Sovereign winner Summer Sunday facing sharp rivals in Whimsical Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Fresh off winning the Sovereign Award as the 2019 Canadian champion female sprinter, Summer Sunday makes her season debut in Sunday’s Grade 3, $125,000 Whimsical Stakes at Woodbine.

Summer Sunday reeled off three consecutive stakes scores here last summer, in the restricted Ballade, the Grade 3 Hendrie, and the Grade 2 Royal North on turf. She faded to second over a tiring Tapeta surface in the Grade 3 Seaway Stakes on Aug 25 and then went to the sidelines after a flat fourth in the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion on Oct. 19.

“She got over the top with us last fall, and we gave her a nice break,” trainer Stu Simon said. “She was off for 2 1/2 months in Ocala. She went back into training at the end of December at Palm Meadows and had quite a few breezes there. She would have been ready to run here [in mid-April]. She’s doing very well. It seems like she’s back to herself. I expect a big effort.”

Simon said taking home the Sovereign Award was a thrill for owners Anne and William Scott, who bought the 5-year-old daughter of Silent Name for $95,000 at the local yearling sale.

“I was happy for them and the horse,” Simson said. “When you buy them as a yearling and develop them yourself, it’s pretty gratifying to win a Sovereign with them.”

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The other obvious protagonists in the six-furlong event are Jean Elizabeth, Foxxy Belle, and Gamble’s Candy.

Keeneland-based Jean Elizabeth is riding a seven-race win streak, dating back to the Sweet Briar Stakes in September. She doubled up in another Tapeta sprint here in October, the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion, and then was all-out to land a stakes for Illinois-breds at Hawthorne in November.

Jean Elizabeth’s three-race winter campaign in Florida included a pair five-furlong stakes scores at Gulfstream. The front-runner has been freshened since taking the five-furlong Lightning City Stakes on Feb. 22 on the Tampa turf.

Foxxy Belle has won three consecutive second-level optional claimers in a row, dating back to Oct. 26. She earned her second straight 91 Beyer Speed Figure when taking her June 7 season opener going five furlongs by 5 1/2 lengths. Will running back in just two weeks lead to some regression?

“That race took almost nothing out of her,” owner Tommy Massis said.

Gamble’s Candy could link up on the lead with Jean Elizabeth, while Summer Sunday and Foxxy Belle take up the chase right behind them.

Gamble’s Candy survived a speed duel to land her stakes debut in the 6 1/2-furlong Ruling Angel for 3-year-old fillies Oct. 13. She found seven-eighths too far when fifth in her last start in the Grade 2 Bessarabian on Nov. 24.