Woodbine: Lennon figures to be on lead in Friday allowance

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Lennon will try to stretch his speed out to seven furlongs Friday at Woodbine in the featured seventh race, a first-level allowance on the Polytrack.

Lennon has started four times for owner/trainer Kelly Callaghan. The 3-year-old was ridden on each occasion by her husband, Slade Callaghan.

Lennon was a prominent third when he debuted in a five-furlong dash Nov. 30. After a winter break, he led throughout a six-furlong maiden special on the grass May 26, when he put up an 81 Beyer Speed Figure.

Nearly six weeks later, Lennon set a lively pace before fading to sixth in the $129,000 Charlie Barley, a tough stakes that was run over a mile on good turf. Lennon has been idle since Aug. 5, when he set a moderate pace en route to finishing second behind favored Victory Exchange in a 6 1/2-furlong allowance on the Polytrack.

Lennon will break from post 1 in a seven-horse field without another confirmed front-runner.

The Dave Cotey-trained Lack of Judgment showed nothing when he debuted in a maiden special on the grass Aug. 16. A month later on the Polytrack, Lack of Judgment overcame some traffic problems along the inside to beat $40,000 maidens, under apprentice Skye Chernetz.

“She had tons of horse the whole way,” Cotey recalled. “She was waiting for something to open up and was able to nudge her way through there. He’s learning. I think he has a lot of upside. He didn’t get much out of his first start. He didn’t know what was going on. He had two or three workouts [after that] where he worked really well.”

Cotey is a little leery about running Lack of Judgment back on short rest Friday, but he said there is nowhere else to sprint the gelding in the near future.

Kitten Candy has placed in five of six outings at the meet, without posting a victory. He was a fading third behind Lennon on Aug. 5 and then ran evenly for second over a speed-favoring surface in another 6 1/2-furlong allowance Sept. 2.

Eurico Rosa Da Silva will ride Kitten Candy for Bob Tiller, the meet’s second-leading trainer.

Stormy Revenge finally graduated in his 18th start over $40,000 maidens Aug. 21. He had a wide journey from the back of the pack when fifth in a 1 1/16-mile allowance Sept. 7.

Rounding out the field are Johnny La Rue, Khulna, and Shotinthefog, who got away slowly before ending up fifth behind Kitten Candy in his local debut Sept. 2.