Ontario Draws Top-Class Turf Milers
Greetings from Canada, eh?
The big feature at Ontario this Sunday will be an outstanding one, the Canada Mile. This turf race is always a good one, but this year’s edition looks to be a special event indeed. The star of the event is just a 3yo, but ORPHEUS CADET has plowed such a wide swath through his cropmates that he appears to be at least on even terms with this powerful group of older turf milers and might very well make his first try against the veterans a winning one, even though this older bunch is deep and highly-talented.
The course and stakes record is an blazing 1:33.08, set in 2014 by New Street. That is an amazing time, but with the terrific field assembled here and the expected super-hot pace, the mark could fall.
FRANKEL DYNA NINER has fashionable Frankel bloodlines, but hasn’t quite lived up to all that blue blood just yet and is saddled with a 21/1 price. A 3yo colt taking on older for the first time here, he led to the stretch In the 12-furlong Grade 1 Owner’s Stakes last time out and just before that nabbed his only stakes win at a distance much closer to today’s. Can’t expect to see this guy on the lead with this very fast crew; we’ll likely have to see what this simroscoe8 trainee can do from a bit off the pace.
SAVOURY certainly had an unusual start to his career; the High Chaparral colt made his debut in a Grade 1 stakes race at 336/1. Unsurprisingly, he didn’t do all that well… But he actually beat a couple horses and put up a solid 99 speed figure, excellent for a debut run. Less than a year later, this corzak trainee finds himself in another Grade 1 at much-more-reasonable odds of 9/1, and if he can repeat the 115 he fired up in that local-bred stakes last time out, he isn’t totally without a shot.
LAMENT AND HOPE has tried graded-stakes company three times, getting a pair of 2nd’s, the Grade 1 Woody Ford and the Grade 2 Fried Rice Mile. This kewmwa42-trained 4yo Stay Gold colt is out of a sim-mare that has already produced one grade 1 winner and needs only the tiniest improvement to get “over the top” and pull off that elusive Grade 1 win here. He is co-favored at 5/1.
FRAUDSHIELD is a beautifully-bred 3yo colt by Uncle Mo out of an Awesome Again sim-mare. The fast-improving icbomber9 trainee has three wins in a row, topping 110 in his last two, but this is his first graded-stakes try. With a trainer this good (26%), you can’t leave this guy off your exotic ticket, especially at a juicy 15/1.
SOUR LEMONS faded late in his last two, Grade 1’s at this distance. Just before that, though, this 4yo Lemon Drop Kid colt made his Grade 1 debut a winning one, taking the Sydney Mile championship. The mrxrayz3 trainee improved some in his last when compared to his Queen Sam loss, so the 6/1 shot could be sitting on a big one.
ORPHEUS CADET is a 3yo colt by Redoute’s Choice out of a Hall-of-Fame sim-mare that has produced an amazing six graded-stakes winners and an Eclipse champ, is well on his way to showing that he might be Mama Forty’s best yet. A member of hofcadet‘s cavalcade of stars, he is just a head and a neck short of being undefeated in his 12-race career and has won all five of his 2016 tries in remarkably easy and impressive fashion. Of course, this brings up one of the toughest handicapping questions: Can this incredible 3yo’s form hold up against top-class older runners and get him his fourth Grade 1 win? He’s 8/1 if you fancy his chances…
ROUGH TRAITOR is a lightly-raced 4yo Orfevre colt who missed an Equinics win by just half-a-length last time out and actually ran faster than ORPHEUS CADET did on the same race card. This 17away trainee, going at 7/1, won the Grade 3 Milers Cup three races back and is a serious threat against these.
ON TO TOMORROW was closest to ORPHEUS CADET at the wire in that Equinics race last time out, and like that one also takes his first shot at older company, getting a 19/1 price . The 3yo Paco Boy colt has moved up nicely since an injury sent him to “the farm” after that Vermont Is 4 Lovers debacle, and quickcall believes his colt is up to the task.
SPELLBINDING POWER has one graded-stakes win to his credit, that being the Grade 3 Apple Martini Handicap back in February. However, the good news for this 4yo Kitten’s Joy colt is that his best performance since then happened on this racing surface three starts ago when he earned a 111 while running a smart 3rd in the Grade 3 Aught Conn Cup. Trained by avengers1, he’ll need his best and probably then some to do well vs. this bunch. Gets a 9/1 price.
BEL OF EKATI led all but the last few jumps at longish odds in the mile-turf Equinics race last time out and will be a major factor in the early-pace action here. He took ’em thru the 6 furlong mark in 1:07.70 in that Equinics race, so the 4yo Bel Esprit colt certainly has a turn of foot. The quillycalm trainee, champ of the Grade 3 Baby’s Chorus Stakes three starts ago, most likely will have plenty of company on the front end here and goes at 6/1.
FOOT FOUL takes another shot at top company after a tough day in his Equinics race last month. The 4yo Footstepsinthesand colt finished 2nd in graded stakes twice in a row before that and trainer favetrick99 is hoping that the last bombout was a fluke and that he makes those 11/1 outs pay out. He’ll need a gigantic day to get much done with these guys.
DRAMATIC IMPACT won the Grade3 Marcy’s Fort Stakes three starts ago; the 4yo Deep Impact colt is a regular in graded-stakes company and goes in his 7th straight graded race here. He’s usually right in the thick of things, too, and trainer michaelo has himself a good one. Good enough here as the 5/1 co-fave? Maybe, certainly not far off…
Okay… With a tremendous fanfare (okay, actually “Yakety Sax” played on kazoo and bagpipes), here comes super handicapper DAN PAUNCH! (He never does get it right.. maybe some day…)
“Good evening, punters and germs! I’m gonna tell ya the way (not) to bet this ‘ere race.”
“Let’s go with the 3yo superstud ORPHEUS CADET to lay just off the pace and then charge up to nab the money.”
“After scorching the turf for 6 or 7 furlongs, BEL OF EKATI will give way only a tiny bit and get 2nd.
“From mid-pack, ROUGH TRAITOR will close a lot late but just miss for 3rd.
Good luck everybody!