Woodbine: A Sam-Son sweep

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Sam-Son Farm, trainer Mark Frostad, and jockey Todd Kabel swept both stakes with the favorites at Woodbine on Saturday, taking the Grade 3 Play the King Handicap with Soaring Free and the With Approval with Puffer.

Soaring Free ($3.70) dueled with Jeb's Wild through slow fractions in the seven-furlong Play the King, an important prep for the Grade 1 Atto Mile here Sept 14. Soaring Free drew off in the stretch to score by 1 1/2 lengths over Jeb's Wild, while Frank's Selections finished third in the six-horse field. Over yielding turf, the final time was 1:23.52.

"He wasn't quite himself in his last race, but he ran a tremendous race today," said Kabel of Soaring Free. "He gave me everything I wanted out of him."

Soaring Free, who has won all five of his starts since being gelded over the winter, earned $99,000 of the $165,000 purse.

Puffer ($4.20) prevailed by a half-length over longshot Hard Edge in the $108,000 With Approval, in which he covered about 1 1/8 miles on the grass in 1:51.58.