Yorkton holds on to score Bold Venture repeat

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Yorkton led all the way to win the Grade 3 Bold Venture Stakes for the second year in a row, in his first start under Patrick Husbands, on the Woodbine Mile undercard Saturday.

The heavily favored Pink Lloyd missed the break after busting his gate open a split second early. He was declared a non-starter, and all wagers on the two-time Canadian sprint champion were refunded.

Yorkton held off the wide-closing longshot Ikerrin Road to prevail to by a neck in time of 1:14.96 for the 6 1/2 furlongs. Curlin’s Honor edged out Pink Lloyd for third in the seven-horse field.

“I breezed him in his last three breezes,” Husbands said. “He’s naturally fast, and he’s [the kind] of horse every jockey wants to ride – a fast horse.”

Yorkton paid $4.80 as the slight favorite. He earned $90,000 of the $141,500 purse for owner-breeder Chiefswood Stable. Stu Simon trains the son of Speightstown, who got a summer vacation after a flat effort in the Grade 1 Highlander Stakes here June 29.

“He had some things go wrong earlier this year,” Simon said. “He grabbed a quarter really bad in his last race. We wanted to totally regroup and start over. The horse has just been training out of this world. He’s a nice horse in his own right, when he’s right.”