Still solid at 7, Attest can play featured role

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Attest, a commendable second in the allowance prep for the Aug. 3 Seagram Cup Stakes, should be a serious player in Friday's featured eighth race at Woodbine.

Four other accomplished older runners will contest the 1 1/16-mile race for $100,000 optional claimers: Parose, Hot Pepper Hill, Majestic Thief, and Open Concert.

Attest, once a turf specialist, banked $266,696 on the main track in 2002 while placing in several stakes, including the Grade 3 Dominion Day and the Seagram. He may have lost a step this year at age 7, but he has run some solid races at the meeting for owner K.K. Sangara and trainer Lorne Richards.

Attest was third in a June 7 classified allowance and finished fifth of 10 after a wide trip behind a slow pace in his next-to-last start, in the 1 1/4-mile Dominion Day. Most recently, going 1 1/16 miles in the Seagram prep, he rallied three wide from off tepid fractions to end up a 1 3/4 lengths behind front-running Dream Launcher.

Jim McAleney retains the mount on Attest, who will compete with a $100,000 selling price.

Parose, a Sovereign Award finalist for champion older runner in 2002, is running with a $90,000 claiming price. Trained by Sandy McPherson for owner John Atto, Parose captured last year's Izvestia and Woodbine Slots Cup handicaps, both at 1 1/16 miles.

Parose showed little in his two Gulfstream Park outings over the winter, but he managed to finish second behind favored Anglian Prince when he came off the sidelines here in a July 1 optional claimer. Todd Kabel will ride the durable 9-year-old Parose.

Open Concert, trained by Mark Casse, is coming off two consecutive fine efforts on the grass, and he was second against $80,000 opposition in his most recent main-track race, in May. He should be the dominant speed under Patrick Husbands, who was second in the rider standings behind Kabel through last Sunday.

Kentucky invader Majestic Thief has been freshened by trainer Walter Bindner Jr. since running second in an $80,000 optional claimer over the Churchill Downs grass June 7. He won his previous race, against $62,500 stock on the turf, and is no slouch on the main track, either, as long as it is fast.

Majestic Thief, who earned a Beyer Figure of 98 when he won a $40,000 optional claimer in February at the Fair Grounds, might be better off once he has a race over this quirky track. Robert Landry has the call.