Rahy's Attorney, a surprise winner of the Connaught Cup (Can-III) last month, will try to make it back-to-back stakes victories on the Woodbine turf course in the $150,000 Singspiel Stakes (Can-III) June 22. The race marks the return to action of 2007 Queen's Plate victor Mike Fox.
Interestingly, Ian Black, trainer of Rahy's Attorney, was also the conditioner of Mike Fox last year when the Ontario bred took the first leg of Canada's Triple Crown series by a half-length at odds of 15-1. Bruce Smither trains Firestone Farms' Giant's Causeway colt as a 4-year-old.
Twelve are entered in the Singspiel, a 1 1/2-mile distance test.
Rahy's Attorney has won six of 13 races in his career, with all of his starts coming at Woodbine. The Ontario-bred Crown Attorney gelding has captured five of his six efforts on the turf since last summer for breeder Ellie-Boje Farm and co-owners Read Peters and Jean and Jim MacLellan.
The 4-year-old stepped up into graded company for the first time in the May 25 Connaught Cup. With a stalking ride from Slade Callaghan, Rahy's Attorney managed to get the lead after making a bid along the rail in the homestretch. At at odds of 16-1, they held off a late charge from Society's Chairman for a half-length triumph.
Rahy's Attorney turned in a sizzling time of 1:39.53 for the 1 1/16-mile distance, just 0.33 off the course record set by Jet Freighter in the 1995 Connaught Cup. Rahy's Attorney earned his third stakes win and increased his earnings to $410,542.
Callaghan retains the mount on Rahy's Attorney, who breaks from the hedge under top weight of 125 pounds.
Other than Rahy's Attorney, Eugene Melnyk's homebred Marchfield is the only other starter coming into the race off a victory after capturing a second-level allowance race on the Churchill Downs turf as the 9-10 choice May 9. The 4-year-old A.P. Indy colt won Woodbine's Breeders' Stakes, the final leg of Canada's Triple Crown, on the Woodbine lawn going 12 furlongs last August.
Mark Casse trains Marchfield, who has three wins and four runner-up finishes in 11 lifetime starts with earnings of $491,856. Patrick Husbands is aboard.
Mike Fox, who leads the field with $807,050 in purses, has not seen since finishing third in the Ontario Derby on Woodbine's Polytrack surface nearly nine months ago. That was the same surface he used to upset the Queen's Plate three months earlier. He has started only twice on turf, his best effort coming in a third-place showing as the odds-on favorite in the Cup & Saucer Stakes as a 2-year-old.
Emma-Jayne Wilson, who became the first female jockey to win the Queen's Plate aboard Mike Fox, will be in the saddle for the colt's comeback attempt.
Roger Attfield sends out the 9-year-old veteran Pellegrino, winner of the Singspiel last year by a head. Gary Tanaka's Brazilian-bred horse has just one victory in eight starts since, however, and was overmatched when finishing ninth in Keeneland's Elkhorn Stakes (gr. IIT) last time out.
My Imperial Dancer, a 6-year-old trained by Norman McKnight, has three wins on the Woodbine turf, including last year's one-mile Halton Stakes.
Shillelagh Slew, a two-time graded winner who also won the 2006 Prince of Wales Stakes via disqualification, returned in the Connaught Cup after being out of action for nearly 11 months. He ran sixth.
$150,000 Singspiel Stakes (Can-III, Race 7, 3:47 p.m.), 3 & Up, 1 1/2 Miles (Turf)
PP. Horse, Weight, Jockey
1. Rahy's Attorney (ON), 125, Slade Callaghan
2. Benz Boy (KY), 118, Justin Stein
3. Shillelagh Slew (PQ), 118, Jerry Baird
4. Mission Approved (NY), 118, Eibar Coa
5. Colorful Judgement (ON), 118, Emile Ramsammy
6. My Imperial Dancer (ON), 122, Eurico Rosa Da Silva
7. Mike Fox (ON), 122, Emma-Jayne Wilson
8. Tap Show (FL), 118, Simon P. Husbands
9. Dubai Gold (KY), 118, David Clark
10. Marchfield (ON), 122, Patrick Husbands
11. It's Like This (ON), 118, Tyler Pizarro
12. Pellegrino (BRZ), 118, Jono C. Jones
Connaught Cup winner Rahy's Attorney will try to make it back-to-back stakes victories in the Singspiel Stakes.
Michael Burns