Wickenheiser gets blinkers, Lasix, switches to Tapeta for Princess Elizabeth

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard made quite a splash when he sent out the debuting Moira to win the 1 1/16-mile Princess Elizabeth Stakes last year. After her coming out party, Moira went on to capture this year’s Queen’s Plate and Oaks while becoming the darling of Woodbine.

Attard runs Wickenheiser in Sunday’s renewal of the $250,000 Tapeta event for Canadian-bred 2-year-old fillies. Wickenheiser has made all three of her starts on turf, beginning with an off-the-pace score in a six-furlong maiden special July 2. She went on to finish a chalky fifth in the Catch a Glimpse Stakes and was fourth behind stablemate Last Call in the Grade 1 Natalma.

Wickenheiser is a full-sister to the late-blooming Belichick, who was second to Mighty Heart in the 2020 Queen’s Plate on Tapeta before graduating in the Breeders’ Stakes over 1 1/2 miles on turf.

Attard said the daughter of classic winner Lemon Drop Kid has been an underachiever.

“She still hasn’t run to what I think,” Attard explained. “I really think a lot of her. I’ve just been a little disappointed with her last two races.”

Rafael Hernandez takes over on Wickenheiser, who’s donning blinkers and is owned by the partnership of Clay Scherer, Al and Bill Ulwelling, and partner.

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Attard also entered Courtly Ro. Like Wickenheiser, she’s making her synthetic debut and first start with Lasix. Courtly Ro graduated second time out in a seven-furlong maiden special before finishing a well-beaten seventh in the one-mile Natalma.

Friends for Life and Me and My Shadow are both going long for the first time in the 76th running of the Princess Elizabeth.

Friends for Life won her opener on Tapeta before ending up third in the about seven-furlong Victorian Queen Stakes for Ontario-sired fillies on the main turf. The daughter of Silent Name is out of Woodbine Oaks winner Ginger Brew, who ran second in the Queen’s Plate. Ginger Brew produced the Grade 2-winning dirt router Jamyson ’n Ginger and Lady Brew, a recent winner on Tapeta in a 1 1/16-mile maiden special.

Trainer Stuart Simon, who has won the Princess Elizabeth twice, believes Friends for Life is a genuine router.

“She’s an improving filly,” Simon said. “She ran good in both of her races. In her last start, the ground broke away from her behind. She was last away from the gate, and yet she picked her way through a lot of the field. She was going good at the end and galloped out strong. I know two turns is what she wants. I think she’ll go a long way.”

The Mark Casse-trained Me and My Shadow has been unraced since a wide fourth on the dirt in the Grade 3 Schuylerville on July 14 at Saratoga. The daughter of Violence got a 78 Beyer Speed Figure when landing her debut by four lengths in a five-furlong maiden special on the Tapeta here May 28.

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