Splash of Bourbon takes Thunder Bay; Humormeastory rallies in Lake Superior
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Splash of Bourbon made quite a splash in Sunday’s $150,500 Thunder Bay at Woodbine by winning her third in a row and her first stakes for red-hot trainer Sid Attard.
Souper Sporty shook loose on the lead in the six-furlong Tapeta sprint and set lively fractions with Arianna’s Tour and favored Souper Diva in close proximity.
Splash of Bourbon raced about five lengths off the lead midway on the turn and then began to make up ground quickly early in the stretch. She went on to prevail by 1 1/2 lengths over Arianna’s Tour, in a time of 1:11.29.
Souper Sporty faded to third and Pageant Queen checked in fourth in the nine-horse field of Ontario-sired 3-year-old fillies.
Fraser Aebly rode Splash of Bourbon and was also aboard for her two previous scores in Ontario-sired allowance company.
“She can do anything - she’s a really smart filly,” Aebly said. “I wanted to let her break and find her feet and let her get comfortable. She did that and when I started to move her, she fired for me. She truly fired today. She was pretty impressive the (previous) two starts and she definitely showed it today.”
Attard gave praise to Aebly, currently second in the Woodbine standings, while also saying his main concern was running the daughter of Old Forester back on short rest.
“Aebly gave her a good ride,” Attard said. “The only thing I was worried about with this filly was coming back in two weeks, because she always gives you 100 percent.”
Splash of Bourbon ($7.20) earned $90,000 for owner/breeder Tucci Holdings.
*** Humormeastory ($15.70) won the male version of the Thunder Bay, the $151,500 Lake Superior, with a sweeping wide rally under Jalon Samuel.
Favored Wine After Whiskey linked up on the lead with the supplemented Quadzilla in the six-furlong sprint before assuming command in the stretch.
After missing the break by a length or two from post 1, Humormeastory saved ground in a trailing 10th until Samuel angled him wide for the drive. They mowed down Wine After Whiskey late to score by a half-length, in a time of 1:11.01.
Auntie’s Bambino closed for third and Gone With Duwyn checked in fourth. Pepper Brooks was scratched.
Winning trainer Patrick Dixon said the plan was to let the son of Frac Daddy run his usual race.
“He just does not want to break sharp,” Dixon pointed out. “He does not want to get out there and get running. He wants to get his feet underneath him, and we didn’t really want to change that style. We knew there was a lot of speed in this race, so if anything the race would set up perfectly for him.”
Humormeastory banked $90,000 for owner/breeders Colebrook Farms.
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