Stacked Deck switches to turf for rematch with Passion for Action in Connaught Cup
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Stacked Deck, last year’s Canadian champion male sprinter, will lock horns with the current leader of the division, Passion for Action, over seven furlongs on grass in the $200,000 Connaught Cup Stakes at Woodbine on Sunday.
Stacked Deck was scratched after acting up in the gate in what was supposed to be his season debut in the six-furlong Jacques Cartier Stakes, won by Passion for Action. He subsequently finished a troubled second to Passion for Action in the Grade 3 Vigil Stakes over seven furlongs on Tapeta on May 7.
Stacked Deck has worked solidly since the Vigil, including five-eighths in a bullet 1:00.40 on May 22.
“He’s doing great,” trainer Barb Minshall said. “He’s had a little bad luck, but sooner or later, it turns around. He’s relaxing more, and I think he’s a miler. I train him off the pace, and that’s how he wants to run. When he gets the lead, he’s tough to go by, so you want to wait as long as possible.”
Passion for Action used his patented closing style in both the Jacques Cartier and the Vigil. Trainer Mike De Paulo said he believes that seven furlongs on grass is ideal for the steady 4-year-old.
“I always thought six was a little short for him,” De Paulo said. “I used to think that turf was his best surface, but I guess we’ll have to see. With maturity, you never know how they’re going to develop. Obviously, his last race, with a 103 Beyer, was a pretty good race.”
The Grade 2 Connaught Cup, which attracted just three others, is carded as race 8 on a 10-race program.
Connaught Cup, Race 8
KEY CONTENDERS
Stacked Deck, by First Samurai
Last 3 Beyers: 102-103-59
◗ The lone blemish on his recent record was a 10th-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Keeneland.
“There were a lot of things against him there,” Minshall said. “It was way too short for him. He doesn’t want to run 5 1/2 furlongs, and it was very soft going. He didn’t draw well and didn’t break well. I can totally throw that race out.”
Passion for Action, by Speightstown
Last 3 Beyers: 103-97-88
◗ De Paulo said he was puzzled by the colt’s dull effort in the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream in February, which came after another sixth-place finish in an optional claimer on dirt.
“I don’t know what happened that day,” De Paulo said. “He just didn’t run as good as I thought he would. The race before on the dirt was actually really good. He got into a bit of trouble.”