Stormy Silence steps up in class for turf sprint
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The once-beaten Stormy Silence moves up to first-level allowance company Thursday at Woodbine in the featured sixth race, which is scheduled for five furlongs on the inner turf.
A 5-year-old trained by Shelley Fitzgerald, Stormy Silence won her debut on June 18, 2022, in an open maiden special going five furlongs on the inner turf. A month later, she used a speed style again to double up against Ontario-sired allowance company and $40,000 claimers in a six-furlong main-turf sprint.
Fitzgerald said Stormy Silence served notice that she was talented and quick before her debut.
“I hadn’t really been aiming for that race, but she was ready,” Fitzgerald recalled. “There were other races that didn’t end up going, so we thought we’d put her in and see what happened. She really impressed us. The second time, it was a different turf course, so you don’t know how they are going to handle that. But she’s handled everything. She acts very professional.”
Stormy Silence was a close second to Lorena when favored in the restricted Zadracarta Stakes in early September. When returning from a nine-month layoff on June 11, she wired nonwinners-of-three Ontario-sired allowance opponents going 6 1/2 furlongs, earning a career-best 80 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.
Sahin Civaci will ride Stormy Silence, who’s owned by Fitzgerald in partnership with Marty Wickins.
Trainer Mark Casse sends out Cardio Princess, Fearless Angel, and Adora among the nine fillies and mares in the field.
Cardio Princess was narrowly beaten in back-to-back allowances on different turf courses here last summer. Off a seven-month break on Feb. 15 at Gulfstream, the Japanese-bred finished a non-threatening seventh after a wide trip in a five-furlong allowance. She’s exiting another layoff Thursday with Casse’s longtime go-to rider Patrick Husbands taking over.
Fearless Angel dropped a nose decision in the Woodbine Cares Stakes traveling five furlongs on the inner turf in October. She missed the board in two subsequent Tapeta stakes and is coming off a wide sixth in the June 25 Alywow Stakes on the main turf.
Adora was stakes-placed on the grass last year at 2, but the diminutive daughter of Into Mischief was ineffective this spring on the Woodbine Tapeta.
There are three in for the $32,000/$30,000-claiming option, including the popular 7-year-old Hello Friends.
In her second start off the sidelines on June 23, Hello Friends came wide from a trailing eighth to beat $25,000 claimers in a five-furlong Tapeta dash. She was competitive on the grass in the past for trainer John LeBlanc Jr.
Trainer Marty Drexler sends out Destinique, who earned the highest last-out Beyer in the lineup, an 87, when second versus $25,000 claimers while protected by waiver. The 5-year-old Munnings mare was shareless in two turf starts.
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