Trelawny enters Woodbine allowance on a roll

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trelawny went from being a perpetual loser to a winning machine this year, and he should be prominent in Friday’s eighth race at Woodbine, a first-level allowance over six furlong on Polytrack.

It took Trelawny eight tries to earn his diploma, and he finally did so July 28, in a six-furlong maiden special that was taken off the grass. He doubled up a month later in a $62,500 claimer, winning from just off the pace over a modest field.

Trelawny tried the turf for the first time in a Sept. 10 allowance, but it wasn’t his cup of tea, and he finished a dull seventh. He captured his third consecutive Polytrack sprint Oct. 15, when he rode an outside bias to a daylight score in another $62,500 claimer for 3-year-olds.

Apprentice Omar Moreno will ride Trelawny again for Laurie Silvera, one of the most successful jockey-trainer combos at the meet.

Berberis is a wild card in his first start on synthetics. After winning his maiden over a sloppy track last March at the Fair Grounds, he finished seventh in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn. He has been idle since eighth-place finish May 9, in an allowance at Churchill Downs.

Eurico Da Silva has the mount on the Steve Asmussen-trained Berberis. His owner, Nelson Bunker Hunt, won the Canadian International three times in the 1970s, with Dahlia, Youth, and Exceller.

Bug’s Boy graduated from the Ontario-sired allowance ranks in the spring. He has run only one clunker at this open allowance level, which was when a speed bias worked against him July 4.

Bug’s Boy couldn’t keep up last time in the slow-paced Overskate Stakes, in which he equaled his career-high 81 Beyer Speed Figure in finishing 10th.

Clarkstoncharm, King Eddie, and The Boy’s Ring are also refugees from the Ontario-sired ranks.

Clarkstoncharm led throughout back-to-back Ontario-sired allowances in the summer before trailing in a four-horse field in the Sept. 22 King Corrie Stakes.

King Eddie rallied belatedly from off a quick pace for fourth in a six-furlong allowance in his last appearance, which came on the grass. He is equally adept on either Woodbine surface.

The Boy’s Ring closed five wide in a recent victory over nonwinners-of-three Ontario-sired allowance opponents, from which third-place finisher Iwillgotothemoon exited to win impressively.

Grapes got the job done last time out over seven furlongs in a B-level maiden special, and will probably flash some speed.