Robert Evans' homebred White Flag has found his best stride sprinting in New York and will ship across the border Oct. 15 with hopes he'll continue his roll in the $250,000 Nearctic Stakes (G2T) at Woodbine.
The last-out Allied Forces Stakes winner against fellow 3-year-olds Sept. 10 on the grass at Belmont Park will take on graded competition for the first time, but facing older horses will not be a first for the War Front colt on a three-race win streak.
After he defeated a group of 3-year-olds to break his maiden (although older horses were eligible to enter the race) sprinting on turf at Belmont June 14, White Flag took on older in a grass allowance back at Belmont July 16 and recorded a 1 1/2-length victory.
Trainer Christophe Clement said the winning formula may have come together when he shifted White Flag from routing to sprinting after two placings in the spring at Belmont going 1 1/16 miles and a mile. After that White Flag broke his maiden at six furlongs, took the allowance at seven-eighths, and moved back to six for the Allied Forces.
"He's a top-class horse and has a tremendous amount of speed," Clement said. "He was going a little too far until I figured out he wanted to be sprinting, but he's always been a very good-looking horse. There's no more restricted races sprinting for 3-year-olds, so it's time to go.
"He's not just a horse. He's a nice horse and physically he's gorgeous, and he's bred to be a nice horse."
Alpine Stable's Ikerrin Road is also entering on a win streak, but both victories came on the Tapeta 10 track at Woodbine. The Iffraaj gelding won an optional-claiming allowance Aug. 20 before his first graded score in the Sept. 16 Bold Venture Stakes (G3). He also has a win over the Woodbine turf course, which came in a $50,000 claiming event June 10.
Cotai Glory, from the barn of Charlie Hills, is a two-time group 3 winner in England. While the son of Exceed And Excel (AUS) hasn't won since the Dubai International Airport World Trophy Stakes (G3) in September of 2016, he has placed in three stakes since, including a third in the the Aug. 25 Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) at York. The Nearctic will be his first North American start.
Woodbine, Sunday, October 15, 2017, Race 6Entries: Nearctic S. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Dowse's Beach (NY) Jose L. Ortiz 117 Brad H. Cox 5/2 2 2White Flag (KY) Joel Rosario 116 Christophe Clement 7/2 3 3Circle of Friends (ON) Eurico Rosa Da Silva 116 Robert P. Tiller 20/1 4 4Ikerrin Road (IRE) David Moran 119 Vito Armata 6/1 5 5Conquest Tsunami (ON) Patrick Husbands 117 Mark E. Casse 8/1 6 6Yorkton (ON) Jesse M. Campbell 116 Stuart C. Simon 15/1 7 7Cotai Glory (GB) Oisin Murphy 117 Charles Hills 2/1 8 8Field of Courage (ON) Luis Contreras 117 Mark E. Casse 15/1
