Woodbine: Llanarmon wins maiden in Natalma Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Llanarmon ($20.40) graduated in dramatic style Saturday at Woodbine in the Grade 2 Natalma Stakes, in which the favored Ready to Act unseated jockey Rajiv Maragh, who appeared to escape serious injury.

Ready to Act stalked the front-running Unspurned in the one-mile turf route for 2-year-old fillies before making the lead early in the stretch. Ready to Act ducked in at the eighth pole, and a trailing horse came over the top of the fallen Maragh. Ready to Act, a New York shipper trained by Chad Brown, came back fine.

Meanwhile, Llanarmon rallied wide from seventh to prevail by three-quarters of a length over another maiden, Spanish Flower. Appreciating, the 5-2 second choice in the eight-horse field, finished a neck farther back in third, a head in front of Madly Truly.

Emma-Jayne Wilson rode Llanarmon for Harlequin Ranches and trainer Roger Attfield.

“I was really happy with my position,” Wilson said. “When I called on her, despite the activity, she [closed] really strong. She stalled, had a look at everything, regained her focus, and finished on up.”

Llanarmon earned $144,000 of the $225,600 purse and received a fees-paid trip to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita in November through the BC Win and You’re In program.