Trainer Brnjas hopes Soul Freedom, Liars Club can continue her fast start
ETOBICOKE Ontario - Trainer Ashlee Brnjas has gotten off to a fast start at the Woodbine meet with her Colebrook Farms runners. She scored with three good-looking maiden winners, all of whom made their first start as 4-year-olds, including Wave Baby and Celebratory.
“We’ve been so fortunate,” Brnjas said. “To be honest, we sent out some monsters. I was so pleased with how the horses looked in the paddock, and how they were coming into the races. Justin Stein said ‘Celebs’ was such a different animal from last year - he matured a lot. I was super-excited about Wave Baby. He ran like a good horse.”
Two-time Grade 1 Northern Dancer Turf winner Johnny Bear, Canada’s champion male turf horse in 2017, is back training at age 10 following a sabbatical and could make a comeback as a racehorse or a stable pony, according to Brnjas. Her second-best horse, the 4-year-old allowance runner Clear Destination, is getting an extended break after a subpar showing Feb. 27 at Gulfstream.
“He’s had some growing pains, so we’re going to take our time with him,” Brnjas said. “We sent him to the farm to have some growing-up time. I don’t want to compare him to a Johnny Bear, but Johnny Bear needed that time to develop, and got better as an older horse. We’re thinking the same thing with him.”
Brnjas sends out Soul Freedom and Liars Club in Thursday’s eighth and final race, which is scheduled for 6 1/2 furlongs on the main turf.
Soul Freedom is debuting in the $25,000 maiden claimer. The homebred is by Queen’s Plate winner Not Bourbon, who has sired 11 percent winners on debut and on the grass. Soul Freedom is a half-brother to two restricted turf stakes winners campaigned by Colebrook and Brnjas - Reconnect and Seen It All Before.
“It’s a jumping-off point,” Brnjas said regarding Soul Freedom, who will have Kazushi Kimura in the saddle.
Liars Club started six times last year at 2, and was ineffective against maiden special weight opposition on turf and on the Tapeta in the fall. Sunny Singh will ride the son of Broken Vow in the gelding’s return from a seven-month layoff.
“Sunny really likes that horse,” Brnjas said. “He gets on him every day.”
The Mike DePaulo-trained Summer Load could go favored in Thursday’s nightcap off his two good 2-year-old races in the fall. After ending up third in a five-furlong inner-turf dash, Summer Load broke slowly before closing wide to finish a close second in a $25,000 sprint on the Tapeta that contained three next-out winners.
Post time for the first Thursday card of the meet is 1:20 p.m.