Woodbine: Acting Naughty targets Hendrie Stakes

Acting Naughty, under a heady ride by Tyler Pizarro, gave trainer Don MacRae the most satisfying victory of his career here in last Sunday’s Grade 3, $152,200 Whimsical Stakes.

“I’m still smiling,” the 36-year-old MacRae said Wednesday, having watched the 4-year-old filly, whom he claimed for $40,000 last September, become a stakes winner in the six-furlong Whimsical. “The track was playing to speed all day, but they went fast enough up front, the big guns didn’t show, and she got a dream trip. Tyler rode her like she was the best horse.

“If she didn’t run that kind of race, she would have come back in a two-other-than. Now, the Hendrie seems to be the most logical step.”

The Hendrie Stakes, a 6 1/2-furlong race for fillies and mares here June 1, offers Grade 3 status and a purse of $150,000.

The Whimsical officially was the second stakes win at Woodbine for MacRae, who has been training since 1997. He was the trainer of record when Hooh Why won the Grade 3 Seaway Stakes in 2010, but basically was deputizing for co-owner Mark Hoffmans, who traveled with Hooh Why but raced that mare in the name of numerous trainers.