Stablemates Aldous Snow, Golden Sabre to duel in Sky Classic

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes winner Aldous Snow and Grade 2 Nijinsky Stakes runner-up Golden Sabre are on target for the Grade 2 Sky Classic Stakes on Aug. 16, trainer Malcolm Pierce said.

Aldous Snow earned his second consecutive Singspiel Stakes victory with a stalking trip July 5 and will cut back in distance for the Sky Classic. Aldous Snow was sixth in the Sky Classic last season behind Karibu Gardens.

“I was very pleased with his race [in the Singspiel],” Pierce said. “He got into it early. The biggest concern is cutting back from a mile and a half to a mile and a quarter with him.”

Pierce said Aldous Snow runs his best races on firm turf, and entering Golden Sabre in the Sky Classic gives owner Sam-Son Farm a good backup option should the turf come up soft or if Aldous Snow doesn’t handle the shorter distance.

“He hates soft turf, and that’s a reason why we’re going to aim both horses towards the race,” he said. “Aldous loves the way the turf is right now. He’s a really nice mile-and-a-half horse, but that option isn’t available to us right now, so we’re going to try him at a mile and a quarter.”

Golden Sabre, meanwhile, looks to be in the best form of his career. The 5-year-old won his season debut June 7 with a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure and finished second to Are You Kidding Me in the Nijinsky on July 19.

“He ran a good race,” Pierce said. “He was kind of blocked a little bit in the lane. I’m not saying we could have beat that horse, but I think we would have made the race a little closer if he didn’t have some traffic trouble in the stretch.”

Pierce said Golden Sabre appears to have gotten over a series of minor injuries that have plagued him throughout his career.

“He’s always been a nice horse; he’s just had little injuries that have set him back,” he said. “No surgeries or anything like that, but little aches and pains that he’s needed time for. He was also gelded over the winter, and I think that has improved him, too.”

Pierce being patient with fillies

Pierce has sent out a pair of fillies to win their career debuts in recent weeks at Woodbine but said he will be patient in bringing them along.

After Moon Rainbow finished fourth in the Bison City Stakes on July 12 off a maiden win in her first start, Pierce said he will look for more conservative spots for Chic Thrill and Butterfly Dance going forward.

“I made a bit of a mistake, but I thought I was doing the right thing with Moon Rainbow coming out of a maiden race, and I threw her right into the Bison City,” he said. “I really thought she could get some black type in that race. I think we’re just going to be very conservative with these fillies. We want them to be around at 4 and 5 years old.”

Chic Thrill was ridden out to a 4 1/4-length win in her career debut in a 6 1/2-furlong sprint on turf July 25, and she earned a 79 Beyer. Pierce said he believes she could be a stakes filly on both turf and Polytrack.

“I think she does [have stakes potential], and I don’t think she has to have the turf either,” he said. “Instead of getting too aggressive, we’re going to take conservative steps with both Moon Rainbow and Chic Thrill, and they’re going to be looking for one-other-than races on either surface.”

Rule change for firsters

At its meeting July 30, the board of the Ontario Racing Commission approved a change to Rule 6.35, which governs published workouts for first-time starters. The rule change requires all first-time starters to have at least two published workouts at three furlongs or longer, with at least one of those works being from the gate, within 45 days of entry time. The previous rule required the workouts to be completed within 30 days of entry time.

The rule “helps to increase field sizes by increasing the window of time to obtain published workouts, therefore increasing the number of horses eligible to race,” ORC executive director Jean Major said in a notice to the industry.

The rule change was put into effect last Saturday.