Chad Brown sends out Dacita, the 2-1 morning line favorite, in the Canadian Stakes at Woodbine on Saturday.
The other Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” race on the Woodbine Card Saturday is the $300,000 Canadian Stakes (GIIT), a nine-furlong event that drew an international cast of seven looking for a spot in the gate for the Nov. 5 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (GIT).
The early favorite for the race, which has been carded as the 8th on the day, is Sheep Pond Partners and Bradley Thoroughbreds’ Dacita, who is trained by Chad Brown and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. The 5-year-old daughter of the late Scat Daddy, who won the 2014 Chilean Derby (GI), has really only posted one poor performance in her career and that was in the Breeders’ Cup after a very rough trip.
In four starts in since — all this year — she’s won two, with a second and a fourth, and seems to be rounding into top form at the right time. She is undefeated at the distance, but has never handled an off turf so I’m sure there’s some hope her class will be good enough to overcome and reach the winner’s circle.
Steip Amach, which when typed into Google Translate provides us with the Irish term for “step out,” makes her North American debut after earning a pair of thirds in French group 1 company. She doesn’t win a lot, but is fairly consistent and will need that consistency to win here.
When it comes to graded stakes it’s never wise to leave out a Graham Motion-trained runner with talent and Faufiler fits the bill. Her innermost post position isn’t the best, but she’s got later speed which can help her let the pace go in front of her after the break.
Rainha de Bateria starts for trainer Chad Brown for the fourth time and while a good runner, she doesn’t show much more than placings at this level of company.
Strut the Course is a Woodbine turf specialist, having won three of nine starts over the course, with three seconds and a third, in mostly graded and allowance company. Her best puts her in the mix for a larger share.
Midnight Miley has won one of five turf starts, but seems like a better performer over Woodbine’s all weather main track. She appears to be lone speed, so that does help her chances in this field of mid-pack runners and closers. Goodyearforroses has trainer Roger Attfield going for her and she seems to be improving, but she’d need to improve a lot to be a factor against this field.
The 8th race Canadian Stakes is set to go off at 4:30 p.m. ET.
