Eye of the Leopard , the 2009 Queen’s Plate Stakes winner and Canada’s champion 3-year-old male, will be making his first start of the year as he takes on fellow stakes-winning veterans Don Cavallo, James Street , and Stately Victor and the promising City Wolf in the Durham Cup Stakes (Can-IIIT) at Woodbine Oct. 2.
The $150,000 Durham Cup, which attracted a field of five, is for 3-year-olds and up and is the sixth race on the card. Post time is 3:32 p.m.
A Sam-Son Farms’ homebred by A.P. Indy, Eye of the Leopard has scored just once since the Queen’s Plate, winning at Woodbine last September. He closed out 2010 with a second-place finish in the Valedictory Stakes in December.
Eye of the Leopard enters the Durham off a six-furlong workout in 1:14 3/5 Sept. 23, one of four works that month. Eurico Da Silva, who has been aboard Eye of the Leopard in nine of the horse’s 13 starts, rides again for trainer Mark Frostad.
James Street, a homebred for Eugene Melnyk, is the sole entrant coming off a stakes win. The son of El Prado won the Seagram Cup Stakes (Can-III) in August under Patrick Husbands, who will ride in the Durham Cup. Josie Carroll trains.
Stately Victor and Don Cavallo figure to have an easier time of it in the Durham Cup than what they experienced in the TVG Pacific Classic (gr. I) at Del Mar in late August. Stately Victory ran third, and Don Cavallo finished seventh.
Stately Victor, the 2010 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (gr. I) winner for Tom Conway and Jack Conway, last won a stakes in September 2010, capturing the Ontario Derby at Woodbine. Mike Smith, who rode the son of Ghostzapper in the Pacific Classic, will ride again. Mike Maker trains.
Don Cavallo, a homebred for Frank Stronach, has started twice at Woodbine this year. The son of El Prado won the Dominion Day Stakes (Can-III) over James Street and Stately Victor in July and ran second in the Eclipse Stakes (Can-III) in May. Luis Contreras rides again for trainer Roger Attfield.
City Wolf , another Stronach homebred, enters off three straight wins at Woodbine this year. Emma-Jayne Wilson rides for the first time. A son of Giant's Causeway and a half brother to Ghostzapper, Cry Wolf is trained by Reade Baker.
$150,000 Durham Cup Stakes (Can-III, Race 6, 3:32 p.m.) 3 Years and Up, 1 1/8 Miles
PP, Horse, Jockey, Weight, Trainer
1. James Street, P Husbands, 126, J Carroll
2. Stately Victor, M E Smith, 126, M J Maker
3. Don Cavallo, L Contreras, 119, R L Attfield
4. Eye of the Leopard, E R Da Silva, 126, M R Frostad
5. City Wolf, E Wilson, 126, R Baker