Stacked Deck gets second shot at 2016 debut in Vigil

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – It will be Take 2 in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Vigil Stakes for Canada’s reigning champion male sprinter, Stacked Deck, who should be favored in the seven-furlong test at Woodbine.

Stacked Deck won 4 of 9 starts and earned $338,400 in 2015. He took the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes in September and got the winter off after notching the Grade 2 Kennedy Road Stakes in November.

Stacked Deck was 3-5 in the betting when he was scratched after acting up in the gate April 9 in the Jacques Cartier Stakes. He has since worked powerfully for trainer Barb Minshall, who said the gelding wintered in South Carolina.

“He was at the Webb Carroll Training Center,” Minshall said. “He worked a few times there.”

Five others were entered in the Vigil, including the supplemented Black Hornet and The Great War, a Kentucky shipper trained by Wesley Ward.

KEY CONTENDERS

Stacked Deck, by First Samurai

Last 3 Beyers: 103-59-89

◗ His inside draw isn’t ideal. He figures to track the speedy Black Hornet early before going in for the kill. His subpar performance in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland came over giving ground after he broke from post 13.

Passion for Action, by Speightstown

Last 3 Beyers: 97-88-90

◗ After back-to-back sixth-place finishes at Gulfstream, he rallied strongly down the center of the track to take the six-furlong Jacques Cartier over the favored Hootenanny.

“I think seven [furlongs] is better than six for him,” trainer Mike De Paulo said. “Hopefully, we can run them down. He was lightly raced last year, and he’s in a bit of a groove right now. Hopefully, he can keep it going.”

Goodoldhockeygame, by Old Forester

Last 3 Beyers: 92-94-93

◗ The 4-year-old evolved into one of the leading sprinters on the grounds in the fall, when he rallied for third in the Kennedy Road after landing the prep for that six-furlong event. Following a winter layoff April 23, he awaited room along the rail before closing for second as the favorite in the restricted New Providence Stakes.

◗ He’s placed in all five of his seven-furlong races, including a victory in the restricted Overskate Stakes last year.

Black Hornet, by Pioneering

Last 3 Beyers: 93-90-93

◗ He has been idle since leading all the way in last year’s Vigil and has worked in his usual brisk manner this spring. Trainer Pat Parente owns a 10 percent strike rate with six-month-plus comebackers over the past five years, according to DRF Formulator.