Woodbine: Mazarine win makes Madly Truly a Breeders' Cup candidate

ETOBICOKE, Ontario — Madly Truly gave trainer Mark Casse another prospect for the Breeders’ Cup on Saturday at Woodbine, when she rallied strongly as the favorite to take the Grade 3 Mazarine Stakes under Patrick Husbands.

Morant Bay opened up a sizable lead on the backstretch in the 1 1/16-mile route for 2-year-old fillies. She set quick fractions, while Madly Truly bided her time in fourth along the inside.

Madly Truly saved ground until the quarter pole, where she awaited room before being angled wide at the head of the stretch. Madly Truly mowed down Morant Bay inside the sixteenth pole, and got home on top by a length, in 1:44.89.

Unspurned closed to finish a half-length ahead of Morant Bay, who barely held on for third in a gritty performance. Spanish Flower wound up fourth, and second choice Appreciating was a fading fifth in a field reduced to seven with the scratch of morning-line favorite Llanarmon.

Madly Truly ($7.20) earned $90,000 of the $156,000 purse in her first stakes score for owner John Oxley.

Casse also won the ninth race with 2012 Canadian champion older female Roxy Gap, giving him three wins on the card.