Unbeaten fillies meet in South Ocean Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The unbeaten fillies A Touch of Red and Ancient Spirit will clash Friday at Woodbine in the $100,000 South Ocean. It’s one of two 6 1/2-furlong Ontario-sired stakes for 2-year-olds on the card, along with the $100,000 Frost King.

A Touch of Red defeated three next-out winners when landing her 5 1/2-furlong debut by five lengths with a 71 Beyer Speed Figure on Sept. 10. She is out of multiple stakes winner Generous Touch.

“We’ve always liked her a lot,” trainer Sid Attard said. “I also had the dam, and she was training like her mother, who won three stakes races in one year. She’s doing really good.”

Ancient Spirit, like A Touch of Red, is a Norseman Racing Stable homebred by hot Ontario sire Signature Red. After winning her debut by four lengths on the inner turf Aug. 20, she took restricted Victorian Queen Stakes going about seven furlongs on the main course with a big 81 Beyer Speed Figure.

“I wish this was on the turf because she’s proven she’s good on the grass,” Attard said. “But my exercise rider told me don’t worry about her on the [Tapeta]. She trains good on it. We’ve liked her from Day 1. She’s like a bull – so strong.”

Anam Cara figures to get back on track in the South Ocean. She notched her July 30 opener before doubling up in the lucrative Muskoka Stakes for graduates of Canadian yearling sales. She was fifth after a troubled inside trip when changing surfaces in the Victorian Queen on Sept. 24.

Anam Cara was a bargain $3,000 yearling purchase by owner-trainer Sarah Ritchie.

“She’s not big, but she’s tough,” Ritchie said. “She’s probably been the most uncomplicated baby I’ve ever worked with. She’s just a nice horse to be around and to train every day.”

The once-beaten Poulin in O T will be favored in the Frost King. Trained by Steve Owens, he won his first two outings convincingly on the Tapeta, including the open Victoria Stakes.

Most recently in the restricted Bull Page Stakes on the main turf, Poulin in O T darted out to a clear lead and eventually turned back a bid from Awesome Bourbon in the stretch to prevail by 2 1/2 lengths with a 79 Beyer. The son of Reload was coming off a flat seventh-place finish in the open Soaring Free Stakes.

“He got a little shuffled back on the inside and got outside pressure,” Owens said regarding the Soaring Free. “He stepped in a little hole and twisted his ankle. A lot of things went wrong.”

Gem Quality, trained by Katerina Vassilieva, looks talented enough to hit the board in the Frost King. A half-brother to this year’s Grade 3 Marine winner Rondure, Gem Quality won at first asking in an open maiden special weight sprint on Sept. 25.