Stablemates Caitlinhergrtness, Fashionably Fab set for battle in Belle Mahone
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario—The Kevin Attard-trained Canadian champions Caitlinhergrtness and Fashionably Fab will clash over 1 1/16 miles Saturday at Woodbine in the Grade 3, $150,000 Belle Mahone Stakes.
Caitlinhergrtness and Fashionably Fab are both making their first start of the year after wintering in Kentucky. After narrowly losing the 2024 Woodbine Oaks, Caitlinhergrtness made headlines when beating the boys in the rain-delayed $1 million King’s Plate in August. She subsequently ran third in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup on the grass at Keeneland and fourth in the Grade 3 Maple Leaf here Nov. 9, eventually winning the Sovereign Award for champion 3-year-old filly.
“She had a break after her last start here,” Attard recalled. “She was at WinStar Farm the whole winter. They started legging her up before she got to me. I thought she filled out a lot from last year, and looked like a bigger, stronger version of herself. She’s been like that on the racetrack. She’s been working a little briskly and we’re trying to slow her down. She’s been pretty aggressive. I’d be surprised [if she needed a race], but at that level, they have to run from start to finish.”
Attard said her 6 1/4-length loss to She Feels Pretty after leading the way in the QEII at Keeneland didn’t go according to plan.
“We weren’t looking to be on the lead, but she got to it and was pretty comfortable up there,” Attard said. “Nobody was beating the winner that day. If we had the chance to get her to settle, maybe she would have run second. I thought she ran pretty creditable. I was quite pleased with the performance.”
She Feels Pretty has gone on to be the top female turf horse in North America.
Fashionably Fab won three stakes in six starts last year, including the Belle Mahone, and was crowned champion older female on the main track. Attard said she spent the winter at Margaux Farm.
“She had some down time and got legged up in early February,” Attard said. “She came in looking really well. I think she’s carrying more weight than she typically does. She’s been training pretty well. Her works have been just as good as last season going into this race.
“I thought she deserved the [Sovereign]. She showed up every dance. We tried her on the turf. She didn’t run horrible, but she’s not a horse who moves up on it. We focused back on the synthetic and she was competitive in every start.”
Seven other fillies and mares were entered, including the shippers Dana’s Beauty, For Flying, Freedom Speaks, and Literate.
Eclipse Stakes
The other 1 1/16-mile stakes on the card, the Grade 2, $175,000 Eclipse, includes the Mark Casse-trained runners Get Smokin and Webslinger.
Get Smokin has been out of action since capturing the Grade 3 Valedictory over 1 1/2 miles in gate-to-wire style on the Tapeta here Dec. 7. An earner of over $2.1 million, the 8-year-old was a leading fourth off a long layoff in last year’s Eclipse, after which he won the Grade 2 United Nations on the grass at Monmouth.
Webslinger, a Grade 2-winning turf specialist with earnings of $1.4 million, is making his local debut and first start on synthetic. The 5-year-old has been sidelined since ending up second in the Sept. 7 Colonial Cup.
“I don’t think there’s a better place than Woodbine to get these horses ready off long layoffs,” Casse said. “That’s what Webslinger and Get Smokin are there for, to get a race and go from there. Both are able and capable of running in Grade 1s when they get back to their form. Get Smokin just got a rest. Webslinger is coming off knee surgery.”
Among the others in the eight-horse field are shippers Dataman and Possiblemente, along with the local stalwart Stanley House.
Stanley House wound up fifth in the 2024 Valedictory, after which he finished fifth in a Jan. 25 handicap at Gulfstream. The 5-year-old is coming off a front-running sixth in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream March 1.
“He’s been training well,” trainer Mike DePaulo said. “His last race wasn’t any good, but [jockey Rajiv Maragh] put him on the lead and he kind of ran off with him and was fighting with him. It just didn’t work.”
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