Recent Natalma Stakes (Can-IIT) winner Spring Venture will try Polytrack for the first time in the $200,000 Mazarine Stakes (Can-III) for 2-year-old fillies Oct. 6 at Woodbine.
Trained by Mark Casse, Spring Venture has already secured an automatic starting berth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (gr. IT) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park with her win in the Natalma, a "Win & You're In" event at Woodbine Sept. 15.
The unbeaten Spring at Last filly, owned by her breeder Stoneway Farm in partnership with Gary Barber, is 2-for-2 on grass. The Mazarine, which attracted a field of eight, does not carry a "Win & You're In" designation though it has produced past Breeders' Cup starters. The race is set for a 4:42 p.m. approximate post as the eighth on the Saturday program at the Toronto track.
Spring Venture is the only stakes winner in the Mazarine field.
Purchased for $320,000 at the OBS 2012 auction for 2-year-olds and horses of racing age, Spring Venture is out of the graded stakes-placed Rahy mare Zahwah. The chestnut filly made her debut in August with a 4 1/4-length victory over maidens going seven furlongs on firm ground. On a yielding turf in the one-mile Natalma a month later, she rallied from mid-pack to win handily by 1 3/4 lengths as a slight favorite in a 14-horse field.
Patrick Husbands, who rode Spring Venture in the Natalma, has the return engagement. They drew the far outside post in the 1 1/16-mile event with top weight of 118 pounds.
Casse also entered Floral Sky, a daughter of Sky Mesa owned by John Oxley. She drew the rail. The Ohio-bred filly has not raced since finishing fifth in the six-furlong Debutante Stakes (gr. III) at Churchill Downs June 23. She broke her maiden at first asking at Churchill five weeks earlier going five furlongs. Husbands also is named as the rider of Floral Sky.
Casse has won the Mazarine twice before, with Officer Cherrie in 2007 and Higher World in 2004.
Empress Stable's Anfield Park upset 3-5 favorite Jazzy Jane by 2 1/4 lengths in a one-mile Woodbine maiden heat on Woodbine's Polytrack Sept. 2. It was the second start for the Silver Train filly trained by Steve Owens. She debuted with a fourth-place finish going 5 1/2 furlongs two months earlier.
Jazzy Jane, a daughter of Stephen Got Even trained by James Smith, also returns in the Mazarine while looking for her first victory. She led in the stretch of the Sept. 2 race after bobbling at the start, but could not hold on.
Other maiden winners in the field are Every Way, who won in her debut on turf for trainer Michael Stidham at Arlington Park, Shenandoah Lady, Seaneen Girl, and Bwana Go Fast.
$200,000 Mazarine Stakes (Can-III, Race 8, 4:42 p.m.), 2YO Fillies, 1 1/16 Miles (All Weather)
PP. Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. Floral Sky (OH), P Husbands, 114, M E Casse
2. Seaneen Girl (KY), C Sutherland, 114, R P Tiller
3. Jazzy Jane (KY), S Callaghan, 114, J J Smith
4. Bwana Go Fast (FL), E Ramsammy, 114, N Squires
5. Shenandoah Lady (VA), E R Da Silva, 114, S Attard
6. Anfield Park (ON), O Moreno, 116, S Owens
7. Every Way (KY), E Wilson, 116, M Stidham
8. Spring Venture (KY), P Husbands, 118, M E Casse
Blinkers Off: Seaneen Girl