Summer Sunday drops in class for second start of year in Ballade Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Summer Sunday gets some class relief Saturday when she goes from Grade 3 company to tackle Ontario-sired fillies and mares in the $100,000 Ballade Stakes at Woodbine. Summer Sunday was Canada’s champion female sprinter in 2019 when she won three consecutive stakes on two surfaces, including the Grade 2 Royal North and the six-furlong Ballade.

Last year, Summer Sunday won 2 of 5 starts, which included a victory in her first try around two turns in the Belle Mahone Stakes. She went to the sidelines after getting softened up in a speed duel in the Sweet Briar Too Stakes on Oct. 23, and was part of a three-way pace war before fading to sixth in her season opener in the Whimsical Stakes.

Trainer Stuart Simon said Summer Sunday took the worst of it in the six-furlong Whimsical and should be better for the experience.

“She got the inside press, going in 43 and change to the half,” Simon said. “I hadn’t been really hard on her. I’d been taking my time getting her back, because we didn’t know when [the meet] was starting. At the end of the day, I think she needed the race. I think she’ll be in good form for this weekend.”

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Summer Sunday is being reunited with Rafael Hernandez, who missed the Whimsical due to an injury after riding her in each of her 10 previous starts. She breezed five-eighths in 1:02.60 on July 8.

“Hernandez worked her that day and was very happy with her,” Simon said. “The bottom line is he knows that she runs on the lead, but she’s won from just off it, too.”

Artie’s Princess, last year’s Sovereign Award-winning champion female sprinter, fought three wide for the lead before tiring to fifth when favored in her season debut in the Whimsical.

Artie’s Princess won the Grade 2 Bessarabian and Ruling Angel here last year, earning a big 96 Beyer Speed Figure in the former after edging out the upwardly mobile Boardroom in a tight photo. Kazushi Kimura will ride Artie’s Princess again for trainer Wesley Ward. The 4-year-old is the 124-pound highweight in the six-horse field.

Need-the-lead type Spanish Ballerina should be winging it up front in her stakes debut. After taking some time to earn her diploma, the 5-year-old won 4 of 7 outings and $189,837 last year, including allowance scores on turf and Tapeta.

Spanish Ballerina outran the other speed before weakening to second in a fast second-level allowance when returning from an eight-month absence on June 26.

Ishiyaya took 11 tries to clear the first allowance condition, turning the trick in her seasonal bow going 5 1/2 furlongs. She could pick up some of the pieces, perhaps enough to earn some black type.