Top jockeys Hernandez, Moran duke it out in claiming race
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario – There has been ample jockeying in the Woodbine rider ranks throughout the meet, and some more shuffling in the standings appears imminent.
Rafael Hernandez has a 135-133 lead in wins over apprentice Pietro Moran, who led the standings throughout most of the meet until the fall. Both ride a contender in Friday’s sixth race going 1 1/16 miles for $25,000 nonwinners-of-two claimers.
Hernandez retains the mount on the Kevin Attard-trained Sluggernaut after the lightly raced 3-year-old graduated in a romp Nov. 28. Sluggernaut returned from a one-year layoff to run seventh in a 7 1/2-furlong inner turf sprint Sept. 7. A month later, he was a troubled fourth in his first Tapeta start going long.
Sluggernaut plunged from the $40,000 claiming class to $10,000 most recently, taking the overland route from off a fast pace to score by 6 1/2 lengths with a 71 Beyer Speed Figure, which is the par for this level. Attard rarely runs a horse back back within seven days, but last year’s Sovereign Award-winning trainer has a 23 percent strike rate with horses coming off a victory.
Moran, a Sovereign and Eclipse Award contender for outstanding apprentice, rides Yorkton’s Honour for Kevin’s uncle, trainer Sid Attard.
Yorkton’s Honour dropped from maiden special weight company to run with a $40,000 tag on Aug. 3 and won a squeaker while receiving a 61 Beyer. He had a third from three starts against nonwinners-of-two $40,000 opposition this fall, coming up empty after racing just off a golden rail most of the way on Nov. 20.
Moran was aboard when Yorkton’s Honour was a prominent third on Oct. 26, for which he got a career-high 74 Beyer.
With 88 victories to his credit, Fraser Aebly is just three wins shy of overtaking Sahin Civaci for third in the jockey standings. Civaci left Woodbine earlier this fall to ride full-time at Aqueduct and has been injured.
In the sixth race, Aebly rides inner-turf specialist Its in the Cards, who beat $15,000 maidens in August before back-to-back seconds versus nonwinners of two. He was a distant seventh in each of his last two outings on the Tapeta.
Daisuke Fukumoto and the Hall of Fame conditioner Robert Tiller have been one of the top jockey-trainer combos at the meet. Here, they’ll team up with Stratus, who was a non-threatening fourth in the Nov. 21 Lake Ontario Stakes for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds. Fukumoto also was aboard Stratus when the gelding filled out the exacta twice against nonwinners-of-two $40,000 company in October.
Completing the lineup are Silver Raleigh, Connor, Fun Fella, and Highland Peak.
Ryan Munger, currently fifth in the standings with 75 wins, rides the Barbara Minshall-trained Silver Raleigh, who was competitive in all four of his starts at this level. Keveh Nicholls, part of a logjam vying for ninth in the standings with 38 scores, regains the mount on the off-form dropper Connor for trainer Julie Carey.
Post time is 4:30 p.m.
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