A well-balanced field of 10 fillies and mares, including 2013 winner Youcan'tcatchme, are set to contest the $150,000 Seaway Stakes (Can-III) Aug. 24 at Woodbine.
The seven-furlong Seaway over Woodbine's synthetic Polytrack surface is the eighth race on the card at the Toronto oval. Woodbine, Sunday, August 24, 2014, Race 8
The co-highweights at 119 pounds are Spring in the Air and Northern Passion, both graded stakes winners trained by Mark Casse for owner John C. Oxley.
A 4-year-old daughter of Spring At Last, Spring in the Air won the Hendrie Stakes (Can-III) May 24 before consecutive fourth-place finishes in two stakes, including the Ontario Matron (Can-III). The earner of $888,264 posted her signature victory when she won the 2012 Darley Alcibiades (gr. I) over the Keeneland Polytrack surface en route to Sovereign Award honors as Canada's top 2-year-old filly.
Northern Passion, a multiple stakes winner at Woodbine, is generally far back and makes a late run. The 5-year-old by First Samurai was fifth, within 3 1/2 lengths of recent grade I winner Somali Lemonade, in an allowance at Keeneland last April. Two starts later she won a $100,000 stakes at Woodbine. Most recently, the mare finished third in the Ontario Matron.
Murrat Stroud's homebred Youcan'tcatchme was Canada's outstanding female sprinter of 2013 when she won three of five starts, including the Seaway, for trainer Sam Di Pasquale. The 5-year-old mare by The Daddy usually presses the pace and has won or placed in 10 of 17 races lifetime.
Stakes winner Toasting will be making her second start off a two-month break after finishing fifth in the Ontario Matron upon her return. The Thomas Albertrani trainee owned by West Point Thoroughbreds won the Dream Rush Stakes at Belmont Park last October.
Entries: Seaway S. (G3)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Northern Passion (ON) Patrick Husbands 119 Mark E. Casse - 2 2Toasting (FL) Justin Stein 117 Thomas Albertrani - 3 3Black Bird Rock (ON) Luis Contreras 117 Michael P. De Paulo - 4 4Mekong Delta (ON) Gerry Olguin 117 Michael Mattine - 5 5Blues and Silvers (FL) Jesse M. Campbell 117 Mark E. Casse - 6 6Spring in the Air (ON) Patrick Husbands 119 Mark E. Casse - 7 7Leigh Court (KY) Gary Boulanger 117 Josie Carroll - 8 8Youcan'tcatchme (FL) Omar Moreno 117 Sam Di Pasquale - 9 9Aunt Els (ON) Eurico Rosa Da Silva 117 Nicholas Gonzalez - 10 10Star Pearl (PA) Emma-Jayne Wilson 117 H. Graham Motion -
