Vanzzy handles snow and Tapeta like a champ in Display Stakes; rest of card canceled
ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Vanzzy went straight to the front over the snowy Tapeta surface and never looked back to take the $105,800 Display Stakes over the favored Elusive Knight at Woodbine Saturday.
After about an hour delay due to track maintenance, Vanzzy set soft fractions, with Finalist and Elusive Knight taking up the chase in the 1 1/16-mile route for 2-year-olds. Elusive Knight saved ground before angling wide for the drive, but his bid fell a half-length short of Vanzzy, who completed the distance in 1:45.90 and paid $8.40.
Finalist finished another six lengths back in third, and was followed by Northern Thunder and Red Mercury.
Vanzzy was the meet-leading 21st stakes score for jockey Patrick Husbands, who is scheduled to undergo sports hernia surgery after closing day Sunday.
“I got everything the first quarter, the first half,” Husbands said. “About four and a half out, I had to get my horse going. He got lazy on me. By the time I got to the three-eighths pole, I was on a different horse. I just kept him alert.”
Based at Parx with trainer Michael Pino, Vanzzy was making his first start on a surface other that dirt. The son of Verrazano earned $60,000 in his first stakes success. He is owned by Smart Angle LLP.
* The remainder of the card was canceled after the Display due to weather-related unsafe track conditions. Racing is scheduled to resume with a 16-race closing-day card Sunday.
