Woodbine handicapping roundup and horses to watch for Oct. 5

Potential key race

The fourth race on Sept. 27 contained several fast-working first-timers, and some nicely-bred 2-year-old fillies. Town Grad, a tiny daughter of Speightstown, was the 4-5 choice off a second in her debut behind the future stakes winner Lapsang, but she finished a non-threatening fifth after breaking okay from the tricky one-hole.

Zensational Bunny was bet down to 7-2 off a series of sharp works, including a sensational five-furlong gate drill in 1:01.80, where she was eased up before the pole. In the race, she darted out to the lead and then put away longshot Silver Bolt while setting a lively tempo, before edging away to prevail by three lengths in a quick 1:04. A daughter of freshman sire Zensational, who was a rapid sprinter in his own right, Zensational Bunny earned an excellent 81 Beyer.

After breaking from post 11, Avicii rallied four-wide from midpack to finish second at 22-1, while running a bit greenly in deep stretch. A stocky chestnut by City Zip, Avicii shouldn’t be a maiden much longer.

After racing inside, Wild N Clever checked in another four lengths back in third, a length ahead of another firster, Essence of Audre, who may possess the most upside of them all.

Essence of Audre got away slowly before saving ground at the rear of the 11-horse field. She began to mount a 10-wide rally from the quarter pole, and was eventually beaten eight lengths after remaining on her left lead throughout the stretch. A daughter of Exchange Rate, Essence of Audre is out of graded stakes winner El Prado Essence, which makes her a half-sister to the two-time Canadian champion sprinter Essence Hit Man.

Fabiana’s Flash, another debuting City Zip filly, made her presence known vocally in the paddock, before finishing a tired sixth after an inside/stalking trip. She is out of stakes winner Flashy n Smart, who has been a modest producer.

Cool Faith shines

The 2-year-old filly Cool Faith was ready to debut on the grass Sept. 21, but was a late scratch after she shied away from the pony and slipped on some cement prior to the race. Unfazed, trainer Paul Attard ran her back against the boys in another one-mile maiden special on turf a week later, and she prevailed with determination over favored Dylan Ward, after a three-wide pace-pressing trip. For covering the distance in 1:35.78, she was awarded a 72 Beyer.

A Chiefswood Stable homebred, Cool Faith is by the late Pulpit and out of the beautifully bred Grade 2 turf stakes winner Ambitious Cat, who has been an underachiever in the breeding shed. Cool Faith seems poised to bolster her produce record.

Chiefswood general manager Robert Landry said the future options for Cool Faith are a pair of $250,000 stakes for Canadian-breds: the Cup and Saucer Stakes against males on the grass Oct. 20, or the Princess Elizabeth Stakes on Nov. 2.

“It wasn’t that difficult of a race on her,” Landry said. “The fractions were pretty soft. They finished up well, but it wasn’t a taxing race. She seems to have taken it well. We’re obviously really high on her. She’s trained well on every surface, but she’s probably a little bit better on the grass.”

Be leery of shippers from Presque Isle

Are horses who competed at the recently concluded meet at Presque Isle Downs worth considering when they venture north of the border? Judging from the poor results by two shippers from the northwest Pennsylvania track here last weekend, such shippers are overmatched.

Presque Isle has the synthetic surface Tapeta. After winning a recent stakes there aboard the Woodbine-based 2-year-old Jose Sea View, jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson said it was akin to Woodbine’s Polytrack.

“He handled the track quite well,” Wilson said. “It was the first time I’ve been over it myself. It’s surprisingly similar to the Poly.”

Jose Sea View is trained by Reade Baker, who captured another stakes at Presque Isle this year with Go Blue or Go Home. Perhaps a rule of thumb should be to play Woodbine shippers at Presque Isle, but not vice versa.

Track trends

Sept. 25: Outside/closers dominated on this Wednesday night, but was there a potent outside bias in existence? Many of the evening’s winners were logical, most notably Baganara and Reeves Hill, who was all-out to graduate in the opener at even money. Wings of Paradise set a sleepy pace along the inside en route to earning his diploma in a weak seven-furlong maiden special in the second. After lacking room at the head of the stretch, Regal Warning rallied towards the inside to take the seventh over Silent Yet Deadly and favored Sparrowhawk, who was softened up in a speed duel in the seven-furlong allowance. My inclination is to wait and see how horses perform next-time out off this card, before deeming the track to be tilted.

Sept. 28: If there was a legitimate bias on the quirky Polytrack, it was difficult to quantify. Speed was effective, and the inside was live. However, an examination of the seven horses who crossed the wire on top revealed that four of them prevailed on the lead, all towards the inside; two rallied wide from off a slow pace, and the other closed along the rail from a stalking position at a big price. This is another card where a wait-and-see approach might be wise.

Sept. 29: Front-runners won four of the seven Polytrack events. In three of those races, the pace was slow, so a true speed bias probably wasn’t in existence, which should please the track superintendent.

Horses to watch

TANGO KID
Trainer: Pat Parente
Last race: Sept. 25, 3rd
Finish: 5th by 3
Beyer: 55
He got away slowly and was blocked behind rivals early in the stretch before running evenly the rest of the way in a slow-paced $25,000 sprint. It was a deceptively good effort for his first venture outside the maiden ranks.

A BETTER BREEZE
Trainer: Sandy McPherson
Last race: Sept. 28, 10th
Finish: 5th by 3 3/4
Beyer: 72
She broke about four lengths behind the others and then lacked room early in the lane before making up some ground in a nine-furlong allowance on the grass. She could clear the first allowance condition in her next outing.

TWO BREWS TO GO
Trainer: Malcolm Pierce
Last race: Sept. 28, 4th
Finish: 3rd by 1 1/2
Beyer: 39
Off a fourth in the Muskoka Stakes, she was favored in a maiden for Ontario-sired 2-year-old fillies but had to deal with some traffic problems in the seven-furlong race. She should acquit herself better next time out if things go her way.

PISCO
Trainer: Jamie Attard
Last race: Sept. 28, 3rd
Finish: 2nd by head
Beyer: 53
She surged late from a stalking position to just miss in the much faster split of a seven-furlong maiden special. She was previously a distant second behind the promising Regal Conqueror, who came back to take the Victorian Queen.