Two-turn stakes test for fillies

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Wisdomisgold and Archie's Gal will both try to get 1 1/16 miles on Wednesday at Woodbine in the South Ocean Stakes, a $134,500 race for Ontario-sired 2-year-old fillies.

Wisdomisgold won her maiden in her fourth outing, in the six-furlong Juvenile Stakes at Fort Erie in September. She was also a distant third in the Nandi, and is coming off a closing second-place finish under Patrick Husbands in the Victorian Queen, another restricted six-furlong stakes.

Trainer Sean Hall said Wisdomisgold failed to show her usual speed in the Victorian Queen, which leads him to believe that she will handle a route of ground.

"Patrick had to ask her for speed," Hall said. "She was more interested in running down the lane at horses, and I think that was a positive sign. I've been training her with long and slow gallops, to try and get her ready to go two turns. After Patrick worked her the other day, he said she was a much better horse compared to the last time he worked her. I think she's headed in the right direction."

Wisdomisgold is by speed sire Whiskey Wisdom, but her dam won going long and is a half-sister to Kingarvie Stakes winner Kristy Krunch, who was third in the Queen's Plate.

"She's done everything I've asked of her," Hall said. "She was sick in the only bad race she ran, when she came fourth in an Ontario-sired maiden special, and I couldn't train her the next three weeks. When she ran third in the Nandi, she wasn't really fit enough. She started to really come around when she won that stakes at Fort Erie."

Archie's Gal, trained by Mike DePaulo, was fifth when she debuted in the Juvenile, and then won her maiden with ease, before ending up fourth here in a seven-furlong allowance.

"She actually bled a little first time out at Fort Erie," DePaulo said. "She won with a [low] Beyer Figure, which sounds ridiculous. She was five behind turning for home, and won by five."

DePaulo believes the best is yet to come from Archie's Gal, a daughter of Archers Bay.

"She's still a little green," DePaulo said. "I think the farther she goes, the better she'll get. All those Archers Bays seem to do better as they go longer. She got a little hesitant in between horses down the lane in her last race. I think when she goes two turns, things will be more spread out, and she'll probably be closer to the pace."