores in Ontario Fashion
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Southern Ring sat just behind a quick early pace and surged to the lead in the stretch to win the Grade 3, $173,700 Ontario Fashion Stakes by three-quarters of a length over Cactus Kris at Woodbine on Sunday.
Green Doctor and Veaisha dueled on the lead through quick fractions of 22.14 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 44.47 for a half-mile, while Southern Ring stalked the two front-runners in third.
Southern Ring ($7) made a three-wide move in the stretch, and held off deep closers Cactus Kris and River Maid to win in 1:08.65 for six furlongs on Tapeta. Veaisha was fourth.
Winning jockey Eurico Da Silva said having the outside post helped get him into a good position early on.
“I had the chance to be where I wanted to be,” Da Silva said. “If you’re outside you worry because another horse can come and cover you but I didn’t have that problem. I tried to stay a little bit more outside, but I had no problem because I’m traveling with a lot of horse underneath me. She was in great shape today. She was so relaxed. Everything I asked her, she did so easy.”
Southern Ring, a 4-year-old daughter of Speightstown, recorded her first career graded stakes score in the Ontario Fashion, which was her first start since she ran fourth in the restricted Zadracarta Stakes over a mile on turf on July 1. She banked the $108,000 winner’s share to bring her career earnings to $283,560 off a career record of 4 wins in 6 starts for trainer Malcolm Pierce and owner-breeder Sam-Son Farm.