Woodbine Oaks: Kevin Attard seeking repeat win with Moira and Souper Flashy
ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Moira will try to give trainer Kevin Attard his second straight win in the $500,000 Woodbine Oaks on Sunday, when the lightly raced daughter of Ghostzapper meets nine other Canadian-bred 3-year-old fillies in 67th running of the 1 1/8-mile test.
The Woodbine Oaks is part of a card that also features the $150,00 Plate Trial. Both races are key preps for the $1 million Queen’s Plate on Aug. 21.
Moira made quite a splash on debut last fall when taking the $250,800 Princess Elizabeth Stakes. She subsequently ran second to future Canadian champion 2-year-old filly Mrs. Barbara in another 1 1/16-mile stakes, the Grade 3 Mazarine.
When returning from a 6 1/2-month layoff in the Fury Stakes on June 11, Moira rallied four wide from sixth to hit the front in the stretch before holding off a troubled Pioneer’s Edge in a narrow win. She went on to gallop out strongly with encouragement and earned a 74 Beyer Speed Figure. The seven-furlong Fury was her lone Oaks prep.
“She got a later start than we’d anticipated,” Attard said. “We were looking to run her long, but the race didn’t fill and we had to get a start into her. After [the Fury], we wanted to give her a little more time to bounce back from it and come into this race as fresh as possible. I’m very happy with her. She’s been working well. She seems ready to go.”
Attard’s father, Tino, won back-to-back Oaks in 1998-99 with Kirby’s Song and Touch Dial. Both were exiting a Fury score, and it was Touch Dial’s second start off a layoff.
Attard said Moira might be more gifted than last year’s Oaks winner, Munnyfor Ro, the reigning Canadian champion 3-year-old filly.
“Munnyfor Ro didn’t get really good until she turned the corner at 3,” Attard pointed out. “Moira showed early flashes of talent as a juvenile.”
Attard said a strong showing Sunday could set Moira up nicely for the Queen’s Plate. Rafael Hernandez will ride her again Sunday for the partnership of X-Men Racing, Madaket Stables, and SF Racing.
Attard also entered Souper Flashy, who was second in the Princess Elizabeth and is coming off a flat fourth in the Fury.
“There’s some question marks with her pedigree on the sire’s side as to how far she wants to go,” Attard said of the daughter of Souper Speedy. “She ran well in the Princess Elizabeth. It’s a question of whether she can get the 1 1/8-mile distance.”
Chiefswood Stables sends out Pioneer’s Edge and Maccool’s Girl. Chiefswood’s general manager, Robert Landry, feels that both fillies didn’t have the smoothest of trips in their preps.
Pioneer’s Edge awaited room in the stretch of the Fury before surging late to miss by a head.
“I think she was unlucky not to win,” Landry said. “I don’t want to take anything from [Moira]. She ran well off a long layoff. With a little different trip, we could have won the race. And I don’t think seven-eighths is really her distance.”
In her second start of the year on July 2, Pioneer’s Edge faded to fifth from an early stalking position when going long for the first time in the Grade 3 Selene.
“The pace was slow and I would have let her go,” Landry said. “She was in a comfortable stride early, and I would have left her in that stride. She dropped back to second-last halfway down the backside. I hate when they’re going backwards and not staying with the flow of the race. It’s a difficult thing to overcome.”
Maccool’s Girl notched her June 11 debut on the grass before finishing a fading fourth in a 1 1/8-mile allowance July 2 on the Tapeta, when she was rank early while rated.
“Once they don’t settle early, you’ve got to just let them have their head and settle in,” Landry said. “She was a little like that in her first start, and then settled pretty quick once she got in behind horses. She had a really good work on the grass the other day. She might ultimately be a little better on the grass.”
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Trainer Chad Brown sends out the Saratoga shipper Sahlabiya, a $1.6 million yearling purchase with a pair of maiden-special route races on turf at Belmont under her girth.
Sahlabiya had a wide trip before finishing a close third in her May 1 opener. Six weeks later, she set a slow pace before weakening to second behind favored Contemporary Art and received a 77 Beyer, just shy of the 78 she got on debut.
The stakes-placed maiden Curlin Candy could set the pace. She has finished second in each of her last three starts in maiden-special company, most recently when rating tactics were employed. The daughter of Curlin is the first foal from 2016 Canadian Horse of the Year Caren.
“She’s doing great,” said trainer Mike DePaulo, who also conditioned Caren. “The mother was third in the Oaks. If she finishes third, I’d be delighted. If we get any more, I’d be ecstatic.”