ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Malcolm Pierce continued his banner season here last Saturday, sending out Dance Again and Smartyfly to finish first and second in the $150,000 Carotene Stakes. Dance Again, a homebred for Sam-Son Farm, became a stakes winner in the Carotene, a 1 1/8-mile turf race for Ontario-bred 3-year-old fillies, and gave Pierce his sixth stakes win of the meeting. On Saturday, the barn will look to add to that total with Thespian’s Fate and Hotep entered in Saturday’s Labeeb and Queen of the Waves on target for the River Memories. The Labeeb and River Memories are $100,000 overnight stakes scheduled for one mile on turf. Thespian’s Fate, a 5-year-old homebred Sam-Son Farm gelding, will be making his stakes debut and is coming off a sharp win in a conditioned allowance race at 1 1/16 miles on turf here Sept. 20. “He’s doing really well,” Pierce said. “This race is a little bit short for him, but there aren’t many other opportunities. He’s eligible for his three-other-than [allowance condition], but those races never go.” While Thespian’s Fate has won 3 of 13 starts and $173,538, his 6-year-old Sam-Son Farm stablemate Hotep has amassed more than four times as much money, compiling a record of 5-5-3 from 29 outings for $740,858. Along the way, Hotep has competed in 23 stakes, winning two but finishing second or third in eight others, including Grade 2 races on turf and Polytrack. Hotep comes into the Labeeb on an 11-race losing streak since June 16, 2012, as Pierce has been forced to continue running him in graded stakes due to a lack of other options. “A race for him didn’t fill the other day,” Pierce said. “A mile is not his specialty. He’d probably prefer a little more ground.” Queen of the Waves, a 4-year-old homebred for the Cinnamont Stable of Richard Lister, was beaten three lengths last out as the fifth-place finisher in the Avowal Stakes, an open, seven-furlong turf race for 3-year-old fillies. “I was really disappointed in that race,” Pierce said. “I thought she was really doing wonderfully, but she had a pretty good excuse. We scoped her after the race, and she’d completely entrapped [her epiglottis]. She’s been training really well since then.” Phil’s Dream to Kennedy Road Owner, trainer, and breeder Paul Buttigieg initially was looking to keep Phil’s Dream in restricted company after watching the 5-year-old win the seven-furlong Overskate Stakes here Sept. 22. “I was thinking about the Bunty Lawless,” Buttigieg said, refering to the one-mile turf race for Ontario-sired 3-year-olds and up here this Sunday. “But he was doing so good, I had to take a shot.” That shot hit its target here last Sunday as Phil’s Dream became a Grade 1 winner and gave Buttigieg the biggest win of his career in the $340,400 Nearctic at six furlongs on turf. And while the Neartic offered a Win and You’re In berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, Phil’s Dream would have to be supplemented at a cost of $100,000 and will not be making the trip to Santa Anita. “If he was eligible, I’d think about it,” Buttigieg said, “but it just costs too much money to get in there.” So, Phil’s Dream, who has banked $459,910 this season, will remain at Woodbine with an eye toward the Nov. 30 Kennedy Road, an open, six-furlong Polytrack stakes that offers Grade 2 status and a purse of $150,000. “He’s a sound horse – you just can’t say enough good about him,” said Buttigieg, who did not start Phil’s Dream in 2012 while the horse recuperated from a tendon injury. “He’s run eight times this year, and he’s put on 200 pounds while he’s been running.” Phil’s Dream has picked up the torch this year from Gypsy Ring, the Buttigieg-trained homebred who had won eight races and $706,334 before being sidelined with a suspensory issue last summer. Gypsy Ring has been back at Woodbine since early September and has worked his way up to breezing five furlongs. “He’s 100 percent healed as of now,” Buttigieg said. “I hope to get him started this year and then keep him in light training over the winter.” Flashy Margaritta to Frost King Flashy Margaritta gave trainer Ralph Biamonte his third consecutive Bull Page Stakes winner in Monday’s $125,400 renewal of the six-furlong stakes for Ontario-sired colts and geldings. Next up for the same set is the $125,000 Frost King over seven furlongs here Nov. 9. “I think he might go that far,” said Biamonte, who conditions Flashy Margaritta for his wife, Mary Biamonte, and Danny Lococo. “He came back good.” Jenna’s Wabbit, the 2011 Bull Page winner, has been plagued by several issues this season and has made only one start, on April 28. “I’m going to give him the rest of the year off,” said Biamonte, who has sent out Jenna’s Wabbit to win 6 of 12 starts for earnings of $501,339 from 12 starts. ◗ Trainer Daryl Ezra, based at Fort Erie but also racing at Woodbine, will serve a 15-day suspension through Oct. 31 and has been fined after one of his horses, Stardust Ziggy, tested positive for the Class 4 medication trichlormethiazide (Naquasone). The positive test followed Stardust Ziggy’s win at Fort Erie on June 2, and the 7-year-old has been disqualified for all purposes except parimutuel wagering.