Suffused tries to make grade in Dance Smartly
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Suffused will try to notch her first Grade 2 stakes win in Sunday’s $175,000 Dance Smartly, which has been lengthened to 1 1/4 miles on the Woodbine turf from about 1 1/8 miles.
Suffused lost the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes here in October by a nose to Al’s Gal. She went on to win back-to-back Grade 3 stakes at Gulfstream under the gifted Jose Ortiz, who will ride her again Sunday.
“She ran well on the course at the same distance,” said trainer Bill Mott. “She was stuck in late, and she came running.”
The Dance Smartly, for fillies and mares, is one of three turf-route stakes on the Queen’s Plate card, along with the Grade 3 Singspiel and $100,000 Charlie Barley.
KEY CONTENDERS
Suffused, by Champs Elysees
Last 3 Beyers: 96-101-100
◗ She was a troubled second two starts back in the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay at Belmont and ran fifth there most recently in the Grade 2 New York.
Rainha Da Bateria, by Broken Vow
Last 3 Beyers: 98-93-99
◗ She took the Grade 2 Canadian here in September over stablemate Dacita and subsequently finished fifth in the E.P. Taylor.
◗ Javier Castellano has the mount for trainer Chad Brown.
Starship Jubilee, by Indy Wind
Last 3 Beyers: 94-87-86
◗ After competing for as little as $16,000 claiming over the winter at Gulfstream, she posted an upset from off the pace here May 27 in the Grade 2 Nassau at a mile, much to the delight of trainer Kevin Attard.
“She was a little farther back than I’d anticipated, but she came running down the lane,” Attard said. “She’s handled everything great, but a mile and a quarter is a different ballgame.”
Singspiel: Reporting Star the speed
Kentucky shipper Reporting Star is returning to the scene of some of his best performances in the Singspiel for 3-year-olds and up.
Reporting Star, 7, won the Grade 2 Play the King here in 2015 and finished second in the Grade 2 Sky Classic and third in the Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf in 2014. He comes off a front-running second in the Grade 3 Louisville Handicap at Churchill going the 12-furlong distance of the Singspiel.
Reporting Star figures to set the pace Sunday, with David Moran riding for trainer Brendan Walsh.
The 8-year-old Aldous Snow won the Singspiel in 2014-15 and finished third in last year’s edition. He was cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 3 Dominion Day on Tapeta in case he doesn’t get his preferred firm ground on Sunday, according to trainer Malcolm Pierce.
◗ Yorkton, fresh off a dominating victory in the seven-furlong Queenston Stakes, is the speed of the $100,000 Charlie Barley at one mile on turf for 3-year-olds. Trainer Stu Simon said the colt had excuses in his two performances on the grass, a ninth in the Cup and Saucer last year and a seventh in an optional claimer at Gulfstream this spring, so his main obstacle might be the one-mile distance.
“We’ll see how far he can actually go,” Simon said. “He worked really well on turf last year prior to the Cup and Saucer Stakes, when the ground was quite soft.”