Sunday Finery shows she's for real with Mazarine victory
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario - The aptly named Sunday Finery proved her 13 1/2-length maiden romp going long wasn’t a fluke when she doubled up with ease in Sunday’s Grade 3, $198,100 Mazarine at Woodbine.
With Sahin Civaci aboard, Sunday Finery ($9.20) bided her time in a trailing fifth as the favored Mrs D was pressed by Mo Cookie through honest fractions in the 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-old fillies.
Sunday Finery began to mount a rail rally around the three-eighths pole and she hit the front in midstretch - before drawing off to prevail by 6 3/4 lengths in a time of 1:44.29.
Mrs D finished second and Epic Affair faded to third after making what looked like it could be a winning bid at the head of the stretch. Mo Cookie and Kentucky shipper Homeawayfromhome finished far back in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Sunday Finery gave the well-dressed trainer Jamie Begg his first graded stakes victory. Begg felt all along that the daughter of Dubai World Cup winner Mystic Guide would find her calling over a route of ground.
“We always thought she was a two-turn horse,” Begg recalled. “When she was showing up in her earlier races, we were happy because we always felt the next level would be going farther, with her breeding everything - just the way she looked and trained.”
An Ontario-bred, Begg said the plan is to run Sunday Finery back against Canadian-breds in the Nov. 28 Princess Elizabeth Stakes.
“That’s how we planned (things) initially, because we were looking at that race and the timing of this race set up okay for that race,” Begg said. That’s been the goal for the end of the season with her.”
Sunday Finery earned $126,000 for the partnership of Walmac Farm, Jeff and Annabel Begg, Eric Long, and Bart Siegel.
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