Woodbine: Youcan'tcatchme faces Dene Court in Bessarabian Stakes

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Youcan’tcatchme’s remarkable comeback continues Sunday at Woodbine in the $150,000 Bessarabian, a seven-furlong sprint that also lured Dene Court, who’s returning to Polytrack in the Grade 2 stakes race.

Youcan’tcatchme hasn’t done much wrong since returning from an extended layoff Aug. 4, when she won her second straight race and her first stakes, the Etobicoke. She subsequently captured the Grade 3 Seaway before losing the Apelia Stakes to Goldstryke Glory, who is her main rival for this year’s Canadian champion female sprinter award. On Nov. 3, Youcan’tcatchme set moderate fractions and kept on going to take the Grade 3 Ontario Fashion Stakes.

Trainer Sam DiPasquale said Youcan’tcatchme suffered a broken leg last year.

“She had a condylar fracture right after she won by five,” DiPasquale said. “She went for surgery immediately. I never thought she would make it back. They did a great job.”

DiPasquale said the road to recovery was a little rocky for Youcan’tcatchme.

“I almost pulled the plug out on her in June,” DiPasquale said. “I was a little worried. I knew she had a ton of talent. It started coming out, and everything came together. If this race doesn’t hurt her, I think she has a right to be even stronger next year.”

Dene Court also has been on the comeback trail this year. She was a front-running second to Part the Seas in her season opener, the Sept. 1 Avowal Stakes. Most recently at Keeneland, she wound up eighth after racing wide in the 5 1/2-furlong Buffalo Trace Franklin County Stakes.

Trainer Mark Casse said Dene Court’s last effort is a throw-out.

“There were no [Woodbine] races for her, so we ended up going down to Keeneland,” Casse said. “It was something new for her, going from Woodbine’s big, sweeping turns to [a tight one], and she didn’t make the turn.”

Dene Court, a 4-year-old daughter of City Zip, made the first three starts of her career on Polytrack, winning a maiden race and finishing second in a pair of stakes, but has not raced on that surface since April 2012.

“I don’t know if she’s as good on Polytrack as she is on the grass,” Casse said.

Part the Seas, a successful $62,500 claim by trainer Mike De Paulo in August, was third in the Oct. 19 River Memories Stakes on Polytrack after notching her first stakes win in the Avowal.

There are three U.S. shippers in the lineup: Strike the Moon, Queen’s Award, and Purely Hot, who was supplemented for $3,000.